Final Exam for Prin of psych testing (ch 10-14) (slides)

How to calculate response rates

Salkind & Frey (Pg 255) provided the following information about how response rates are calculated using a simple equation. Response rate = Number of people who filled out the survey Number of people who you asked to fill out the survey Example: Response rate = 65 completed / 100 people asked to do so = 65% response rate

Selection items

are "a question format where respondents select their answer from a set of answer options." (Pg 213, 324) ¡Due to this when a set of selection items are used, a test taker has a chance of selecting the right answer even if they do not know what it is. ¡Salkind & Frey, explained on Pg 213, that this type of format is the popular, and "this format is often the most reliable and often the most valid approach to assessment."

Personality test

are "tests that measure enduring traits and characteristics of an individual." (Pg 323)

Personality trait

is "a relatively stable, consistent, and enduring internal characteristic that is inferred from a pattern of behaviors, attitudes, feelings, and habits in the individual."

Personality type

- is "a constellation of traits and characteristics

Personality

- is "the enduring configuration of characteristics and behavior that comprises an individual's unique adjustment to life, including major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns." (Personality - APA Dictionary) ¡"Personality is generally viewed as a complex, dynamic integration or totality shaped by many forces, including hereditary and constitutional tendencies; physical maturation; early training; identification with significant individuals and groups; culturally conditioned values and roles; and critical experiences and relationships." ¡"Various theories explain the structure and development of personality in different ways, but all agree that personality helps determine behavior." (Personality - APA Dictionary)

Rules for writing matching items

1.Have more answer options than stems. - Doing this makes it harder for students to guess the correct answers. 2.Allow answer options to be used more than once or not at all. 3.Answer options should be shorter than the stems. - "The idea is the stem gives enough structure for students to know the type of answer that is expected and they can scan answer options more quickly." ¡Note: "when creating and organizing matching items, try to make sure they appear in homogeneous groups (i.e., groups that are similar in content and level of difficulty)." (Pg 218)

Rules for writing true false items

1.If you are going to use this format, have lots of them. - By having quite of few of them, it helps to balance out the statistical odds of making correct guesses. ¡"Across a bunch of these easy-to-guess items, good (or bad) luck will cancel itself out, so a total score of these items put together is fairly reliable." (219) 2.Have a roughly equal number of true and false items. 3.Avoid having the true statements longer than the false statements. 4.Focus on one idea or fact in each statement.

Rules for writing objectively short answer and completion items

1.If you have a choice, create a short-answer question rather than a completion item. ¡The reason for this is as follows, "questions are clearer and more straightforward, and the leave less room for ambiguity." 2.Avoid grammatical clues to the correct answer. ¡Example: using a(n) rather than a. 3.Do not copy short-answer or completion items straight from the study material that test taker are using to prepare. 4.For fill-in-the-blank items, try to use only one blank and put it at the end. ¡Note: this can be adjusted for by making sure that there is sufficient content/context within items. If more than one blank is used in an item, there must be sufficient text in the stem to ensue it is clear what you are asking about or referring too.

Parts of a constructed response item

A constructed-response item includes a described task (i.e, the stimulus or instructions or prompt that tells the student what they supposed to do or make), and a response (i.e., the student's answer)." (Pg 229) ¡Salkind & Frey noted that "when used correctly, the response has more than one piece and requires several choices during construction." ¡It is because of the complexity of them that "they almost always require a rubric (or scoring guide), in order to be scored, and human judgment is necessary to score it meaningfully." (Pg 229) ¡Note: historically constructed-response items required the human judgment aspect to complete the scoring process. However, as computer algorithms and scanning technology advanced the use of computer and Artificial Intelligence for scoring is becoming more and more a possibility. ¡Salkind & Frey noted that "for written essays, like the analytical essays required by tests like the SAT, it is intriguing to discover that software exists that can score essays and assign points to them in almost exactly the same way as trained humans judges do." (Pg 229 & 230) ¡Reflect on this: How would you feel if a computer program reviewed your essay and assigned you a failing grade.

Career choices and reconsiderations

Ask yourself this, after spending years investing in a field of study or career path, do you have to stay with it? Salkind & Frey noted on Pg 198, that "although many have a career for which they have trained years [for]... they, too, may change their employment focus and select another vocation depending on a variety of factors, including compensation, benefits, location, and the associated lifestyle that comes with this or that job." ¡They further pointed out that "Counseling psychologist... will tell you that most people change their careers several times in a lifetime and happenstance or chance is the man reason why." Increasingly, over the past 4 decades it has become much less common for individuals to stay in the same job from the start of their career to the point of retirement decades later. ¡Multiple factors have played into this change, some of which are decline in company pension programs, shifting focus on people's priorities, changes in people's needs and aspirations, and an increase in opportunities as the United States economy has shifted away from being primarily agriculturally and manufacturing based to that of a service and technology based economy.

