Testing in Perspective
It is important to view psychological assessments in their context.
An assessment is a set of items designed to get an understanding of a person's
situation. There are a number of ways that assessments can relay inaccurate
information. Following are a set of questions you might want to ask when
using or being administered a psychological assessment:
- Does the assessment measure what I need to know?
- Is there evidence that it measures what it purports to measure
(validity)?
- Is there evidence that you would interpret the items in the same
way if you took the assessment again (reliability)?
- Did I understand the instructions, and were the directions clearly
communicated to me?
- Am I interpreting the words in the same way as the people for whom
the assessment was developed?
- Was I paying attention to the assessment when I answered it (not
distracted)?
- Did I answer the items openly and honestly so that it was an accurate
reflection of my thinking?
- Was the assessment scored correctly? Were my responses calculated
without error?
- Was inaccuracy of the assessment taken into account?
- Given the set of items, was the interpretation of my responses consistent
with my "true thinking"?
- Does the interpretation of my assessment results seem reasonable
to me?
- When I am compared to the norms for the assessment, does it make
a difference if I am demographically or culturally different?
- Was my life context taken into account in the interpretation of
the assessment?
- Am I being classified based on this assessment and would I consider
that classification fair and accurate?
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