Psychological tests and measurements refer to standardized measures associated with specific psychological variables like intelligence, personality, and emotional functioning. Psychological testing and measurement precisely entail a process through which the test taker is taken through sequential questions with answers varying between true or false. It can be done using visual, written, or verbal strategies. Psychological testing and measurement play a crucial role in understanding the psychological state of a person.
In numerous ways, psychological testing and measurement are closely related to medical tests, only that each adopts a different process to reach the result. According to Swerdlik (2020 ), psychological testing and measurement have numerous advantages. Through this testing and measurement process, it is possible to observe a client's behavior, thus making it easy to reach a required diagnosis or treatment guide. Psychological tests and measurements are also used to impact a person's behavioral variables. For instance, when an individual is continuously experiencing challenges at the workplace or in school, these psychological tests and measurements can help psychologists establish the interpersonal problems that one might be experiencing. When people experience emotional disorders like depression and anxiety, these tests and measurements can be used to ascertain the critical cause and possibly provide necessary intervention measures.
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People gain a lot by conducting psychological assessments. These assessments provide crucial information concerning an individual's strengths and weaknesses. They are also used to identify fundamental problems associated with cognition and emotional-based reactivity ( Swerdlik, 2020 ). For example, through conducting psychological assessments, we can establish or understand whether a person is high tempered or not. This information helps the person conducting the assessment to develop necessary intervention measures that are person-specific/ centered, thus more effective and efficient. The assessments also give an understanding of one's level of development within a specific area of interest. Career skills and cognitive development can also be estimated using psychological assessments. Through conducting a psychological assessment, we can establish the right environment under which specific people feel most comfortable. This technology can be used to study people associated with being high-tempered and possibly developing reasonable intervention measures.
Psychological assessment is also associated with several limitations. These challenges make it hard to develop ideal and credible conclusions concerning the psychological assessment being done. Examples of challenges facing psychological assessment include testing people with disabilities. This becomes a problem when constructing or transforming a test into a relatively friendly form and can be taken by the test taker. Another challenge is transforming the test taker results to make them scorable, and lastly, people experience challenges when interpreting the test data ( Swerdlik, 2020 ). Another challenge is the unregulated online psychological testing, making it easy for unqualified professionals to provide online test-forms. Unregulated online psychological testing has resulted in breaching testing ethics since most of those doing it online are incompetent and have not garnered career professionalism.
These challenges facing psychological assessment can be addressed through institution impactful online regulations to restrict people from illegally constructing test forms that are unprofessional and illegal. Online rules and regulations should be enacted to prevent people from providing online test forms that are not lawful and violate the test takers' rights. The challenges involved when conducting tests on people with disabilities should also be addressed. For example, there should be tabulation forms created before administering the tests to make the process easier and less time consuming when interpreting the test scores. The test data should be immediately analyzed after test takers provide their filled forms to ensure on-time information collection.
Reference
Swerdlik, C. (2020). Psychological Testing and Assessment: An Introduction to Tests and Measurement (7th ed., pp. 3-88). McGraw−Hill Primis.
