Psychological Testing

You are familiar with devices used to measure physical characteristics: the bathroom scale
tomeasure your body weight, the ruler to measure length or distance. But what about
psychologicalcharacteristics such as introversion/extroversion, aptitude, or intelligence? For
thosecharacteristics, too, there are special devices used to measure them, called
psychological tests
.In fact, these are real measuring instruments, and are sometimes actually referred to as
instruments
.To be of any value, psychological tests must have certain properties. In this paper I
describethose characteristics and how we go about assessing them. After that, I review a selected
sampleof psychological tests.
Properties of a Good Psychological Test
Three important properties of any good psychological test are validity, reliability, and
(whereappropriate) standardization. Below I define each of these properties and describe ways in
whichthose properties are established.
Validity
A psychological test is said to be
valid
if it measures what it is intended to measure. Anintelligence test, for example, is valid to
the extent that it does measure intelligence and notsimply some other variable, such as
knowledge. A number of ways to assess the validity of a testhave been developed; here I will
describe a few of them.


Concurrent Validity
-- results of the test agree with those of another test of acceptedvalidity as a measure of that
characteristic. A newly developed test of intelligence would be considered to have concurrent
validity if it gave the same I.Q. values (withinmeasurement error) as an established intelligence
test.


Predictive Validity
-- predictions based on the results agree with what one would expectif the test is a valid measure
of the characteristic. A newly developed test of intelligencewould be considered to have
predictive validity if those who score high on the test tend todo very well in academic settings or
other areas thought to require high intelligence,while those who score low on the test do poorly
in those areas.


Face Validity
-- examination of the test reveals that the test
appears
to measure what it isintended to measure. For example, a test of mathematical aptitude contains
mathematicaland logical problems to solve. Face validity is a relatively poor index of the validity
ofthe test as gaged by other methods -- a test may have low face validity and yet prove tohave
good predictive validity, for example.
Reliability

A psychological test is
reliable
to the extent that it produces similar results when the individualis repeatedly tested under the
same conditions. There are two main methods used to assessreliability, described below.


Test-Retest Reliability
-- the same individuals ar given the test twice, separated by someinterval of time. The Pearson
r
correlation is then computed on the pairs of scores acrossindividuals. A test is said to have high
test-retest reliability if the correlation is 0.95 or better (where 1.0 equals perfect reliability).Test-
retest reliability is useful for tests of characteristics that change only slowly overtime, such as
intelligence. If the characteristic changes between administrations of thetest, then the test
reliability will appear to be low, when it fact the test may be reliablytracking real changes in the
characteristic.Another potential problem with this method is that individuals may remember
theiranswers on the first administration of the test and simply repeat those answers on thesecond.
If they do, then the test will appear to be more reliable than it really is. To avoidthis problem,
testmakers sometimes produce an
alternate form
of the test, which issupposed to be equivalent to the original but with somewhat different items.
However,this introduces another problem, that of assuring that the two versions are
indeedequivalent.


Split-Half Reliability
-- individuals take the test and then the items are divided into twoequivalent halves, which are
then separately scored. The pairs of scores for each test arethen correlated as in the test-retest
method.The split-half method has the advantage that no time elapses between
"administrations,"so the characteristic being measured cannot change. However, the method has
the samedisadvantage as the use of alternate forms with the split-half method: the split halves
maynot be exactly equivalent and, if not, then the true reliability of the test will
beunderestimated.
Standardization
In tests of physical characteristics such as weight, it is possible to establish the
accuracy
of themeasurement by comparing measurements against a set of
known standards
. For example, ascale could be checked against standard weights of 50 grams, 100 grams, 500
grams, and so on.If inaccuracies were found, the scale would be
calibrated
to remove them. Standard samples formany variables are available from the National Bureau of
Standards.For psychological characteristics, there are no standard samples that one can purchase
and use toevaluate the accuracy of the test. (For example, you cannot rent a person known to
have an I.Q.of exactly 100.) Thus, to standardize psychological tests, a different method is
needed. What isactually done is to administer the test to a large sample of individuals from the
population forwhich the test is intended, and then compute certain group statistics, usually the
mean andstandard deviation. These provide the average value across individuals and the amount
of

variability, and are used to determine a formula for converting

raw scores
to
standard scores
.For example, different I.Q. tests are standardized so that the average I.Q. on the test is 100.
Some Examples of Psychological Tests
Psychological tests abound; here I provide only a few major categories and examples.


Intelligence Tests
-- these measure aspects of intelligence that contribute to goodacademic performance. I'll
provide more information on these later.


Personality Tests
-- these measure personality characteristics. Different tests measuredifferent characteristics,
according to the theory of personality on which they were based.Examples include:
o

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

-- measures personality traits onseveral scales based on true-false answers to 500 statements.
Scale values are plotted on a set of parallel scales and the dots are connected by lines to form
a"profile" used in diagnosis and assessment. Objectively scored.
o

Thematic Apperception Test

(TAT) -- individual is shown a series of 8" X 10"cards, each depicting a scene of some sort, and
is asked to tell a story based onthat scene. Designed to allow the person to "project" something
about himself orherself into the answers (a type of
projective
test). Not objectively scored.
o

Rorshack Inkblot Test

-- individual is shown a series of left-right symmetricalinkblots and is asked to describe what he
or she sees there. Another projectivetest.


Aptitude Tests
-- designed to indicate an individual's aptitude or talent in some area. Itworks by assessing the
degree to which the individual already has the requisiteknowledge and skills required. The SAT
that high-school students take for admission tocollege assesses your aptitude for college-level
work. In fact, it was once called the"Scholastic Aptitude Test," but has been renamed for
political reasons.


Achievement Tests
-- these measure what an individual knows or can do. A familiarexample to Indiana students is
the ISTEP test, designed to assess what Indiana primaryand secondary school students have
learned.


Interest Inventory
-- I like to mention this one because I took it myself as anundergraduate and found it helpful
when I was trying to decide on a career. The tests asksyou to indicate, for each of a large number
of activities, what you are interested or notinterested in doing. Your results are compared to
the pattern marked by successfulindividuals in each of a variety of occupational fields. If your
responses match up wellwith those of, say, a successful architect, then you would probably enjoy
the sort of workan architect does. This does
not
tell you, however, whether you have any aptitude for thework! (For that you need to take other
tests.)
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