Assessment Final
What are informal assessments?
-"Homegrown" methods developed to meet specific needs Advantages: 1. Add to the total assessment process, increase our ability to better understand the whole person 2. Can be designed to asses the exact attribute we want to measure 3. Can often be developed or gathered in a rather short amount of time 4. Can be nonintrusive, provide a nonthreatening mechanism for gathering information about the individual 5. Generally are free or low-cost procedures 6. Tend to be easy to administer and relatively easy to interpret
Multiple aptitude testing
-ASVAB: (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), measures many abilities required for military and civilian jobs, consists of 3 primary components (ASVAB, Find Your Interests, OCCU-Find), pen-and-paper version and computerized version. -DAT: (differential aptitude test), measures abilities and interests to assist with career decision making, for kids grades 7-12, 8 separate tests (verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, abstract reasoning, perceptual speed and accuracy, mechanical reasoning, space relations, spelling and language usage), also includes the Career Interest Inventory (CII) to determine what careers a person might like -DAT PCA: (Differential Aptitude Battery for Personnel and Career Assessment) a form of DATA used by employees to assess ability over 8 different areas, similar to the DAT, often used for hiring purposes
Types of special aptitude tests
-Clerical Aptitude Tests: used for screening applicants for clerical jobs -Mechanical Aptitude Tests: measures ability to learn mechanical principles and manipulate mechanical objects -Artistic Aptitude Tests: frequently used for art school admissions -Musical Aptitude Tests: assesses knowledge of music
Halo effect
Occurs when the overall impression of an individual clouds the rating of that person in one select area
Types of interest inventories
-Strong Interest Inventory: given to people fed 16 or older. Likert type scale on 6 areas (occupations, subject areas, activities, leisure activities, people, and characteristics), report offers 5 different types of interpretive scales (general occupational themes, basic interest scales, occupational scales, personal styles scales, response summary). Based on the Holland Codes (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, conventional) -Self-Directed Search: self-administered, scored, and interpreted, uses Holland personality types, available in 4 forms (R, E, CE, & CP), primarily based on interests is also includes self-estimates of competencies and abilities. -COPSystem: three instruments that measure interests, abilities, and values. -COPS: (Career Occupational Preference System Internet Inventory). Assess interests along career clusters, designed for 7th grade-adults -CAPS: measures abilities in the work environment that relate to career clusters, measures abilities across 8 different dimensions that relate to COPS career clusters, designed for middle school-adults -COPES: values in job selection related to career clusters, scales are based on 8 dichotomous poles which are keyed into career clusters. For middle school-adults. -O*NET and Career Exploration Tools: government online database of job descriptions. Contains hundreds of occupational classifications and offers career moves. Produced and maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration
What are neuropsychological tests used for?
-can measure a number of domains related to brain-behavior, including memory, intelligence, language, visual-perception, visual-spatial thinking, psycho sensory and motor abilities, academic achievement, personality, or psychological functioning -a diagnostic tool to identify the root of a condition and the extent of the brain damage -to measure change in one's functioning (e.g. cognitive ability, movement, and reaction time) -to compare changes in cognitive of functional status to others within the normative sample -to provide specific rehabilitation treatment and planning guidelines for individuals and families -to provide specific guidelines for educational planing in the schools
Purposes of interest inventories
-determine likes and dislikes from a career perspective -good at predicting job satisfaction based on occupational fit
What are clinical assessments?
-involves assessing clients through one or more of the following methods: the clinical interview, the administration of informal assessment techniques, and the administration of objective and projective tests
What are projective personality assessments
-responses to stimuli are used to interpret personality factors, often used to identify psychopathology and to assist in treatment planning, much more difficult to measure validity when one is dealing with abstract responses to vague stimuli 1.TAT: (Thematic Apperception Test)-series of 31 cards w/ vague pictures on them, ask client to creat & describe story that has beginning-middle-end, based on Murray's need -press theory (people driven by internal desires, such as attitudes, values, goals, etc. or external stimuli from the environment), difficult to score and interpret, controversial reliability & validity 2. Rorschach Inkblot Test: clinicians show clients cards, one at a time, and ask them to tell them what they see on the card. Rorschach believed images on the inkblots allowed one to express his or her unconscious, difficult showing adequate validity, requires extensive training & practice to use. 3. Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt: takes 5-10 minutes & measures developmental level, psychological functioning, as well as neurological deficits after a TBI. Pretty good reliability. 4. House-Tree-Person & Other Drawing Tests: drawing tests try to tap into unconscious, focus might vary depending on content of test. Quick, simple, and effective projective tests. 5. Sentence Completion Tests: can reveal unconscious issues, but some question the validity and reliability. A sentence stem is given to client for them to respond to.
