ASSUMPTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL

TESTING AND ASSESSMENT

In the process of administering psychological testing and assessment
there are some basic assumptions related to this. That psychologist
who use test to measure psychological traits assume that such traits
a. Exists
b. Can be quantified
c. Can be measured
Assumption 1: Psychological traits and states exist.
• A trait has been defined as any distinguishable, relatively enduring
(permanent) way in which one individual varies form one another.
• State also distinguish one person from another but relatively less
enduring (permanent).
Assumption 2: Psychological traits and states can be quantified and
measured.
Assumption 3: Error is an expected part of the assessment process.
Some potential sources of errors are:
1. the examinee’s health,
2. examiners familiarity with administering a particular test,
3. the conditions under which the test was administered or the test
itself
• Assumption 4: Testing and Assessment can be conducted in a fair and
unbiased manner.
• Assumption 5: Assessment is able to provide useful answers to
questions.
• Assumption 6: To be useful, assessments must pinpoint certain
phenomena.
• Assumption 7: A single test score cannot possibly picture a client’s
condition.
• Assumption 8: All test and measurement devices have strengths and
weaknesses.
Test scores are frequently expressed in numbers and
statistical tools are used to describe, make inferences from
and draw conclusions about numbers.
Scales of Measurement
Measurement, is the act of assigning numbers or symbols to
characteristics of things (people, events, whatever) according
to rules.
Scale, is a set of numbers or the symbols whose properties
model empirical properties of the objects to which the
numbers are assigned.
 Categories of Scale
• Scales can be categorized according to variables being
measured.
Continuous scale, is used to measure a continuous variable.
A continuous variable whose values is obtained by
measuring.
Discrete scale, is used to measure discrete variable. A
discrete variable whose value is obtained by counting.
 Four Different Levels or Scales of Measurement
• Nominal scale, are the simples form of measurement. These
scales involve classification or categorization based on one or
more distinguishing characteristics, where all things
measured must be placed into mutually exclusive and
exhaustive categories.
• Ordinal Scale, permit classification. As well as, this also
involves rank ordering.
• Alfred Binet, a developer of the intelligence test that today
bears his name believed strongly that the data derived from
an intelligence test are ordinal in nature.
• Ordinal scales imply noting about how much greater one
ranking is than another.
• Ordinal scales typically measures non – numeric concepts:
Example:
• How do you feel today?
• 1- Very unhappy 2- Unhappy 3 – Ok 4- Happy 5 – Very happy
• Interval Scales, contain equal intervals between numbers.
Each unit on the scale is exactly equal to any point unit on the
scale.
• Example: Temperature measurement wherein Fahrenheit and
Celsius scales are the same. The difference betwen110 degrees
Fahrenheit and 100 degrees Celsius is the same with 80
degrees Celsius and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Central tendency can be measured by mode, median or
mean and standard deviation.
• Ratio Scales, this is the scale where it has a true zero point. It
is here where all mathematical operations can meaningfully
be performed because there exist equal intervals between
the number of scales as well as a true or absolute zero.
• In psychology, ratio – level measurement is employed in some
types of test and test items perhaps most notably those
involving assessment of neurological functioning.
• Example:
• The test of handgrip.
• Someone who can exert 10 pounds of pressure and earns a
score of 10 exert twice as much pressure as a person who
exerts 5 pounds of pressure and earns a score of 5. On this
test it is possible to achieve a score of 0 on this test. What is
the significance of this result.
• Another example is a timed test of perceptual – motor ability
that requires the test taker to assemble a jigsaw puzzle.
• Measurement Scales in Psychology
• The ordinal level of measurement is the most frequently
used in psychology. According to Kerlinger that “intelligence,
aptitude and personality test scores are basically and strictly
speaking ordinal”. These test indicates not the amount of
