Foundations of Psychological Testing: A Practical Approach

593 Pages·2018·8.498 MB·English

by  Leslie A. Miller, Robert L. Lovler

FOUNDATIONS OF
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
Sixth Edition
Leslie Miller dedicates this book to her husband, Robert Miller,
and children, Zachary Kenneth Miller and Kia Anne Miller.
Robert Lovler dedicates this book to his wife, Patsy Lovler, his daughter,
Lauren Lovler, and his mentor at Hofstra University, Dr. William Metlay.
FOUNDATIONS OF
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
A Practical Approach
Sixth Edition

Leslie A. Miller
LanneM TM, LLC
Robert L. Lovler
Wilson Learning Corporation
FOR INFORMATION: Copyright © 2020 by SAGE Publications, Inc.
SAGE Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted by U.S. copyright law, no part of
this work may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or
2455 Teller Road
stored in a database or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
Thousand Oaks, California 91320
the publisher.
E-mail: [email protected]
All third party trademarks referenced or depicted herein are included solely
for the purpose of illustration and are the property of their respective
SAGE Publications Ltd.
owners. Reference to these trademarks in no way indicates any relationship
1 Oliver’s Yard
with, or endorsement by, the trademark owner.
55 City Road
London EC1Y 1SP
United Kingdom
SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd.
B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area
Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044
India
Printed in the United States of America
SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd.
18 Cross Street #10-10/11/12 ISBN: 978-1-5063-9640-8
China Square Central
Singapore 048423
Acquisitions Editor: Abbie Rickard This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Content Development Editor: Emma Newsom
Editorial Assistant: Elizabeth Cruz
Production Editor: Jane Martinez
Copy Editor: Renee Willers
Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.
Proofreader: Alison Syring
Indexer: May Hasso
Cover Designer: Scott Van Atta
Marketing Manager: Jenna Retana 19 20 21 22 23 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
BRIEF CONTENTS
Preface xix
About the Authors xxv
SECTION I • OVERVIEW OF
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING 1
Chapter 1 • What Are Psychological Tests? 3
Chapter 2 • Why Is Psychological Testing Important? 35
Chapter 3 • What Are the Ethical Responsibilities of
Test Publishers, Test Users, and Test Takers? 54
SECTION II • PSYCHOMETRIC PRINCIPLES 85
Chapter 4 • How Do Test Users Interpret Test Scores? 87
Chapter 5 • What Is Test Reliability/Precision? 127
Chapter 6 • How Do We Gather Evidence of Validity
Based on the Content of a Test? 161
Chapter 7 • How Do We Gather Evidence of Validity
Based on Test–Criterion Relationships? 182
Chapter 8 • How Do We Gather Evidence of Validity
Based on a Test’s Relation to Constructs? 210
SECTION III • DEVELOPING AND PILOTING SURVEYS
AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS 237
Chapter 9 • How Do We Construct and Administer Surveys
and Use Survey Data? 239
Chapter 10 • How Do We Develop a Test? 282
Chapter 11 • How Do We Assess the Psychometric Quality of a Test? 310
SECTION IV • USING TESTS IN DIFFERENT SETTINGS 347
Chapter 12 • How Are Tests Used in Educational Settings? 349
Chapter 13 • How Are Tests Used in Clinical and
Counseling Settings? 381
Chapter 14 • How Are Tests Used in Organizational Settings? 405
Appendix A: Test Spotlights 437
Appendix B: Guidelines for Critiquing a Psychological Test 489
Appendix C: Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education 491
Appendix D: Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct 498
Appendix E: Table of Critical Values for Pearson
Product–Moment Correlation Coefficients 500
Glossary 502
References 513
Author Index 531
Subject Index 541
DETAILED CONTENTS
Preface xix
About the Authors xxv
SECTION I • OVERVIEW OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING 1
Chapter 1 • What Are Psychological Tests? 3
Why Should You Care About Psychological Testing? 4
— IN THE NEWS BOX 1.1: Combating Terrorism 5
What Is a Psychological Test? 6
Similarities Among Psychological Tests 6
Differences Among Psychological Tests 7
The History of Psychological Testing 9
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 1.1: Psychological Tests:
From Ancient China to the 20th Century 11
Intelligence Tests 12
Personality Tests 14
Vocational Tests 14
Testing in the 21st Century 15
— ON THE WEB BOX 1.1: Names and Web Addresses of Test Publishers 17
The Three Defining Characteristics of Psychological Tests 18
Assumptions of Psychological Tests 19
Test Classification Methods 20
