Name: QINGLIN WANG

Course: ESL program

Instructor: Lyndsey Reed
Date: July 31, 2016.

How to identify a good psychological test

Many people maybe curious about their own characters, personalities. They like to know about
themselves by taking some psychological tests. Although, some people just take the tests for fun and
never mind them seriously, some results still make an impact on their self-knowledge. I am quite sure
some good tests can help you find out what your behaviors indicate and how you feel and why you
behave these personalities. But some bad tests may mislead you to falsely understand yourself, or just
say something normally that most people have, or just want to catch our attention. If you dont like
waste your time doing some bad tests. There are some ways to identify them, massive data, precise
measurement, and secret purpose.
To prove a test has a good quality and reliability, first of all, it should have a massive sampled
database. It means that it should be tried out on a big group of different people in order to have
extensive records. If so, it can be applied to different kinds of people, including minorities and the
disabled. And if the test has a huge database, it will have a norms so that the test takers can compare it
to a standard. According to an article from www.psychologydiscussion.com. Norms refer to the average
performance of a representative sample on a given test. It gives a picture of average standard of a
particular sample in a particular aspect. Norms are the standard scores, developed by the person who
develops test. In this way, any test taker can make sense of his or her score by comparing it to the
norms. When an individual takes the test, he or she can determine how far above or below the average
his or her score is, relative to the normative group. Also, there are established scoring rules for
obtaining quantitative information from the behavior sample. Digitizing the result can make each
proportion of the scores represent different levels. People can directly see their grades and their
corresponding levels.
After having a massive database, the test needs to pay more attention on preciseness. A strict

process of measurement can get rid of the unrelated factors to the greatest extent. For example, in order
to make the result more objective, the test needs to guide the test takers concentration. Dont let them
think about something emotional. Subjective factors may influence the validity of the test. If the results
have been influenced by some factors that are out of control, actually, these happen all the time, the
results need to show the deviation. According to an article from www.wilderdom.com. All
measurement procedures have the potential for error, so the aim is to minimize it. An observed test
score is made up of the true score plus measurement error. A persons score might not reflect the true
score because they were sick, hungover, anxious, in a noisy room, etc. Sometimes a good test like to
record the test takers performance during the test in order to make the test more validity. For example,
counting the times of their changes on their responses, and how long they have spent on hesitating.
Also, the content need to be sufficient. In other words, more details means more clues. The more the
test knows about the takers, the more it will be precise. Its safe to say that you will never believe a
test only asks you one question and then gives you the result. One question can only show you just one
profile. In order to let you understand yourself reliably, a good test needs to gather much information
and then give a conclusion. According to an article from psychologicaltesting.com, All of the items
(questions) on a test should be measuring the same thing -- from a statistical standpoint, the items
should correlate with each other. But the test should not be too lengthy and difficult to answer as well
as scoring.
In addition, the tests motivation should always be hidden. It means do not let the test takers know
what their choices indicate. If the choices are so straightforward to express the meaning that might let
the test takers realize what the choices represent for. People would like to express themselves as the
person they want to be but not exactly who they are. Also, the psychological test is not like the IQ test.

The options are not absolutely right or wrong, so the right answer is not unique, but the real answer.
In conclusion, when you take a psychological test, you would better consider the tests quality. If
it has massive data, precise measurement and secret purpose or not. Some bad tests seems to have no
problem from the view of the result because they just show you a normal result. It doesn't have to be
specific to you. But when you take a good test, you will feel it is scientific, rigorous, and also helpful

Reference
Rich

J.

(2014,

Aug

26).

What

Makes

Good

Test?

Retrieved

from

http://www.psychologicaltesting.com/val.htm
Neill, J. (2004, Jul 25). Essentials of a Good Psychological Test. Retrieved from
http://www.wilderdom.com/personality/L3-2EssentialsGoodPsychologicalTest.html
Sharma, A. (2013, Dec 2). 5 Main Characteristics of a Good Psychological Test. Retrieved from
http://www.psychologydiscussion.net/notes/5-main-characteristics-of-a-good-psychologicaltest/734