Wechsler intelligence testing
-three different tests for three different age groups 1. WPPSI-III:assess children between the ages of 2.6 years to 7.3 years 2. WISC-IV: assesses children between the ages of 6 and 16 3. WAIS-IV: assesses adults 16-90 -useful in assessing general cognitive functioning, helping to determine intellectual disabilities and giftedness, in assessing probable learning problems
College and graduate school entrances exams.
1. ACT: assesses educational development and ability to complete college work. 4 areas-English, math, reading, and science 2. SAT: assesses reading, math, and writing—predicts mildly well for college grades. Measures critical thinking and problem solving skills. 3. GRE: assesses verbal and quantitative reasoning and analytical writing; predicts graduate school success. 4. MAT: uses analogies to assess analytical abilities; predicts graduate school success. "Measures your ability to recognize relationships between ideas, your fluency in the English language, and your general knowledge of the humanities, natural sciences, mathematics, and social sciences". 5. LSAT: assesses acquired reading and verbal reasoning skills; predicts grades in law school. Test includes 3 multiple choice sections measuring reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, logical reasoning, and a 4th section that asks for a writing sample 6. MCAT: assesses knowledge of physical sciences, verbal reasoning, biological sciences; predicts grades in medical school.
Reasons for clinical assessments
1. Help clients gain insight 2. Aid in case conceptualization and mental health diagnostic formulations 3. Assist in making decisions concerning the use of psychotropic medications 4. Assist in treatment planning 5. Assist in court decisions 6. Assist in job placement decisions 7. Aid in diagnostic decisions for health-related problems 8. Identify individuals at risk
Types of rating scales
1. Numerical scales: generally provide a written statement or question that can be rated from high to low on a number line (rate your depression 0-10, worst-best i could feel) 2. Likert-Type Scales (Graphic Scales): contain a number of items that are being rated on the same theme and are anchored by both numbers and a statement that correspond to the numbers (BDI/BAI) 3. Semantic Differential Scales: provide a statement that is followed by one or more pairs of words that are across from one another along a line and that reflect opposing traits, client is asked to place a mark on the line that is reflective of how much of the quality the client believes they have 4. Rank-order Scales: provide a series of statements that the respondent can place in hierarchical order based on his or her preferences
Identify cognitive ability tests.
1. OSLAT: assesses abstract thinking and reasoning skills via verbal and nonverbal sections. Supplies educators with valuable information to enhance the insights gained from traditional achievement tests. Given in large group format for students K-12. 2. CogAT: assesses verbal, quantitative, and non-verbal reasoning; uses Vernon's (hierarchical abilities) and Cattell's (fluid and crystallized abilities) models of intelligence. For children K-12.
Identify diagnostic tests
1. PL94-142: asserts the right to be tested for learning disabilities (3-21) 2. IDEA: extension of PL94-142, helped millions who were found to have a learning disability get assured the right to an education w/in the least restrictive environment 3. WRAT4: assess basic learning problems in reading, spelling, math, and sentence comprehension, can be used w/ individuals from 5-94 4. WIAT: diagnostic test to screen broad areas of ability. "Identify academic strengths & weakness of a student; inform decisions regarding eligibility for educational services; educational placement; or diagnosis of a specific learning disability; design instructional objectives and plan intervention". 5. PIAT: six content areas for screening K-12 students (gen. Info, reading recognition, reading comprehension, mathematics, spelling, and written expression). 6. Woodcock-Johnson: broad assessment of ability, ages 2-90. Designed to assess "cognitive abilities, skills, and academic knowledge most recognized as comprising human intelligence and routinely encountered in school and other settings". Consists of two batteries: (1) the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement, which examines academic strengths, (2) the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities, which looks at specific and general cognitive abilities. 7. Key Math Diagnostic Arithmetic Test: comprehensive test to assess for learning disabilities in math. "An individually administered test that is well developed and provides and monitor performance over time". Has 10 subsets grouped under three broad math content areas: basic concepts, operations, and applications. Appropriate for children K-9 or ages 4.5-21 if they are believed to be functioning between K-9 grade levels.