Maximal Performance, Behavior Observation, or Self-Report 20
Standardized or Nonstandardized 21
Objective or Projective 21
Dimension Measured 22
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 1.2: Sample Items From
the NEO Personality Inventory 22
Subject Tests 24
Psychological Assessment, Psychological Tests, Measurements, and Surveys 24
Psychological Assessment and Psychological Test 25
Psychological Test and Measurement 25
Psychological Tests and Surveys 25
Locating Information About Tests 26
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 1.3: Commonly Used Resource Books 27
— ON THE WEB BOX 1.2: Locating Information About Tests on the Web 29
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 1.4: Locating Unpublished Psychological Tests 30
Chapter Summary 31
Engaging in the Learning Process 32
Key Concepts 33
Critical Thinking Questions 33
Chapter 2 • Why Is Psychological Testing Important? 35
Types of Decisions Made Using Psychological Test Results 36
Individual and Institutional Decisions 36
Comparative and Absolute Decisions 37
Which Professionals Use Psychological Tests and for What Reasons? 38
Educational Settings 39
Clinical Settings 39
Organizational Settings 39
— ON THE WEB BOX 2.1: The Leadership Practices Inventory 40
— IN THE NEWS BOX 2.1: The NFL and the Wonderlic 41
Psychological Testing Controversies 41
The Controversy Over Intelligence Tests 42
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 2.1: Can IQ Tests Be Illegal? 44
The Controversy Over Aptitude and Integrity Tests 46
— IN THE NEWS BOX 2.2: The Flynn Effect 47
— ON THE WEB BOX 2.2: The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) 48
The Controversy Over High-Stakes Testing in Education 50
Chapter Summary 51
Engaging in the Learning Process 52
Key Concepts 52
Critical Thinking Questions 53
Chapter 3 • What Are the Ethical Responsibilities of Test Publishers,
Test Users, and Test Takers? 54
What Are Ethics? 55
Professional Practice Standards 57
The APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct 57
— ON THE WEB BOX 3.1: Where to Access Professional Practice Standards 58
The Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education 58
The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing 59
SHRM's Code of Ethical and Professional Standards in
Human Resource Management 60
The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology's
Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures 60
The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures 60
Other Testing Guidelines 61
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 3.1: Report of the Task Force on
Test User Qualifications 64
— ON THE WEB BOX 3.2: APA Science Directorate: Testing and Assessment 66
Certification and Licensure 66
General Responsibilities of Test Publishers, Test Users, and Test Takers 67
Test Publisher Responsibilities 67
— IN THE NEWS BOX 3.1: Jobs You Didn’t Know Need Licenses 68
Test User Responsibilities 72
Test Taker Responsibilities 72
Test Taker Rights 73
Testing Special Populations 76
Test Takers With Physical or Mental Challenges 76
Test Takers With Learning Disabilities 76
— ON THE WEB BOX 3.3: Guidelines for Testing the Blind 77
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 3.2: Guidelines for Accommodating
Test Takers With Disabilities 77
Test Takers From Multicultural Backgrounds 80
Chapter Summary 81
Engaging in the Learning Process 82
Key Concepts 82
Critical Thinking Questions 82
SECTION II • PSYCHOMETRIC PRINCIPLES 85
Chapter 4 • How Do Test Users Interpret Test Scores? 87
Levels of Measurement 88
Nominal Scales 91
Ordinal Scales 92
— ON THE WEB BOX 4.1: The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index 93
Interval Scales 94
Ratio Scales 94
Procedures for Interpreting Test Scores 95
Frequency Distributions 96
The Normal Curve 99
Descriptive Statistics 101
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 4.1: Evenly Distributed, Skewed, Peaked, and
Bimodal Distributions 102
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 4.2: Calculating
Measures of Central Tendency 105
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 4.3: Calculating the Population Standard
Deviation of a Distribution of Scores 110
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 4.4: Using the Mean and Standard
Deviation to Plot a Distribution 111
Standard Scores 113
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 4.5: Calculating the Correlation
Between Two Sets of Test Scores 114
Linear Transformations 115
Area Transformations 116
The Role of Norms 118
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 4.6: Linear and Area Transformation 119
Types of Norms 120
— FOR YOUR INFORMATION BOX 4.7: California Achievement
Tests Grade Norms 121
— ON THE WEB BOX 4.2: Normative Data on the Mini-Mental State Examination 123