Questions about attitudes

Be aware, that in surveys assessing attitudes, the "questions" are often written as statements that a person is asked to agree or disagree with. ¡This is a very common strategy utilized, and the following guidelines can help the assessment developer write them well. 1.Word questions as simply as possible. (This is because to assess attitudes you want to get to the point quickly and precisely as possible). 2.Keep the question balanced. (You do not want to lead the survey taker one way or the other) 3.Avoid double-barreled questions (i.e., do not ask two questions in the same item) 4.Avoid the use of negatives in questions (This is because people do not always read the question items carefully and could miss the negative word, such as "not".)

constructed response items

Constructed-response items - are "classroom assessment tasks that ask students to create a complex response, product, or written answer." (Pgs. 228 & 321) ¡Examples of constructed-response items are: creating maps, graphs, reports, posters, diagrams. Also they can include having a student do craft projects, make a sculpture, make models/dioramas. ¡"Even written assignments like essays, research papers, short stories, and book reports [are examples of constructed-response items], because students supply the answer rather than selecting it." (Pg 228.) It is important to understand that "Constructed-response items are a type of supply item,... not a selection item, because students supply the answers rather than selecting it [from a provided list of options]." (Pg 228) ¡"Teachers can use constructed-response items to assess knowledge and basic understanding..." ¡Furthermore, "constructed-response items are best used for measuring complex student skills and abilities." (Pg 229)

Portfolios (continued)

Educational researchers who spend a lot of time thinking about classroom assessment tend to fawn all over portfolios because they might b fairer for all students compared to, say, a multiple-choice test or a single essay assignment, and they involve students in the assessment process, which can actually increase learning." (Pg 236) Salkind & Frey also noted the following: 1.A good portfolio is both formative and summative in nature. ¡Meaning that the evaluation is continuous and summative in that there is a final evaluation aspect to them. 3.Portfolios allow students to participate directly in their own growth and learning. 4.Portfolios allow teachers to become increasingly involved in the process of designing and implementing curriculum. ¡However, "in many educational settings, teachers are told what they need to teach and even how." Therefore, the viability of using the portfolio approach may not be supported by the school administration or the state in which they teach. (See Pgs. 235 - 237 for further information about portfolios.)

Performance based writing tasks (continued)

Essay questions are "items where the test taker writes a multisentence response to a question." (Pgs. 231 & 322) ¡They come in two basic types: 1.Open-ended essay questions (aka unrestricted/extended) - are "an item where there are no restrictions on the response, including the amount of time allowed to finish[, or the number of pages written, or the material included]." (Pgs 323) ¡With that said, applying practical limits (such as a submission deadline) is to be expected, but "the limits do not define the scope of the response." 2.Closed-ended essay questions (aka restricted) - are "an essay question format where the respondent has very little freedom in terms of what content must be in the answer." (Pgs 321) ¡An example of a closed-ended essay question is as follows: ¡Compare and contrast the four levels of measurement discussed earlier in this course. Limit your paper to 5-8 pages. ¡Note: as you can see with this example, the scope of the response has been limited, and the paper length has restraints placed on it as well.

Performance based writing tasks

Essay type questions are some of the most unrestricted types of items, with the point of them being to assess how well a student can organize information & express their ideas in writing. ¡It is because of this that essay style exams are commonly used in master's and doctoral degree training programs as part of their comprehensive exam process. ¡Written assessment performance-based tasks, aim to assess a person's abilities, comprehension levels, and ability to effectively organize and communicate complex information in a clear, concise, and effective manner. ¡Further, more they are useful in assessing a student's critical thinking skills, and ability to evaluate information from multiple perspectives, and present ideas and arguments in a sophisticated way.

Factor Analysis and Personality Test Development

Factor Analysis is a "statistical method for validating personality tests and other measures that assess complex constructs revels the hidden dimensions of what is being measured." (Pg 184) ¡It is "a way of looking at relationships between variables and helping identify which of those variables relate to one another." ¡When variables do relate to each other they form a set, which is referred to as being a factor. ¡Factor is "an underlying unobservable latent variable to be responsible for the interrelations among a set of variables." (Factor - APA Dictionary) ¡Salkind & Frey explain that a factor is "a collection of variables that are related to one another." (Pgs. 184 & 322) ¡It is important to understand that "when we use factor analysis, we look for patterns of commonality" and "this method can be used to find correlational patterns among items..." (Pg 184) ¡Factor Analysis was used by Raymond Cattell to develop the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF). Additionally, the NEO Inventories have been developed utilizing the factor analysis approach. Note: "In the development of personality tests using the factor analysis approach, the identification and adherence to a particular personality theory are the most important elements." (Pg 185)

Forensic Assessment

Forensic Neuropsychology is "the application of clinical neuropsychology to issues of both civil and criminal law, particularly those relating to claims of brain injury." (Forensic Neuropsychology - APA Dictionary) Forensic Assessment is the "systematic evaluation by a mental health practitioner of a defendant, witness, or offender for the purpose of informing the court about such issues as competency to stand trial, criminal responsibility, and risk assessment." (Forensic Assessment - APA Dictionary) Forensic Psychiatry is "the branch of psychiatry concerned with abnormal behavior and mental disorders as they relate to legal issues, hearings, and trials. Major areas of concern include insanity pleas (see insanity defense) and the legal definition of insanity; procedures to commit individuals to mental hospitals; and questions of criminal responsibility, competency to stand trial, guardianship, conservatorship, and confidentiality." (Forensic Psychiatry - APA Dictionary) It is important to understand that "forensic assessment happens when an attorney or the court requests it, and forensic assessment techniques are used to determine the facts surrounding [a] case." (Pg 193)

Things to consider regarding writing essay items

Salkind & Frey shared the following guidelines on Pgs. 232 & 233. 1.Allow adequate time to answer the question. ¡Additionally, the test taker needs to know how much time they have to commit to the writing process. 2.Be sure the question is complete & clear. 3.Essay questions should be used only to evaluate higher-order outcomes, such as when comparisons, evaluations, analyses, and interpretations are required.

multiple choice anatomy 101

Multiple-choice questions and items are made up of 3 parts. 1.Stem - which is the question or instruction that is being responded to. 2.Keyed Answer - which is the correct answer for the test item/question. 3.Distractors - which are the incorrect answers presented in the list of possible answers. ¡Salkind & Frey noted on Pg 215, "they key to a great multiple-choice question is a set of terrific distractors - those answer options that are plausible but are not correct." ¡"The idea with a distractor is that it looks appealing to students who know a little about the topic, but maybe haven't done all the reading or homework they were supposed to." ¡Note: The distractors "shouldn't be designed to fool someone who actually has the knowledge or has met the learning objective."

