Statutory Controls

Ethics
Chapter 8
HONORS

Chantel Retter
2023
 Administered in correct and qualified manner
 Results interpreted and used correctly
 Results conveyed in constructive manner
 Purchase of material restricted to those who are qualified to use it
 Kept securely ~ prevent unqualified usage
 Ensure reliability and validity of assessment measures
 Prevent general public becoming familiar with test material ~ invalidating
measure
A law (statute) promulgated that restricts the use of psychological
assessment measures to appropriate psychology professionals.
All the below fall within the domain of psychology
Assess mental, cognitive or behavioural processes and
functioning
Intellectual or cognitive ability or functioning
Aptitude
Interest
Emotions
Personality
Psycho-physiological functioning
Psychopathology
 Various Categories of
Psychology are:
 Psychologists – Clinical, Counselling, Educational, Research and
Industrial/Organizational
 Registered Counsellors
 Psychometrist – Independent Practice
 Psycho-technicians (Phased out)
 Forensic and Neuro psychologists (New Categories – awaiting
registration)
 Speech Occupational Social
therapists therapists workers

Even
Pediatricians teachers -
remedial
• Thereby • Interactions between • Use measures that
performing different professional tap psychological
psychological boards (medical, constructs
acts psychology etc)
Administer, score, interpret and report on all types of measures
(in which they have received training)

Use results for diagnostic purposes…

Clinical: psychological distress and psychopathology
Counselling: developmental and well-being problems
Educational: optimize learning and development in
educational settings
Industrial: determine suitability for employment;
effectiveness in work environment; develop psychological
measures
Neuro-: disorders arising from neuropsychological
conditions
Forensic: provide input in forensic/legal matters
 Research Psychologists
 Administer and score measures (in which they have received
training)
 Use results for research purposes
 Develop psychological measures

Registered Counsellors
 Administer, score, interpret and report on certain psychological
measures – received training
 NOT allowed to use:
 Certain projective measures – CAT, TAT, Rorschach
 Diagnosis for psychopathology
 Specialist neuropsychological measures
 Perform forensic or other specialist assessments
Psychometrics Committee of the
Professional Board of Psychology:
Classifications are the process whereby a decision is made
regarding:
• nature of a measure
• And who may use it.
• Would results be used in the performance of a
psychological act?
• Which category of practitioner may use the measure?
• Are minimum standards met in terms of psychometric
properties and suitability in SA context?
Professional Board for
Psychology function:
 Protect the public.
 Public allowed to contact Board if they feel unfair usage or
unprofessional conduct.
 Ensuring training and professional practice guidelines.
 Establishing standards for assessment practitioners.
 Fair / Ethical Assessment Practices
Assessment practitioners need to:
1. Adequate knowledge and understanding of psychometrics, testing and
assessment.
2. Be familiar with professional and ethical standards of good practice.
3. Adequate knowledge and skills of specific measures being used.
4. Have contextual knowledge of how social, cultural and educational
factors affect testing.
5. Have appropriate interpersonal skills.
6. Ability to provide feedback in a meaningful and understandable way.
7. Have oral and written communication skills which enable giving clear
test instructions and write meaningful reports.
8. Be able to interact with relevant others as regards the outcome of the
assessment.
rights and responsibilities rights and responsibilities
of practitioner of test-taker
 Professional practitioner
are responsible for…
Informing test-taker of rights
and use of information.
Consent
Maintain confidentiality
Language
Score properly.
Communicate results.
Use information in fair and
unbiased manner.
Respectful re language, race,
culture, religion.
Prepared
Only use measure in which they
have been trained.
Administer properly
Use correct norms
Subjective nature of process
Secure storing and controlling
of material.
 Rights of Test Taker
Be informed of their rights
and responsibilities.
Be assessed on appropriate
measures.
Who the results will be
reported to.
Be assessed by properly
trained practitioner.
Know who will have access to
results.
Be treated with courtesy,
respect and impartiality.
Be informed re purpose and
nature of assessment.
How the results will be used.
Know whether they can
refuse assessment and the
consequences thereof.
 Responsibilities of
Test Taker

Listen carefully to rights and responsibilities.

Treat practitioner with respects and courtesy.
Ask questions for clarification if necessary.
Inform practitioner if there is anything that interferes
with assessment process.
Follow instructions carefully.
Represent themselves honestly.
Try their best during assessment process.
What the future holds…
Chapter 18

Class discussions:
Issues/Themes that recurred in the past
will recur in the future
What are/were these issues?
How do we address these constructively?
Can we address these issues constructively?
Journey so far…
 Western-oriented assessment measures adopted for SA use.
 Measures developed based on western-oriented theories,
standardised and normed for white SA.
 Misuse of measures and potential for inaccurate conclusions.
 Value, relevance and meaningfulness of psychological assessment for
ALL SA was questioned.
 Process of transforming psychological assessment to be contextually
appropriate.
 Future
 Culturally sensitive, meaningful and relevant measures are needed.
 Using both indigenous, African-centred measures AND Western-
oriented measures that are appropriately adapted for SA context.
 International recognition  17 SA sources in ITC International
Handbook of Testing and Assessment; South African Personality
Inventory (SAPI).
 Multi-disciplinary teams ~ culture and language
 Combined etic-emic approaches to conceptualise constructs:
 Etic  universal constructs
 Emic  culture-specific, indigenous constructs
 Future
 Findings of research studies into constructs provide useful insights.
 More measures adapted and translated - BUT 11 official languages in SA.
 Possibility of bi- or tri- lingual assessments.
 Development of parallel versions of cognitive measures for different
cultural and language groups.
 Employment Equity Act  government intolerant of misuse of
assessment in workplace
 Scientists and academics should be encouraged to engage in debates
around unresolved assessment issues or emerging issues
 Inspiration  African-
centred item content!
1. African artwork  geometric shapes for problem solving cognitive
assessment tasks.
2. Contextually appropriate items  maze presented on wooden board
rather than pencil and paper task.
3. 3-Dimensional, familiar objects rather than 2-dimensional visual
representation on a page.
4. Alternative for pencil and paper tasks – wet clay.
5. Creative arts for therapeutic interventions.
6. Incorporating oral traditions into assessments.
 Training
 Training programmes need to address practitioners to the science and
the art of assessment.
 Training errs on quantitative aspects ~ easier to train in usage and
application.
 Synthesis and integration of all assessment information represents the
art of assessment.
Lecturer has to be conversant with the theoretical underpinning of
assessment ~ science of assessment.
Lecturer needs to have practical experience to use real-life examples to
teach the art of assessment as well.
Professional practice
standards
Assessment practitioners need training in:
 Administration
 Scoring
 Interpretation of data
 Synthesise and integrate information
 Inform test-takers of their rights
 Motivate test-takers to fully participate
 Establish rapport ~ put them at ease
 Provide understandable feedback ~ oral and written
 Write reports for different target audiences and different applied
settings
 Make informed choices re purchase measures