BACKGROUND TO TESTING

PURPOSE OF TESTING Great deal of info, short period of time Predicting career success Assessing desires, interests, and attitudes Revealing psychological problems

DANGERS OF TESTING Tests are TOOLS Support one part of an assessment Test results ≠ things themselves Good test is reliable, valid, and has well established norms

TEST RELIABILITY Test’s consistency Same results under different circumstances Eliminates interferences on test-end Cannot eliminate emotional/physical problems 1.Test-Retest: short period of time, same score? 2.Inter-scorer: same score, different grader? 3.Split-half: each half shores same scores

TEST VALIDITY Ability of a test to measure what it intended to measure Predictive Validity Do the results predict behaviors/desired qualities? Purpose of test needs to be clear

INTERACTIONS

ESTABLISHING NORMS Raw scores provide data for individuals Need to compare data Percentile System Scores are ranked from highest to lowest, middle score becomes 50% Ex: 25 Questions 12, 22, 20, 1, 6, 15, 4, 22, 15, 10 1, 4, 6, 10, 12, 15, 15, 20, 22, th percentile = th percentile = 22

ESTABLISHING NORMS CONT. Percentiles established as basis Called the test’s norms Reflects your standing among people of your own demographic Age, gender, race, etc. Norms are not standards Only what is average for a group 50 th percentile is not meeting an absolute standard Only better than 50% of test takers