Portfolios

It is important to understand that tests and test scores are not always the best way to evaluate a person's performance, skill, or ability levels. ¡Because of this, sometimes reviewing a collection of works done by a student may provide more pertinent information for consideration. One way of doing this is by reviewing a portfolio of the student's work. ¡Portfolio - is "a collection of work that shows efforts, progress, and accomplishment in one or more areas." (Pgs. 235 & 323) ¡"Historically, portfolios have been used to evaluate ability in the arts (both performing and creative), but for a generation now, they have been used in the classroom, as well." (Pg 235) ¡Note: Portfolios have a benefit for students, their teachers, as well as parents and school administrators. ¡"As a means for assessment, portfolios are clearly different from other, more traditional methods such as achievement tests... Where a traditional achievement test is more or less bound by time and content, a portfolio allows the student and the teacher to expand the format of the material being evaluated." (Pg 236) ¡With that said, the development and maintenance of a portfolio takes time and continued effort. ¡Additionally, it can also be time and resource consuming to evaluate it from a multi-lens perspective.

What is the difference about neuropsychological testing

Neuropsychological tests are always standardized, which means they are given in the same way to all people being tested and are scored in the same way as well." (Pg 190) ¡Additionally, "the subject's performance is compared with healthy individuals from the same social, economic, and demographic background (including race and gender)" ¡Note: Testing can also be repeated over time to track possible changes within a single person. It is important to understand that, "No one score from one test in the battery of tests in the definitive marker for neuropsychological health. Rather the psychologist uses many different tests and scores to reach a conclusion." ¡Often the evaluating neuropsychologist is looking for over lapping performance measurements across multiple assessments to determine whether there is a performance strength, deficit, or average functioning level/ability.

recommendations for designing constructed response items

Salkind & Frey shared the following guidelines to consider using when constructing performance-based items. 1.Be clear on what it takes to get all the points. 2.Share your scoring criteria with the test takers. 3.Give good instructions.

Developing Personality Tests

Items for personality tests can be developed using a variety of strategies. With that said, the most popular ways are using content & theory & criterion group. ¡The content & theory approach utilizes theoretical bases to formulate questions and test items to help assess for personality traits & characteristics of a particular type. ¡For example, if a researcher was wanting to assess for Narcissistic personality traits, they may include agree/disagree statements such was 'I belong with important people" or "People want to be like me' into their assessment to help identify people who are likely to have Narcissistic traits based on personality theory principles. ¡The criterion group approach has test developers look for differences between groups. "This is a process of discriminating between different sets of people who have already been classified as belonging to a certain group, behaving in a particular fashion, or having a particular occupation." (Pg 182). ¡With the criterion group approach, a researcher would take an already known group (such as people with depression), and have them respond to a set of questions. This will allow the test developer to identify a 'depressive' response pattern after having multiple depressed individuals provide responses to all of the test items. Later, the same questions would be administered to a person who is not from a known group, to see if they respond in a manner similar to and consistent with the pre-tested group. If their responses match up to the pre-tested group response patterns, then they are likely to share similar traits/characteristics. FYI: The MMPI was developed utilizing the criterion group approach.

Forensic Assessment (continued)

Key Terms to know: Competence - "1. the ability to exert control over one's life, to cope with specific problems effectively, and to make changes to one's behavior and one's environment, as opposed to the mere ability to adjust or adapt to circumstances as they are... 4. in law, the capacity to comprehend the nature of a transaction and to assume legal responsibility for one's actions." (Competence - APA Dictionary) Incompetence - "1. the inability to carry out a required task or activity adequately. 2. in law, the inability of a defendant to participate meaningfully in criminal proceedings... 3. in law, the inability to make sound judgments regarding one's transactions or personal affairs." (Incompetence - APA Dictionary) Capacity - "1. the maximum ability of an individual to receive or retain information and knowledge or to function in mental or physical tasks. 2. the potential of an individual for intellectual or creative development or accomplishment." (Capacity - APA Dictionary)

Areas of focus for neuropsychological testing

Neuropsychologist will often assess individual in the following areas/domains: Intelligence ¡Examples of intelligence tests used: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), Woodcock Jonson IV (WJ-IV) Memory functioning ¡Examples of memory tests used: Weschler Memory Scale (WMS), Memory Assessment Scales (MAS), California Verbal Learning Test, Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL) Language skills / abilities ¡Examples of language skills / ability tests used: Weschler Test of Adult Reading (WTAR), National Adult Reading Test (NART), Boston Naming Test, Multilingual Aphasia Examination (MAE) Executive Functions (i.e., "higher level cognitive processes of planning, decision making, problem solving, action sequencing, task assignment and organization, effortful and persistent goal pursuit, inhibition of competing impulses, flexibility in goal selection, and goal-conflict resolution." (Executive Functions - APA Dictionary) ¡Examples of tests used: Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST, Wisconsin card sorting test Image link), The Stroop Test (Stroop Effect - washington.edu), Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery (HRNB) Visuospatial Ability Examples of tests used: Clock-Drawing Test (clock-drawing test images), Hooper Visual Organization Test (VOT), Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT)

Tips on how to ask questions on questionnaires surveys

Nonthreatening Questions ¡Make the topic salient (i.e., outstanding, striking, or memorable) ¡Remember that "if you are asked about something that was or is important to you, you are going to remember and retrieve the information more vividly." ¡Give reminders of the context of the question. (The more context that is supplied in the question, the odds of getting a vague response reduces). ¡If you want to know about typical behavior, ask about recent behavior.

