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Chapter 1

Chapter 1. Psychological Testing and Assessment . Twelve Assumptions in Psychological Testing and Assessment. Assumption 1: Psychological traits and states exist Observed (manifest) vs. latent Can you study something invisible? Logical positivism, Behaviorism

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Chapter 1

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  1. Chapter 1 Psychological Testing and Assessment

  2. Twelve Assumptions in Psychological Testing and Assessment • Assumption 1: Psychological traits and states exist • Observed (manifest) vs. latent • Can you study something invisible? • Logical positivism, Behaviorism • Assumption 2: Psychological traits and states can be quantified and measured • Can you really assign a numeric value to everything? • Rasch: objective measurement • Assumption 3: Various approaches to measuring aspects of the same thing can be useful (MethodologyTriangulation)

  3. Twelve Assumptions in Psychological Testing and Assessment • Assumption 4: Assessment can provide answers to some of life’s most momentous questions • Tracking (in the UK system) • screening and placement • Assumption 5: Assessment can pinpoint phenomena that require further attention or study • National (?) assessment: No Child Left behind (The objective of assessment is…) • International assessment: PISA, TIMSS

  4. What is PISA? Not these • PISA: Program for International Student Assessment is a series of assessments on reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy, sponsored by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and administered internationally to 15-year-olds • TIMSS: The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is administered every four years internationally to both fourth and eighth grade students.

  5. Source: OECD/PISA and Wikipedia

  6. Source: TIMSS and Wikipedia

  7. Obama's "Sputnik Moment" • In 1957 the USSR launched the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik. In order to fill the technological gap, the US government awarded financial support to promote math and science education. • In response to the performance gap between the US students and Asian/European students, President Obama introduced the phrase "Sputnik moment" to argue for more investment in science, technology, engineering, and technology (STEM) education.

  8. Twelve Assumptions in Psychological Testing and Assessment (Cont’d) • Assumption 6: Various sources of data enrich and are part of the assessment process(Data triangulation) • Assumption 7: Various sources of error are part of the assessment process

  9. Error is everywhere! • Sources of error • Measurement error • Sampling error • Types of error • Bias: Systematic e.g. self-report height and weight • Variance: Random

  10. Twelve Assumptions in Psychological Testing and Assessment (Cont’d) • Assumption 8: Tests and other measurement techniques have strengths and weaknesses • Classical test theory • Item response theory • Rasch model

  11. Twelve Assumptions • Assumption 9: Test-related behavior predicts non–test-related behavior • Assumption 10: Present-daybehavior sampling predicts future behavior • Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses -- After 4 years, 36% college graduates showed no gains in higher order thinking skills. US corporations complain that college graduates don’t have the critical thinking skill required by the jobs. • Corporations launch their own assessment programs e.g. MCSE, CCNA.

  12. Examples of industry certification/assessment program

  13. Twelve Assumptions in Psychological Testing and Assessment (Cont’d) • Assumption 11: Testing and assessment can be conducted in a fair and unbiased manner • Assumption 12: Testing and assessment benefit society

  14. Who, What and Why? • Who Are the Parties? • The test developer • The test user • The test taker • Society at large

  15. The test developer • Subject matter expert/content expert: item authoring • Psychometrician: item analysis, factor analysis • Database programmer/IT personnel: item banking • Program manager: put all together

  16. Evaluating the Quality of Tests • What is a “Good” Test? • Reliability • Validity • Other settings • Reference Sources for Test Information • Test catalogues • Test manuals • Journal articles • Online and CD-Rom databases • Other sources

  17. http://www.creative-wisdom.com/pub/efficacy.pdf

  18. Exercise (2 points) • Form a group consisting of 3-4 people. One or two must have a Web-enabled laptop. • Access the APU library • Look for Mental Measurements Yearbook (the electronic version) • Search for instruments that measure psychological constructs (e.g. anxiety, depression, happiness…etc) • Read the comments at the end • Discuss which one is the best.

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