intelligence, aptitude and personality traits of individuals but
rather the rank – order positions of the individuals.
 • Describing Data
• Distribution, may be defined as a set of test scores
arrayed for recording or study.
• Raw scores, is a straightforward, unmodified
accounting of performance that is usually numerical.
• Raw scores, may reflect a simple tally as in number of
items responded to correctly on an achievement test.
• Frequency distribution, all scores are listed alongside
the number of times each score occurred. The scores
might be listed in tabular or graphic form.
Importance of Frequency distribution:
• To analyze data
• To estimate the frequencies of the population on the basis of
the sample
• To facilitate the computation of various statistical measures.
• Simple frequency distribution, it indicates that individual scores have
been used and the data have not been grouped.
• Example:
Student Score Student Score
Judy 78 Martha 62
Joe 67 Bill 61
Lee 69 Bianca 69
Valerie 85 Uriah 67
Diane 72 John 92
Henry 92 Jorge 92
Paula 94 Vinnie 92
• Frequency distribution of scores:
Scores Frequency (f)
94 1
92 4
85 1
78 1
72 1
69 2
67 2
62 1
61 1 N= 14
• Grouped Frequency Distribution, test scores intervals also
called class intervals, replace the actual test scores.
• Class Interval Frequency (f)
• 90 – 94 5
• 85 – 89 1
• 80 - 84 0
• 75 - 79 1
• 70 – 74 1
• 65 – 69 4
• 60 – 64 2 N=14
• Frequency distribution of test scores can also be illustrated
graphically.
• Graph, is a diagram or chart composed of lines, points, bars
or other symbols that describe and illustrate a data.
• Three kinds of graph:
• Histogram, a way of organizing data into bins. The series of
bins are contiguous. It is customary for the test scores to be
placed along the graph’s horizontal axis or also referred as
abscissa or X – axis. And for numbers indicative of frequency
of occurrence to be placed along the graph’s vertical axis also
referred the ordinate or the Y – axis.
• Bar graph, is a type of chart that has bars showing different
categories and the amount in each categories. Numbers
indicative of frequency also appear on the Y – axis and
reference to some categorization such ye / no / maybe, &
male / female appears on the Y- axis. Here the rectangular
bars are not contiguous.
• Frequency polygon, are expressed by a continuous line
connecting the points where test scores or class intervals are
indicated on the X – axis meets frequencies as indicated on
the Y – axis.
• Histogram
• Frequency polygon
Measures of Central Tendency
• CENTRAL TENDENCY - A score that indicates where the
center of the distribution tends to be located.
• It indicates the average or midmost score between the
extreme scores in a distribution.
• Tells us about the shape and nature of the distribution.
• The most common of these measures is the average more
technically known as the mean (M), it is found adding all
scores and dividing the sum by the number cases.
• The Mean is denoted by the symbol
• Median, or the middlemost score when all scores have been
arrange in order of size. The median is the point that bisects
(intersects) the distribution.
• We can determine the median of the distribution of test
scores by ordering the scores in a list of magnitude either by
ascending or descending.
• If the total number of the scores ordered is an odd, then the
median will be the score that is exactly in the middle.
• If the scores are even the median of the data will be
calculated by obtaining the average or the arithmetic mean
of the two middle scores.
• Mode, the most frequently occurring score in a distribution
of score.
Measures of Variability
• Variability, is an indication of how scores in a distribution are
scattered or dispersed.
Range of a distribution, is equal to the difference
between the highest and the lowest scores.
• The Interquartile and Semi – interquartile ranges
• A distribution of test scores or any other data can be divided
into four parts such that 25% of the test scores occur in each
quarter. The dividing points between the four quarters in the
distribution are the quartiles.
• There are three of them respectively labeled Q1, Q2 and Q3
• It is the measure of where the bulk of the values lies.
• Semi – interquartile range – which is equal to the
interquartile range divided by 2. (interquartile range / 2).
• Average deviation, this is another tool could used to described
the amount of variability in a distribution.