Let's talk about fit

On Pg 198, it was pointed out that "it's no surprise that career development is as much about what a person is as it is about what that person wants to do." ¡"Years of research in this area have verified that one's experience, values, and personality characteristics have a great deal to do with the choices one makes regarding a career, and those factors have to be taken into account." Due to this inventories and assessments have been developed and are frequently utilized to help individuals take stock of their interests, strengths/weaknesses, and other psychological factors to help identify options and assess "fit." The importance of fit with a job / career field is quite important not only for an individual and their happiness, but also for that of organizations and employers. ¡This is highlighted by the fact that even the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has created a website to discuss Job-Fit Measures (Job-Fit Measures (opm.gov)) (Note: the US Department of Labor, also has a list of careers by occupational categories. See O*NET for information on the various careers that the DoL tracks and gathers information on. (ONET Job Description - Occupational Information Network)

Information from table 11.1 (pgs 205-206)

On Pg 205 & 206 of the textbook, Salkind & Frey provide a table covering 5 different career development tests. We have already discussed the Strong Interest Inventory (on slide 5), and the Self-Directed Search (on slide 7). In addition to these two, they also share information about the following tests/assessments: ¡Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (KOIS) - which "measures interest in careers that require advanced technical or college training" and is also based on the Holland model of six personality factors. ¡Armed Services-Civilian Vocational Interest Survey (ASVIS) - which can be utilized to help make "career decisions about military and civilian jobs in the following eight occupational groups: [1] administrative-clerical-personnel, [2] communications, [3] computer & data-processing, [4] construction-engineering-craft, [5] mechanical-repairer-machining, [6] service & transportation, [7] health & health care, [8] scientific-technical-electronic." ¡Campbell Interest & Skill Survey (CISS) - which primarily focuses on "the importance of self-reported interests & self-reported skills, both through to be crucial in an individual's career planning." (for additional information regarding these three above noted tests/assessments, please see Table 11.1 in the text book)

Some additional information to read from the book

On Pgs. 187 & 188 of the textbook, Salkind & Frey provide information about the MMPI-2, NEO-PI, Rorschach Inkblot, 16PF APQ (Adolescent Personality Questionnaire), and the Draw a Person (DAP) personality tests. Please review each of these test on Table 10.1, to familiarize yourself with what they are, and facts about each of the tests.

Strong Interest Inventory (continued)

On the Strong Interest Inventory a participant provides their responses, and based on the response pattern they will be categorized into 6 occupational themes. 1.Realistic - which indicates a personal preference for "activities that are practical and hands-on and that result in tangible results, such as building, repairing, or fixing [things]." (Career field matches include Carpenter, Roofer, Builders, Mechanics, Welding, etc.) 2.Investigative - which indicates a personal preference "to solve problems that involve science and engineering, and they enjoy challenging situations that demand intellectual activity." (Career field matches include Chemist, Biologist, Engineer, Scientists). 3.Artistic - which indicates a personal preference for "activities that include the self-expression of ideas." (Career field matches include Musician, Filmmaker, Art related careers, etc.) 4.Social - which indicates a personal preference "to help others and find themselves attracted to situations where social causes are important." (Career field matches include Teachers, Social Workers, some types of psychologists, Non-profit oriented careers, etc.) 5.Enterprising - which indicates a personal preference for "activities that include self-management and leadership, in addition to [sales]." (Career field matches include Sales Representatives, Business Management, Advertising, etc.) 6.Conventional - which includes a personal preference for "activities where structure and order are a part of the work world." (Career field matches include Data Analysis, Administrative Assistants, Accounting, etc). For more details and examples use the following link: (Holland Code Model - Hollandcodes.com)

More information about rubrics

Per Salkind & Frey, they noted the following on Pg 235: 1.Rubrics allow for quick scoring and quick feedback. 2.Rubrics can improve teaching. ¡Because "the process of rubric development helps teachers to analyze and identify what is most important by explicitly focusing on those characteristics that define high-quality performance." 3.Rubrics can encourage the growth of student meta-cognitive and critical thinking skills. ¡When students are allowed to or invited to participate in the rubric creation process it can help them to "start to think about their own learning and develop the ability to judge for themselves the quality of their own work." 4.Rubrics can allow for meaningful sharing of student growth. ¡When "teachers break learning goals down into specific skills, components, or criteria of quality" this can help students (and their parents / tutors) better understand where their strengths are and where areas of deficiency are.

