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Testing & Assessment in Psychology - Coggle Diagram
Testing & Assessment in Psychology
3 major sources
of ethics codes related
• the
Guidelines for Computer-Based Tests and Interpretations
(APA Committee on Professional Standards & Committee on Psychological Tests and Assessment, 1986).
• the
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
(APA, 2010)
• the
Standard for Education and Psychological Testing
(American Educational Research Association [AERA], APA & National Council on Measurement in Education [NCME], 1999).
• the
Standard for Education and Psychological Testing
o Organized in 3 sections
Fairness in testing
Testing application
Test construction, evaluation, and documentation
o Original version released in 1985, revised and updated in 1999 in accordance with changes in law & measurement trends.
• the
Guidelines for Computer-Based Tests and Interpretations
o A set of 31 guidelines
o International Test Commission introduced and adopted a relevant CBT guideline entitled International Guidelines on Computer-Based and Internet-Delivered Testing.
Similar objectives
with the Guidelines for Computer-Based Tests and Interpretations; to ensure standards of good practices for both development and usage of CBTs
• the
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
Limitations of assessment results
• When there are limitations to the reliability & validity of assessment procedures & tools
• When psychologists unable to personally evaluate examinee for various reasons, for example
o when examinee refused to continue with assessment; or
o Relocation of examinee during the course of assessment or;
o When psychologist referred to analysis of examinee’s information derived from other alternate sources such as preexisting records in academic, legal, organizational and administrative contexts or secondary records provided by third-party health professionals
Informed consent in assessment
• Communicated in a clear and comprehensive manner in accordance with the age and mental abilities of examinees
• Including
o Nature & purpose of assessment
o Fees
o Involvement of third parties (referral source)
o Limit of confidentiality
o Rights as test takers
• From parents, guardians, legal representations for those who aged lower than 18 (minors)
• Can be dispensed only when
o Conducted as routine educational, institutional, or organizational activity
o Testing is to evaluate decisional capacity as referred to Ethical Standard 9.03a
o Mandated by law & regulations
• Psychologists obligated to obtained informed consent from examinees; or
Scientific and professional bases
• In APA Ethical Standard 9.01a, psychologists must base their recommendations, reports, diagnostic or evaluative statements on scientific and professional standards of the field.
• In APA Ethical Standard 9.01b, psychologists made opinions and conclusions on individual’s psychological characteristics only when the adequate assessment is conducted
o Assessment procedures & tools that consistent with the objective of testing
o Sensitive to cultural and linguistic characteristics of examinee
o Congruent with examinee’s level of competency to administer the assessment
o Proved to be valid and reliable.
Nature and purpose of assessment
• Clear explanation of the nature & purpose of assessment to examinee
o Possible benefits
o Administrative procedures
Advised to provide general description on procedures as it might influence examinee’s response, thus alter validity of test or final results.
o Usage of the results
o Risks or consequences of being assessed.
For example, negative feelings that elicit during testing process
• Avoid from pressure examinee to be full assessed especially for those testing which may create possible negative feelings (involve private / taboo topics)
Bases of Assessments
• Refer to APA Ethical Standard 9.01
• Required the opinions and conclusions made by psychologists are based on the scientific and professional standards of professional psychology
Confidentiality and release of information
• Protect and maintain examinee’s confidentiality unless mandated by law for the purpose of
o To obtain appropriate professional consultations
o To protect client/patients/psychologists or others from harm
o To provide needed professional services
o To obtain payment for services from client/patient (limited to only relevant information disclosure)
Health insurance portability and accountability act and family educational rights and privacy acts
• Establishment of The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to regulate the protection of protected health information, including
o Including past, present or future psychical or mental health condition of individuals
o Also the provision and payment related to past, present and future health care to individuals
o Any information created / received by health care provider, health plan, public health authority, employer, life insurer, school / university or health care clearing house
• All electronic transmission information are regulated by a covered entity of HIPAA and must comply with this regulation.
• Psychologists obligated to protect client-patient information even when it related to electronic databases
Language and use of interpretation services
• As guided by Ethical Standard 9.03b and 9.03c, informed consent must be communicated in the language and at the language proficiency level of examinee.
• Can involved interpreter when different languages used, but the psychologists have to ensure the communication under a reasonable and understandable manner and the interpreter should follow the relevant ethical standards for example, maintaining confidentiality of all information of examinees from others outside the services
Release of test data
• Including the right to access, inspect, and receive copies of their relevant records under permission of HIPAA such as;
o Raw and scaled scores of the assessment
o Responses to the assessment
o Psychologists’ writing notes or recordings
• Can be dispensed when
o Potential misuse of test data is identified
Misinterpretation by unqualified persons, as referred to Ethical Standard 9.07.
May cause potential harm to examinees or others.
• Legal system & Principle E of APA Ethics Code emphasized the self-autonomy of patients to their own health care records,
• Disclosure of test data without examinee’s informed consent only when
o Mandated by law
Psychologists should protect the confidentiality of test data by requesting the court not to disclose the relevant information outside of legal setting.
Psychologists are recommended to notify examinees before such disclosure had made.
Psychologists are advised to refer to legal counsel about the legitimacy of court order before disclosure.
Test Construction
• To regulate test developers on appropriate psychometric procedures during development of test/assessment
o Validity
Degree to which the test measures what it intends to measure, as referred to AERA et al., (1999)
The evidences used to justify the validity;
• Content-related evidence
• Criterion-related evidence
o Reliability
Degree to which the results are consistent over repeated administration of the assessment, as referred to AERA et al., (1999).
Justification of reliability
• Internal consistency
• Test-retest
• Split-hard test
• Alternative-form comparisons.
o Standardization
Clear & specific guidelines are provided
Scoring cutoffs and norms of populations (reference group) are specific to enable the comparison.
o Reduction/elimination of bias
o Test design
o Recommendation for use
Assessment by Unqualified people
• Unqualified people include the psychologists who worked outsides their scope of competencies / area of expertise, as referred to Ethical Standard 2.01 (Boundaries of Competence), the consequences such as;
o Caused psychologically harms
o Wrong displacement of treatment plan (due to misdiagnosis)
o Misdiagnosis of patient’s concerns
• Qualified people are those who;
o Conduct assessment within their scope of competencies
o Relevant education, training background, & past experiences
o Relevant knowledge of assessment
Psychometric properties
Standardized procedures for administration and scoring
Proper interpretation of assessment
Limitation of assessment
Nature and purpose of assessment
• The use of psychological assessment techniques by unqualified people are prohibited as referred to Ethical Standard 9.07
Obsolete tests and outdated test results
• Often be stored or destroyed after long time.
• Prohibition of usage of obsolete usage as;
o Significant advances are made
o Changes in assessment’s items validity
o Changes in standardized norms and score cutoffs
• Prohibition of usage of outdated test data (refer to Ethical Standard 9.08a) as the relevant limitations such as;
o Changes in environment
o Development of new concerns
o Maturational & developmental effects
Maintaining test security
• Examinees have to right to access to test data but not test materials due to validity and copyright protection.
• Test materials can’t be printed in any form without written consent of test developers, and only accessible for authorized and qualified people.
• The security of test materials in any forms, for example manuals, instrument, protocols, test questions or stimuli must be protected.
Copyright law
• Maintaining test security and copyright protection law allow the protection of trade secret and agreement made with test developers during obtaining access to test materials.
• Test data and test materials should be separate as the examinees only have the right to access to their own test data but not test materials who belong to test developers.