• STANDARD DEVIATION, a quantity calculated to indicate the

extent of deviation for a group as a whole.
• It is a measure of variability equal to the square root of the
average squared deviations about the mean.
• Are used to determine at what scores fall within the above
average, average and below average.
• It indicates the average deviation from the mean, the
consistency of the scores and how far scores are spread
around the mean.
• More succinctly it is equal to the square root of the variance.
• Variance, is equal to the arithmetic mean of the squares of
the differences between the scores in a distribution and their
mean.
• Formula
•
• The formula above stated, the variance is calculated by
squaring and summing all deviation scores and then dividing
by the total number of scores.
• From raw scores, first calculate the summation of the raw scores
squared, divide by the number of scores and then subtract the mean
squared.
• Formula
• -
SKEWNESS
• Skewness, is the nature and extent to which symmetry is
absent. It indicates how measurements in a distribution are
distributed.
• It is tendency of the scores to cluster / pile up on one side of
the mean.
• Positively skewed- most scores tend to cluster toward the
lower end of the scale (that is the smaller numbers)
• Negatively skewed – if the peak is towards the right and the
left tail is longer
• Various formulas exist for measuring skewness. One ay of
gauging skewness of a distribution is through examination of
relative distances of quartiles from the median.
• In positively skewed distribution, Q3 – Q2 will be greater
than the distance of Q2 – Q1.
• In negatively skewed distribution, Q3 – Q2 will be less than
the distance of Q2 – Q1.
• In a distribution that is symmetrical, the distances from Q1
and Q3 to the median are the same.
• KURTOSIS
The steepness of a distribution in its center.
The root kurtic is added to one othe suffixes platy, lepto
or meso to describe flatness or peakedness of one
distribution relative to another.
Platykurtic (negative), relatively flat
Leptokurtic (positive), relatively peaked
Mesokurtic, relatively similar to the normal
distribution of data set.
THE NORMAL CURVE