Types of personality tests (continued)

Projective Personality Tests - are "tests that have ambiguous or unclear stimuli." (Pgs. 179 & 324). ¡When a projective personality test is administered to a test taker, they "are asked to interpret or impose onto these stimuli their own meaning." (Pg 179). ¡"The idea behind projective tests is that individuals can impose their own sense of structure on an unstructured event and in doing so, they reveal important information about their view of the world and the characteristics that are associated with that view." (Pg 179) ¡Note: "Projective tests arose from Freudian psychology and the idea that we have a subconscious that has feelings we might not be consciously aware of but still affect our behavior. By interpreting a picture... our subconscious thoughts are projected onto the image." (Pg 179) Examples of Projective Personality Tests include the Rorschach Inkblot Test; the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT); House-Person-Tree Test (HTP)

Examples of neuropsychological screenings assessments

Psychologist and psychiatrist with assessment training will often utilize assessments that can be administered in an office setting to aid in determining whether a client/patient is in need of a referral for formal neuropsychological evaluation / testing. Examples of assessments that can be used in such settings are: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE, aka the Folstein Mini-Mental State Exam) ¡It is "an instrument used extensively to provide a quick screening assessment of cognitive status. The patient is asked simple questions relating to time and place orientation and required to perform simple tasks (e.g., write an intelligible sentence) assessing memory, attention, calculation, and language. Lower scores suggest that the patient should be evaluated for a cognitive impairment, such as dementia." (Mini-Mental State Examination - APA Dictionary) Repeatable Batter for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) It "was developed for the dual purposes of identifying and characterizing abnormal cognitive decline in the older adult and as a neuropsychological screening battery for younger patients. The entire battery takes less than 30 minutes to administer, and yields scaled scores for five cognitive domains.

Questionnaires and Surveys

Questionnaires & surveys are organized collections of questions used by researchers to get lots of answers and lots of data quickly and easily." (Pg 244) "From a scientific standpoint, these measurement instruments collect data in two ways." 1."They may use a set of unrelated questions to gather demographics and biographical information about people in order to describe them." 2."They may be interested in measuring some abstract concept or construct like attitudes and feelings and personality traits." ¡Note: "When these abstract fuzzy concepts are being measured, instead of unrelated questions, surveys tend to use scales (i.e., groups of questions that all tap into the same thing)." (Pg 244) ¡Scales - are "sets of questions all meant to measure the same construct or concept. By combining responses across all the questions, they allow for a single score to be created that represents a variable." (Pgs. 244 & 324) "Scales produce scores that tend to be more valid and tend to be more reliable than asking a single question."

Safely telling the truth

Random Responding - is "a technique where respondents are randomly assigned one question from two possibilities, one of which is a threatening question. Because only the respondent knows which question they are answering, it allows for an additional layer of privacy." (Pgs. 248 & 324) ¡Note: of the two questions that are possible for the respondent to receive, one of then should be a nonthreatening question that people are very unlikely to lie about. The reason for doing this is that by having a nonthreatening question for one option, and a threatening one as the other option, it can be mathematically estimated the number of people who anonymously responded positively to the threatening question. (For an example of this please read Pg 248 in the textbook).

Rules for writing multiple choice items

Salkind & Frey shared the following rules for writing multiple-choice items on Pgs. 215 & 216, 1.Use 4 or 5 answer options and make sure all the distractors are plausible. - The idea is to make it more difficult to guess the correct answer. 2.Don't include negatives in the stem or answer options. - This recommendation is because some individuals when they read the test items may not see or recognize the not or negative statements. ¡Note: This can be counter balanced by emphasizing the not or negative statement in the stem, by underlying or bolding the negative word. 3.Stems should be complete sentences. - Meaning that they should have the correct punctuation included in them. 4.Avoid grammar hints and other clues in the wording that might give away the answer. 5.Items need to be independent of one another. - Meaning that each multiple-choice item should stand alone. Furthermore, it should not inform the person taking the test what a correct item on another test might be.

Perceived Costs

Salkind & Frey (Pg 254) also noted that it is important to keep perceived costs low. They provided the following suggestions on how to do this as well. 1.Avoid using demanding [or threatening] language 2.Avoid using language [or wording] that respondents will not likely understand 3.Include a direct link to the online survey (like in an email, or URL code, pre-paid postage envelope, etc.) 4.Do mont ask for personal information that is not critical to the design of the study. ¡(note: the nosier you are for no good reason, the less likely a person will do or complete a survey / questionnaire). 5.Emphasize similar request to which participants have already agreed. (e.g., Thank them for agreeing to come do the survey/questionnaire)

Perceived Rewards

Salkind & Frey (Pg 254) provided the following suggestions on how to include perceived rewards when requesting participation in research projects. 1.Provide information about the survey [or research project] 2.Show positive regard 3.Thank the respondent 4.Ask for advice. [i.e., We need your input.] 5.Support group values [e.g., As a college student, we are asking you..." 6.Provide social validation [e.g., statement that "Many have responded." 7.Provide incentives (which can include money, extra credit points, gift cards, key chain/swag, etc.) 8.Make the questionnaire interesting 9.Inform respondents that tie or opportunity to respond is limited.

Ways to increase a sense of trust with potential participants

Salkind & Frey (Pg 255) provided the following tips on how to try to increase trust with potential participants. 1.Provide a token of appreciation. 2.Use sponsorship to aid in building a sense of familiarity. (e.g., provide a cover letter from a trusted source to encourage people to participate in your research project). 3.Putting forth enough effort in constructing the survey to make the task appear important. ¡Note: this is an example of how appearance of professionalism is important. 4.Assuring & ensuring confidentiality & security (including anonymity with possible) with responses. ¡Note: people are more willing to be candid and honest with their responses, if they do not believe that those responses can be tracked back to them.

Six uses for neuropsychological assessments

Salkind & Frey noted on Pg 189, six different uses for neuropsychological assessments that have been identified. 1."Diagnosing certain types of neurological disorders, such as dementia or stroke." 2."Distinguishing between conditions, such as different types of memory loss as opposed to dementia." 3."Assessing functional potential or what the individual may be potentially able to do." 4."Assessing the course of any degenerative conditions." 5."Measuring the speed of recovery." 6."Measuring the speed of response from treatment."