Models of intelligence
1. Spearman's 2-factor approach: general factor (g) and a specific factor (s), with the weight of (g) varying as a function of what is being measured 2. Thurstone's Multifactor Approach: seven primary mental abilities-verbal meaning, number ability, word fluency, perception speed, spatial ability, reasoning, and memory 3. Vernon's Hierarchical Model of Intelligence: believed subcomponents of intelligence could be added in a hierarchical manner to obtain a cumulative (g) factor score. 4 levels 4. Guilford's Multifactor/MultiDimensional Model: developed 180 factors, three-dimensional model can be represented as a cube, involves 3 kinds of cognitive ability-operations, content, and products 5. Cattell's Fluid and Crystal Intelligence: differentiated fluid (innate, declines with age) from crystallized (learned, increases with age) intelligence 6. Piaget: 4 stages of cognitive development-sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. 2 methods our mental structured maintain equilibrium-assimilation (incorporating new stimuli or information into existing cognitive structures) and accommodation (creating new cognitive structures and/or behaviors based on new stimuli). 7. Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences: verbal-linguistic intelligence, mathematical-logical intelligence, musical intelligence, visual-spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, naturalist intelligence, existential intelligence 8. Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Successful Intelligence: componential, experiential, and contextual subtheories 9. Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Integrated Model of Intelligence: sixteen factors related to mental abilities.
What are tests of educational ability used for?
1. To determine how well a student is learning 2. To assess how well a class, grade, school system, or state is learning content knowledge 3. As one method of detecting learning problems 4. As one method of identifying giftedness 5. To help determine if a child is ready to move to the next grade level 6. As one measure to assess teacher effectiveness 7. To help determine readiness or placement in college, graduate school, or professional schools 8. To determine if an individual has mastered content knowledge for professional advancement (credentialing exams)
What are objective personality assessments?
A. Types for psychopathology 1.MMPI-II: (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory). Assists in identifying psychopathology; takes skill to interpret, qualification level C, provides 6 validity scales; 10 basic (clinical) scales; and 15 content scales, most widely used personality test 2. MCMI-II: (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory). Second most used personality test, designed to assess DSM-IV-TR personality disorders and clinical symptomatology, has 6 different major scales (clinical personality pattern scales; severe personality pathology scales; clinical syndrome scales; severe clinical syndrome scales; modifying indices; validity index) 3. PAI: (Personality Assessment Inventory). AIDS in making clinical diagnoses; screening for psychopathology; and assist in treatment planning, for people 18 and older 4. BDI-II: quick and easy method to assess depression, scores related to groups of depressed and non-depressed individuals, takes 10 minutes to complete quite useful in identifying and assessing the severity of symptoms of depression, should not be used as a sole criterion for making a diagnosis, good at measuring client progress 5. BAI: Beck Anxiety Inventory. Assessment for anxiety, designed to be a simple tool to assess anxiety for individuals ages 17-80. One of the top 10 assessment tools used by counselors & counselor educators. Self-report instrument, takes 5-10 minutes to administer/scored. B. Types for normal personality 1. MBTI: (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) popular method to assess normal personality; based on Carl Jung's psychological types. Most widely used personality assessment for normal functioning. For adolescents though adults. Jung-extroverted/introverted, sensing/intuiting, thinking/feeling. Myers-Briggs added judging/perceiving. 2. 16PF: (16 Personality Factors Questionnaire). Based on Cattell's 16 bipolar personality traits. Not pathology (nonclinical) but describes human behavior. 185 items-45 minutes. 3. NEO-PI-R & NEO-FFI: uses the Big Five model to assess personality differences. Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Measures these 5 factors each of which has 6 facets. 4. Conners 3rd Edition: assesses ADHD and other problematic behaviors, used with children between the ages of 6 and 18 and can be completed by a teacher, parent, or self-report (8 & older) 10-20 minutes. 5. SASSI: (Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory), a subtle instrument to screen for substance dependence, two versions for adults and adolescents, suggests substance dependency w/ 93+% accuracy. 9 subscales-face valid alcohol, face valid other drugs, symptoms, obvious attributes, subtle attributes, defensiveness, supplemental addiction scale, family vs controls, and correctional. 30 minutes to administer.