• At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Karl Friedrich

Gauss made some substantial contribution. Through the
early nineteenth century, scientist referred to it as the
Laplace – Gaussian curve.
• Karl Pearson is credited with being the first to refer to the
curve as the normal curve.
• Normal curve, is a bell – shaped smooth, mathematically
defined curved that is the highest at its center.
 Why is the normal curve important in understanding the
characteristics of psychological tests?
• The following are examples of the wide range of
characteristics that psychologists have found to be
approximately normal in distribution.
• The strength of handedness in right – handed individuals
as measured by the Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire
(Tan 1993).
• Decline cognitive abilities over a one – year period in
people with Alzheimer’s disease.
• The intelligence – scale scores of girls and women with
eating disorders as measured by the Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale – Revised (Ranseen and Humphries,
1992).
• The rate of motor – skill development in developmentally
delayed pre – schoolers as measured by the Vineland
Adaptive Behavior Scale (Davies & Gavin, 1994).
• Scores on a self- esteem measure among undergraduates.
(Addeo et.al., 1994)
• For example: If we know that the average score for
intellectual ability of children is at particular value and the
scores are normally distributed, then we know a quite bit
more.
• Knowing the mean and standard deviation of a scale and that
it is approximately normally distributed tells us that:
1. approximately two thirds of the test takers are within
the standard deviation of the mean.
2. approximately 95% of the test scores fall within 2
standard deviations of the mean.
• The Area Under the Normal Curve
• Example:
• A normal curve has two tails.
• Tail, the area on the normal curve between 2 and 3 standard
deviations above the mean and the area between -2 and -3
standard deviation below the mean.
• As observed in a thought – provoking article entitled “Two
Tails of the Normal Curve” an intelligence score that falls
within the limits of either tail can have momentous
consequences in terms of the tale of one’s life.
• Standard Scores
• Is a raw score that has been converted from one scale to another
scale, whether the latter scale has some arbitrarily set mean and
standard deviation.
• Percentile Ranks, it represents the percentage of people in a group
who scored at or below any given raw score.
• These scores show how a student's performance compares to
others tested during test development.
• PR =
• Pr = percentile rank
• K= Pth percentile
• N = total number of students
• Example: Find the percentile values on the data provided:
• 10, 11, 13,13,13,14,15,15,16,17,18,20,21,21,22
• What is the position of the 75th percentile
• 75 (15+1) /100
• 75(16)/100
• 1200/100
• 12= 20
• What is the position of the of the 50th percentile?
• 50 (15+1)/100
• 50 (16)/100
• 8 = 15
 • Forms of Standard Scores based on their respective means
and standard deviations.
• Z - scores, results from the conversion of raw score into a
number indicating how many standard deviation units the
raw score or above the mean of the distribution.
• Formula:
z
Example: Comparing scores of student A & B.
• A raw score of 65, mean of 50 and standard deviation of 15.
z==1
• A raw score of 30, mean of 50 and standard deviation of 15.
z = = -1
• Interpretation: Student A performance is higher that the
performance of student B.
X – raw score less the mean divided by standard deviation
• T – scores, devised by W.A McCall in honor to his professor
E.L. Thorndike.
• These scores range from 10 - 90 in intervals of 10 points. Fifty
is average on this scale.
• This standard score system is composed of a scale that
ranges from 5 standard deviations below the mean to 5
standard deviations above the mean.
• Stanine, scale is also called the standard nine scale. These
scores range from 1 - 9 with five being average. Scores below
five are below average. Scores above five are above average.
This represents a range of scores.
• Standard Scores may be obtained by:
• Linear Transformation, is one that retains a direct numerical
relationship to the original raw score.
• Nonlinear transformation, may be required when the data
under consideration are not normally distributed yet
comparisons with normal distributions need to be made.
• Normalized standard scores
• Normalizing a distribution, involves stretching the skewed
curve into shape of normal distribution and creating a
corresponding scale of standard scores, this scale is normally
referred to as normalized standard score scale.
CORRELATION AND INFERENCES
• Central to psychological testing and assessment are
inferences (deduced conclusions) about how some things
(traits, abilities or interests) are related to other things ( such
as behavior).
• Coefficient of correlation or correlation coefficient is a
number that provides us with an index of the strength of the
relationship between two things.
• The Concept of Correlation
• Correlation, is an expression of the degree and direction of
correspondence between two things.
• The direction of a relationship, It expresses a linear
relationship between two variables.
• Positive correlation, when two variable simultaneously
increase or decrease.
• Negative correlation, when one variable increases and the
other decreases.
• The Degree (Strength ) of a Relationship, a correlation
coefficient measures the degree of the relationship between
two variables.
• Two specific strengths
• Perfect relationship, when two variables are exactly related
the correlation coefficient is either +1.00 or -1.00.
• The two ways to express perfect correlations are the values
+1 and -1. If the correlation coefficient has a value of +1 or -
1, then the relationship between two variables is perfect.
• No relationship, when to variables have no relationship at
all their correlation is 0.00.
• If a correlation is zero(0), then absolutely no relationship
exists between the two variables and some might consider as
perfectly no correlation.
• The Pearson r
• This is the most widely used measure of correlation.
• This was devised by Karl Pearson.
• Pearson r is also known as the Pearson correlation coefficient
and the Pearson product – moment coefficient of
correlation.
• Pearson r can be a statistical tool of choice when the
relationship between the variables is linear and when the
two variables being correlated are continuous.
• At .01 level might tell you that a correlation exists between
variables occurring merely by chance only one time or less in
a hundred.
• At .05 level might indicates that a correlation exists between
variables and is expected to occur by chance five times or
less in a hundred.
• Coefficient of determination, is an indication of how much
variance is shared by the X and the Y variables.
• The Spearman Rho
• This is also known as rank – order correlation and rank –
difference correlation coefficient.
• This was developed by Charles Spearman a British
psychologist.
• This is frequently used when the sample size is small (fewer
that 30 pairs measurements) and especially when both sets
of measurements are in ordinal (rank order).
• The Scatter plot, one of the most useful graph for displaying
the relationship between two quantitative variables.
• It is a simple graphing of coordinate points of the coordinate
points for values of the X – variable (place along the graph’s
horizontal axis) and the Y – variable (place along the graph’s
vertical axis).
• Scatter plots are useful because they provide a quick
indication of the direction and magnitude of the relationship.
• Student GPA Motivation
• Joe 2.0 50
• Lisa 2.0 48
• Mary 2.0 100
• Sam 2.0 12
• Deana 2.3 34
• Sarah 2.6 30
• Jennifer 2.6 78
• Gregory 3.0 87
• Thomas 3.1 84
• Cindy 3.2 75
• Martha 3.6 83
• Steve 3.8 90
• Jamell 3.8 90
• Tammie 4.0 98
 GPA2
120