Things to consider regarding career counseling and related assessments

Salkind & Frey pointed out on Pg 203, the following: 1."Not all tests are right for all people... So the test itself has to be the kind in which the test taker is willing to invest the time and energy for the results to e useful." 2."No test is the test for everyone... Career development isn't so finite a process that one test, no matter how good it is, will provide all the answers." 3.When it comes to important decisions evaluate and take into account your emotions and intuition. "No test will provide a definitive direction in which to go, only suggestions that you can incorporate into your own wishes, desires, and life circumstances." 4."When it comes to test scores, you may not be the only ones to get that score, but that's the only score you get." Therefore, it is important to take into consideration a person's unique qualities when it comes to interpreting testing profiles and scores." 5.Testing provides data, but decisions alone should not be solely based on them. There are other factors to take into consideration when making decisions regarding what major or career field may be a good fit for someone.

Scale Development

Salkind & Frey provided the following steps in scale development on Pgs. 244 - 246. 1.Determine clearly what it is you want to measure. (i.e., define the construct, and be as specific as possible) 2.Generate an item pool. (These should target the construct that you are wanting or needing to assess, based on theory) 3.Determine the format for measurement (i.e., Likert scales, true-false, agree-disagree, etc.) 4.Have item pool reviewed (Have a researcher in the field review the items, or hold a focus group review the items for feedback) 5.Consider inclusion of validation items (Possibly include an already validated measure that assesses something similar to the construct you are wanting to assess. This allows a researcher to run correlation calculations to assess for sufficient validity.) 6.Administer items to a pilot sample (i.e., give the survey you are creating to a sample of people to those that you are wanting to assess. This can help with determining reliability and validity coefficients.) 7.Evaluate items (This allows a researcher to determine if items need to be modified, refined, or scrapped) 8.Produce your final scale (For more in-depth explanations, please see Pgs. 244-246 in the textbook)

Examples of rubrics (included with pictures

Scoring guideline example: 10 areas = 50 points total Points are based on the following per area. Requirement met: Full = 5 points Partial = 2.5 points No = 0 points

Short answer and completion items

Short-answer and completion items are used almost exclusively to assess lower-level thinking skills such as memorization and basic knowledge." ¡Note: Fill-in-the-blank items are a type of completion item. Short-answer and completion items are known as supply items, "because the answer is not provided on the test, but must be supplied by the student." (Pg 220) ¡They are considered a harder type of question item, because the test taker must know the information and cannot easily guess the correct answer.

Strong Interest Inventory

Strong Interest Inventory (SSI) - is "an interest test based on the concept that people who achieve success in one occupation are likely to have common interests and preferences that differentiate them from people who are successful in other occupations." (Strong Interest Inventory - APA Dictionary of Psychology) ¡Note: "the most recent version of the test, published in 2004, presents an inventory of 291 items, which the participant marks strongly like, like, indifferent, dislike, or strongly dislike. The items pertain to occupations, subject areas, activities (including leisure activities), contact with various kinds of people, and self-descriptive characteristics." ¡It "was formerly known as the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII), which was itself a revision of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (1927)." (Note: For more information on the Strong Interest Inventory see Pgs. 199 - 200 in the textbook)

Self directed research

The Self-Directed Search (SDS) was developed by John Holland. It is "a career assessment and exploration tool that matches [people's] aspirations, activities, and talents to the career choices and educational opportunities that fit [them] best." (What is the SDS? - Self-Directed Search) ¡It is "based on a theory developed by John Holland, known as RIASEC theory, that both people and work environments can be classified according to six basic types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. These personality types are known together as RIASEC." ¡"The assessment asks questions about an individual's aspirations, activities, competencies, interests, and other self-estimates. It takes only about 20 minutes to complete." ¡For an interactive explanation of the RIASEC theory, please use the following link: (RIASEC Theory - Self-Directed Search) ¡Note: you will notice that the same theory developed by John Holland is used in both the Self-Directed Search and the Strong Interest Inventory. Holland Codes - are "three-character code[s], that characterizes an individual's strengths and interests relative to the descriptions within Holland's six different themes." (Pg 201) ¡For lists of the various 2 or 3 code type, please see the following websites: (Holland Code Assessment - Rogue Community College) (For further information on the Self-Directed Search, please see Pgs. 201 - 202 in the textbook). )

Issues with getting respondents for survey & Questionnaire studies.

The best-written survey isn't much help to researchers if no one fills it out." (Pg 253) ¡This is one of the biggest barriers to completing research whether it be in-person studies, questionnaires, or survey studies. ¡To better understand this research obstacle, it is important to have some understanding of Social Exchange Theory. Social Exchange Theory - is "a theory envisioning social interactions as an exchange in which the participants seek to maximize their benefits (the rewards they receive minus the costs they incur) within the limits of what is regarded as fair or just." (Social Exchange Theory - APA Dictionary) ¡"Intrinsic to this hypothesis is the reciprocity norm: People are expected to reciprocate for the benefits they have received." ¡"Social exchange theory is similar to equity theory, which also maintains that people seek fairness in social relationships and that fairness exists when each party in the relationship has the same ratio of outcomes (benefits) to inputs (resources brought to the relationship)." ¡Salkind & Frey further explained that "Social Exchange Theory sys that humans will agree to trade under certain conditions. And asking people to fill out your survey is a off of trade - they give you data and you give them... what exactly?" (Pg 253) ¡They further explained that "an exchange is likely to occur when three criteria are met: 1) rewards are high, 2) costs are low, 3) trust has been established." Therefore, "if it isn't too much trouble, and I might get something out of it, and you seem friendly, I'll fill out your darn survey." (Pg 254).

