What are the basic elements of Psychological Testing?
Psychological testing is increasingly being used by experts and organizations to make an evaluation of the different people they plan to interact and work with in various aspects of today’s world. Employers are using these tests to evaluate an individual’s compatibility with the principles the company runs by, doctors are using the tests to try and solve or explain various issues they encounter during their interaction with patients and even teachers or schools employ these tests on their students to try and understand the characters they are dealing with thus be able to better teach and interact with the students. Psychological tests are continually being applied in many other areas even as the tests continue to be developed and changed to enhance their use in these different situations.
Psychological testing has some basic elements that it operates by independent of the type of psychological test that is being administered:
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1. A review of the problem or presenting issue. This is basically the main reason why the person is coming in for an evaluation or why the testing is being done in the first place. In some cases, the individual being tested may also not know the exact problem they are seeking help for and it is upon the psychologist to determine this from the investigation that he/she will carry out. It is in most cases a verbal, informal interaction between the psychologist and the patient with the psychologist being keen to observe any visible changes in body language and even speech that accompany the interaction. Presenting problems could be insomnia, restlessness, poor organizational skills etc ( Powell, 2016).
2. Psychological interview. This is a more structured interaction where the psychologist aims to get in-depth knowledge about the client and may involve a series of predetermined questions accompanied by instructions on when and how more information can be asked for. The main purpose of these first two elements is collection of data that can be used to determine which test to be administered and how ( Powell, 2016).
3. Psychological testing. With the information collected in the earlier processes, an appropriate test can be chosen that corresponds to the problem identified and the actual variable that is being measured. The individual is asked to answer a series of specific questions that correspond to a particular standardized group to determine their similarity to this group. The variables being measured may include personality, moods, aptitude among others ( Powell, 2016).
4. Interpretation and recommendation. This is where the psychologist puts together the information collected from the first two processes and the psychological testing and attempts to come up with a diagnosis of what truly ails the individual and what can be done to substantially address the issue. This is usually through the recommendation of clinically proven treatment interventions for those patients requiring treatment or a detailed explanation of the issues to those not requiring any form of treatment but just need the information. The psychologist is required to prepare a report detailing the interaction with the individual and also put it in a way that other people looking to use that information can understand e.g. schools, employers, other health practitioners etc ( Powell, 2016).
Describe your current opinion of psychological testing.
Psychological testing has undergone a lot of changes throughout the years and has been greatly influenced by technological advancement being witnessed in all areas of modern life. Advancements in medicine, transportation and movement of people has seen people access medical care from remote locations largely eliminating the need for face-to-face interaction unless for specific cases. However, it is my opinion that psychological testing has not advanced proportionately with most people still required to physically visit a psychologist to have a psychological assessment carried out. Globalization has also made the world smaller in some way due to the ease of movement of people and services thus services such as psychological assessments should also be available easily to most people but this is not the case.
To ensure that psychological testing is moving with the times, practitioners should look for ways to incorporate more technology in their practice to take advantage of benefits such as remote access to patients and also computerized assessments which could increase efficiency of the tests and also allow for more complex comparisons and variations resulting in faster and accurate recommendations for the patient. (Marnat & Wright, 2016).
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of psychological testing?
A major advantage of modern psychological testing lies in how comprehensive and wholesome the tests can be made thus eliminating the possibilities of an individual taking the test to lie since this can be easily identified through the inconsistencies that will appear in the results of the test. The different elements of the test such as observation, interviews, and the actual test allow the psychologist to ask about a particular issue using various approaches. Through this the psychologist sieves out any information that seems false and is inconsistent with the pattern of responses from the test taker.
Scientific consistency or reliability is another advantage of psychological testing which has contributed in decision making being easier. The tests are usually carried out following scientific procedures that have been standardized and are reliable in interpreting various attributes or characters expressed by an individual. This reliability has seen many test results even being used in legal cases since the information can be easily extracted and results analyzed.
Objectivity of psychological tests is also another advantage as it eliminates any feelings of bias or unfairness in an individual. This makes it easier for any recommendations arising from the tests to be followed since the individual obtains a clear picture of themselves and the particular problem thus is more willing to act on the recommendations.
A major limitation or disadvantage of psychological tests is the ability of the psychologist or client to affect the reliability of the interview part of the assessment. This can thoroughly affect the outcome of the whole assessment if not identified and acted upon in the later stages or through the seeking of a second opinion.
Psychologists are also usually not readily available to most people due to their costs and also distribution. Most psychological services are privately owned and charge a premium for their services besides being located in only a few areas thus leaving the masses without proper access to these psychological assessments.
Validity, Reliability, and Standardization
Validity refers to the ability of a test to measure exactly what it was intended to measure therefore producing relevant information for use by clinicians or psychologists. The validity of a test is not constant and changes depending on the particular situation of a client. This means that a test may be valid for a particular client assessment and not valid for another nearly similar client due to the presence of one or two other variables that may affect the test results. The generalization of a particular degree of validity is therefore an important issue and it will be determined by the similarities between the sample used in test construction and the one being actually tested (Marnat & Wright, 2016).
Reliability refers to the consistency and predictability of the test. It is basically the degree to which a test will produce the same result if given to the same person on different occasions. A possible range of error is usually allowed to cater for random fluctuation caused by issues such as client mood at time of testing or misreading of some items although this should be kept at a minimum. With random fluctuation kept at a minimum, the test administrator can attribute any major difference between the scores to a genuine difference and not a random fluctuation. When testing for reliability, the time taken between the tests should be factored in as a few significant changes could have happened within that period. This interval and any life changes should therefore be indicated while carrying out the retest (Marnat & Wright, 2016).
Standardization refers to the consistency of the conditions and population on which the test is carried out. Standardization of a test ensures that the individual or population being tested has enough similarities to the population that was used in the test construction thus one can draw comparisons between the two groups and come up with accurate conclusions and recommendations. The less the similarities of the person under testing with the standardized group then the less relevant or useful the test will be in their evaluation. Standardization is therefore important if a particular test is to be used in the evaluation of an individual or a specific population (Marnat & Wright, 2016).
References
Marnat G. & Wright J. (2016). Handbook of Psychological Assessment, 6 th Edition . John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Powell, J. (2016). Psychological testing: An Introduction. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ5GNhMGkSM
