II. What is a Psychological Test?

    A psychological test is an instrument that indicates how much a participant has of the quality the test measures. A test can be defined as a standardized procedure for sampling behavior and describing it with categories or scores. Psychological testing was originally designed for two purposes: to measure intelligence and to detect personality disorders. Over time, psychological testing has expanded to measure diverse concepts.  

    Psychological tests must meet three criteria: (1) Reliability, (2) Standardization, and (3) Validity. Tests are used by a variety of professionals, including school psychologists, special-education teachers, clinical psychologists, guidance counselors, psychiatrists, speech therapists, guidance teachers, nurses and engineers. 

    Tests are used for a variety of purposes, which can be  labeled as (1) classification, (2) self-understanding, (3) program evaluation, and (4) scientific inquiry. Classification involves a decision that a person belongs in a certain category. Self-understanding involves using test information as a source of information about oneself. Program evaluation involves the use of tests to assess the effectiveness of a particular program or course of action. For all areas of research (scientific inquiry), the precise measurement of individual differences made possible by well-constructed tests is an essential prerequisite. Professional journals in the social and behavioral sciences include studies which use psychological tests to operationally define relevant variables and to translate hypotheses into numerical statements that can be assessed statistically. 

 Traditional Intelligence Tests

Two types of traditional intelligence tests talked about in this class were the Stanford-Binet and the Wechsler Intelligence Tests.

          The Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale - Fifth Ed. is the modern form of the Binet-Simon Scale. The Binet-Simon Scale was formulated to identify students who would benefit from special education. The resulting score from early forms of the test was called a "mental age." With this scale, the mental age was now put into a ratio with the person's chronological age and the value was multiplied by 100--called the intelligence quotient or "IQ." IQ scores are now based on "Deviation IQs."

Another group of intelligence tests was the Wechsler Scales of Intelligence. These tests include the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fourth Edition, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -Third Edition, and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Scale - Third Ed. These tests are the "gold standard" for traditional intelligence tests. For each of these tests, there are  verbal and performance (non-verbal) scales.

Sources for Test Information

           In 1978, Oscar Burros published the first Mental Measurements Yearbook (MMY). This was the first guide for all tests published in English (including all paper-and-pencil tests). With the start of these publications, the Buros Institute was formed. Tests in Print is another publication of Burros Institute. These are guides for using MMY; they give factual information on the tests and also give reference lists. Tests in Microfiche is a vast storehouse of unpublished tests from books, journals and unpublished reports.