Likert Scales

The most common format for attitude items on surveys and questionnaires is the Likert scale. ¡Likert Scale - is "a type of direct attitude measure that consists of statements reflecting strong positive or negative evaluations of an object." (Likert Scale - APA Dictionary) ¡Note: "Five-point scales are common and a neutral middle point may or may not be included. For example, an assessment item using a Likert scale response format (i.e., a Likert-type question or Likert-type item) might include the following statement choices: strongly disagree, disagree, neither disagree nor agree, agree, and strongly agree. The respondent chooses the option most representative of their view (e.g., on whether same-sex marriages should be permitted) and these ratings are summed to provide a total attitude score for a topic of interest." (Likert Scale - APA Dictionary) ¡It is important to understand that when a Likert scale is used the data obtained is Ordinal, not Interval or Ratio. The reason for this is because there is not a set measurement distance between items on a Likert scale.

Types of personality tests

There are two basic types of personality tests which are called objective or projective ¡Objective Personality Tests - are "tests that have very clear and unambiguous questions, stimuli, or techniques for measuring personality traits." (Pgs. 179 & 323) ¡For example, they often use questions that require the test taker to chose a yes/no or agree/disagree response to a test question. Such as, 'I do not get in trouble often.' ¡Additionally, some objective personality tests have test takers rate their response on a Likert scale, where responses are often worded as follows. Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree. [Reminder: This is how NEO-PI 3 responses are formatted] ¡"The logic behind [objective] personality tests that are constructed like this is that the more items that are agreed with or checked off..., the more of that trait or characteristic the test taker has." (Pg 179) Examples of Objective Personality Tests include the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2); NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-3); Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-IV), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The Thurnstone Method

There is another approach to attitude measurement that statisticians find much more satisfying [and useful] than the Likert approach in terms of producing interval-level scores." (Pg 251) ¡However, this approach is not used as much nowadays because "it takes twice as much work and twice as much time to develop." This alternative approach is called the Thurstone Method (aka the Thurstone attitude scales). ¡ Thurstone Attitude Scales - is "a direct attitude measure that involves generating a large set of statements designed to reflect varying levels of negativity or positivity toward an attitude object. A group of judges are then asked to rate how positive or negative each statement is, usually on a 9- or 11-point scale. The central tendency and dispersion of the judges' ratings for each statement are computed, and a set of statements with low dispersions is selected. This set contains two statements reflecting each of the scale points on the rating scale (i.e., two statements having an average rating of 1, two statements having an average rating of 2, and so on) and makes up the final attitude scale. When the scale is administered, respondents are instructed to indicate which statements they endorse, and their attitude score is the median of the scale values for these statements." (Thurstone Attitude Scales - APA Dictionary) (For more information on the Thurstone Method, please see Pgs. 251 - 253).

Tips on how to ask questions on questionnaires surveys (continued)

Threatening Questions "Those responding to survey questions, especially about behavior, may be paranoid that their answers will be [viewed as] bad." Therefore, they may be more prone to providing a "socially desirable" response, rather than an accurate one. ¡This tendency can be worked around by using the following strategies: 1.Use long questions - "by reading through some detailed preliminary text describing the behavior in question, respondents can come to feel that their own behavior is acceptable [or will not be harshly judged]. 2.Use loaded questions - "with threatening questions, this is the one time when it's okay to lead the witness. Questions worded in a way to influence a certain response are called loaded questions. That is, give them every encouragement to admit that they engage in the behavior." (Pg 247) ¡Strategies regarding loaded questions: ¡Claim that everybody does it. ¡Use nonspecific authorities to justify the behavior ¡Provide good reasons for the behavior (see Pg 247 in the textbook for further details)

Performance-based assessment

To measure skills and abilities, which are invisible, teachers [need to] find ways to make [skills and abilities] visible." (Pg 228) ¡Using performance-based assessments is a good way to do this. ¡Performance-based assessment - is "a type of classroom assessment where students are asked to demonstrate ability or skill by performing in some way or creating a product." (Pgs. 228 & 323) ¡Some examples of performance-based tasks used in a classroom are having students to: 1) writing, 2) designing/drawing activities, 3) building something, 4) dissection labs/tasks, 5) chemistry labs, 6) giving a presentation/speech, 7) dancing/acting demonstrations, 8) formal debate activities or oral exams, 9) physical strength/agility tests, 10) answering math questions on the white board ¡When these are used for performance-based assessment purposes, the "teacher assign[s] scores based on the level of quality." (Pg 228) ¡To aid the teacher in this task, they will often utilize a scoring guide/template, which is called a rubric. ¡Rubric - is "an evaluation tool or set of guidelines used to promote the consistent application of learning expectations, learning objectives, or learning standards in the classroom, or to measure their attainment against a consistent set of criteria. In instructional settings, rubrics clearly define academic expectations for students and help to ensure consistency in the evaluation of academic work from student to student... Rubrics are also used as scoring instruments to determine grades or the degree to which learning standards have been demonstrated or attained by students." (Rubric - The Glossary of Education Reform)

True false items

True-false items "are most often used for achievement-type tests when there is a clear distinction between the two alternative, true and false." ¡Example: 25% is ¼. Salkind & Frey explained the following regarding true-false items: "One of the best criteria for judging the value of a true-false item is whether the correct answer is, unequivocally, the right one, the only one, and the correct one." (Pg 219) ¡It is important to understand that "smart students can often find arguments to make about how a true statement might be false or a false statement true" when context is applied or considered. ¡For example: How many days are there in a year? 356 or 366 ¡Hint: Are we talking about a solar year (aka tropical year) or a calendar year? This matters because a calendar year may have an extra day in it, which is called a leap year (aka an intercalary year / bissextile year).