100

80

60

40

20

0
1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
• This example compares
student’s achievement
motivation and their GPA.
These two variables have
positive association as GPA
increases, so does
motivation.
• This example compares
student’s GPA and their
number of absences. These
two variables have a
negative association
because in a general as a
student’s number of
absences decreases, their
GPA increases.
INTEPRETING SCATTERPLOTS
Another important component to a scatterplot is the form of the
relationship between two variables.
• Linear Relationship • This example illustrates a linear
relationship. This means that the
points on the scatterplot closely
resemble a straight line. A
relationship is linear if one
variable increases by
approximately the same rate as
the other variables changes by
one unit.
• This example describes a
curvilinear relationship between
the variable “age” and the
variable “working memory.” In
this example, working memory
increases throughout childhood,
remains steady in adulthood,
and begins decreasing around
age 50.
• Scatter plots are useful in revealing the presence of
curvilineary in a relationship.
• Curvilineary, refers to an eyeball gauge of how curved a
graph is.
• Curvilinear relationship is a type of relationship between
two variables where as one variable increases, so does the
other variable but only up to certain point, after which, as
one variable continues to increase, the other decreases.
• If you were to graph this kind of curvilinear relationship, you
will come up with an inverted – U.
• The other type of curvilinear relationship in one where as
one variable increases, the other decreases up to a certain
point, both variables increases together.
• This will give you a U – shaped curve.
• INTEPRETING SCATTERPLOTS: STRENGTH
• The slope provides information on the strength of the
relationship.
• Four things must be reported to describe a relationship:
• 1) The strength of the relationship given by the correlation
coefficient.
• 2) The direction of the relationship, which can be positive or
negative based on the sign of the correlation coefficient.
• 3) The shape of the relationship, which must always be linear
to computer a Pearson correlation coefficient.
• 4) Whether or not the relationship is statistically significant,
which is based on the p-value.
• Meta – analysis, may be defined as a family of techniques
used to statistically combine information across studies to
produce single estimates of the data under study.
• This is used to synthesize summary data from a series of
studies.
• It focuses on deriving the effect size (treatment effect), that
refers to an estimate of the strength of the relationship (or
the size of differences) between groups.
• In typical studies using two groups (experimental group and
the control group), ideally with confidence intervals, is
helpful in determining the effectiveness of some sort of
intervention (such as a new form of therapy, a drug, a new
management approach etc.)
• In practice, many different procedure may be used to
determine effect size and the procedure selected will be
based on a particular research situation.
• Meta analysis facilitates drawing of conclusions and making
statements like
• The typical therapy client is better off than 75% of untreated
individuals (Smith & Glass, 1977, p.752)
• About 10% increased risk for antisocial behavior among
children with incarcerated parents, compared to peers
(Murray et. al., 2012)
• Key advantage: it provides more weight to studies that have
larger number of subjects. This weighting process results in a
more accurate estimates (Hunter & Schmidt, 1990).
• Advantages of Meta Analysis
• Meta analysis can be replicated
• Conclusions of meta analyses tend to be more reliable and
precise than the conclusion from single studies
• There is more focus on the effect size rather than the
statistical significance alone
• It promotes evidence – based practice which may be defined
as professional practice that is based on clinical and research
findings.