Neuropsychological screenings

When there is concern or a question about a person's intellectual, memory, language, and spatial skills it is common for an individual to be referred for neuropsychological screening to determine whether formal neuropsychological testing is needed/warranted. Neuropsychological screening are brief interviews and short assessment administrations which are often done in mental health clinics, medical hospitals, field hospitals, and psychology practices to assess for possible signs of functioning issues or deficits. These types of screening are often conducted by individuals who have been trained to do them such as licensed psychologist, psychiatrist, neurologist, and rehabilitation specialists. ¡It is important to understand that a neuropsychological screenings are used to help identify whether their may be symptoms and issues at a level to warrant referral for formal neuropsychological testing. The reason that a neuropsychological screening is often requested prior to initiating a referral to a neuropsychologist is because of the following factors: 1.There is a limited number of fully trained neuropsychologist, so many of them will not accept people for comprehensive testing without a prior screening appointment. ¡Note: wait times to be seen by a neuropsychologist often are 6 to 12 months, and sometimes even longer. 2.Oftentimes medical insurance companies will not approve formal neuropsychological testing coverage unless there is documented evidence that such testing is necessary for diagnostic clarification. ¡This is because the cost for a set of formal neuropsychological test batteries to be administered is often in the thousands of dollars, and sometimes even more than $10,000 dollars. 3.Formal Neuropsychological evaluations often require comprehensive administration of batteries of test, which means that the te

context dependent and best answer approaches

With multiple-choice tests, the test designer can use different strategies to test the test takers knowledge and skills. ¡Context dependent items can only be answered by using information provided in the stem. For example, with these types of items, the test taker "is asked to read a passage and then answer a multiple-choice item about that passage." ¡Best Answer type items are ones where there may be more than one correct answer, but only one is the best answer.

multiple choice items

are "items where there are several answers from which to choose." (Pg 214, 323) ¡There are multiple reasons on why this format is commonly used. 1.These types of test are easy to score. 2.They are easy to analyze. 3.These types of test are also easy to tie to learning outcomes. 4.They are also flexible and can be easily modified to assess the learning objective or assess specific knowledge learned. ¡Salkind & Frey, also noted that "like all objectively scored item formats, teachers can avoid arguments with students about how many points they get. So they like this format for that reason, too." (Pg 214) ¡Multiple-choice items are good for assessing understanding and knowledge at the memorized level. However, they often do not assess well critical thinking skills, or applied concepts well. ¡This does not mean that multiple-choice questions are incapable of assessing such knowledge or abilities, rather it means that the test item writers need to be more strategic in how they write and formulate the test questions and item choices.

Matching items

are usually set up such that there are two columns - one column of what we could think of as short little stems and another column of many answer options." (Pg 217) ¡With these types of items, there are directions to match each stem with one of the answer options. ¡A good way to think about matching items is that they "are multiple-choice questions that share the same long set of answer options." ¡"Like multiple-choice items, and true-false items, matching sections involve selection, where the test taker needs to select one answer from a set of possibilities." ¡Note: all of the answer options should be within one area or topic, and they need to be grammatically similar to reduce the odds of the test taker being able to easily guess which items goes where.

Neuropsychological test

is "any of various clinical instruments for assessing cognitive impairment, including those measuring memory, language, learning, attention, and visuospatial and visuoconstructive functioning." (Neuropsychological Test - APA Dictionary) NOTE: ¡Examples of Neuropsychological test are: 1) the Trail Making Test, 2) Stroop Color-Word Interference Test, 3) and Complex Figure Test. Neuropsychological tests are the assessment of cognitive skills based on the performance of certain tasks, such as remembering a list of words or arranging a group of shapes to match a particular design." (Pg 189) ¡"These tasks provide insight for highly trained professionals... to better understand how the brain affects behavior, and when things go wrong (infection, disease, accidents), which prescriptive steps might be taken to help." (Pg 189)

Neuropsychology

is "the branch of science that studies the physiological processes of the nervous system and relates them to behavior and cognition, in terms both of their normal function and of the dysfunctional processes associated with brain damage." (Neuropsychology - APA Dictionary)

Pain Scale Example

¡If you just ask a person to rate their pain level from 1 to 10, without providing any further information or context it is quite likely that they will either overestimate or underestimate their pain level. ¡If some descriptors and context are supplied, then accuracy of the rating tends to improve. ¡The pain scale (Learning About the 0-to-10 Pain Scale | Kaiser Permanente) •0 = No pain. •1 = Pain is very mild, barely noticeable. Most of the time you don't think about it. •2 = Minor pain. It's annoying. You may have sharp pain now and then. •3 = Noticeable pain. It may distract you, but you can get used to it. •4 = Moderate pain. If you are involved in an activity, you're able to ignore the pain for a while. But it is still distracting. •5 = Moderately strong pain. You can't ignore it for more than a few minutes. But with effort you can still work or do some social activities. •6 = Moderately stronger pain. You avoid some of your normal daily activities. You have trouble concentrating. •7 = Strong pain. It keeps you from doing normal activities. •8 = Very strong pain. It's hard to do anything at all. •9 = Pain that is very hard to bear. You can't carry on a conversation. •10 = Worst pain possible.