Psychological Testing and Assessment: An Introduction to Tests and Measurement 9th Edition

705 Pages·2017·9.01 MB·english

by  Ronald Jay Cohen and Mark E. Swerdlik

Psychological Testing
and Assessment
An Introduction to Tests and Measurement
Ninth Edition
Ronald Jay Cohen
Mark E. Swerdlik
Psychological Testing and Assessment
An Introduction to Tests and Measurement
NINTH EDITION
Ronald Jay Cohen
RJ COHEN CONSULTING
Mark E. Swerdlik
ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING AND ASSESSMENT:
AN INTRODUCTION TO TESTS AND MEASUREMENT, NINTH EDITION
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cohen, Ronald Jay, author. | Swerdlik, Mark E., author.
Title: Psychological testing and assessment / Ronald Jay Cohen, RJ Cohen
Consulting, Mark E. Swerdlik, Illinois State University.
Description: Ninth Edition. | Dubuque : McGraw-Hill Education, 2018. |
Revised edition of the authors’ Psychological testing and assessment,
c2013.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016059701| ISBN 9781259870507 | ISBN 1259870502
Subjects: LCSH: Psychological tests. | Psychometrics. | BISAC: PSYCHOLOGY / General.
Classification: LCC BF176 .C63 2017 | DDC 150.28/7—dc23 LC record available at
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This book is dedicated with love to the memory of Edith and Harold Cohen.
© 2017 Ronald Jay Cohen. All rights reserved.
Contents
Preface xiii
I
P A R T An Overview
1 Psychological Testing and Assessment 1
TESTING AND ASSESSMENT 1
Psychological Testing and Assessment Defined 1
THE TOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT 7
The Test 7
The Interview 9
The Portfolio 11
Case History Data 12
Behavioral Observation 12
Role-Play Tests 13
Computers as Tools 14
Other Tools 17
WHO, WHAT, WHY, HOW, AND WHERE? 17
Who Are the Parties? 17
In What Types of Settings Are Assessments Conducted, and Why? 20
How Are Assessments Conducted? 26
Where to Go for Authoritative Information: Reference Sources 30
CLOSE-UP Behavioral Assessment Using Smartphones 5
MEET AN ASSESSMENT PROFESSIONAL Meet Dr. Alan Ogle 24
EVERYDAY PSYCHOMETRICS Everyday Accommodations 31
SELF-ASSESSMENT 35
2 Historical, Cultural, and Legal/Ethical Considerations 36
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 36
Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century 36
The Twentieth Century 39
CULTURE AND ASSESSMENT 42
Evolving Interest in Culture-Related Issues 42
Some Issues Regarding Culture and Assessment 47
Tests and Group Membership 53
LEGAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 55
The Concerns of the Public 55
The Concerns of the Profession 63
The Rights of Testtakers 69
iv
CLOSE-UP The Controversial Career of Henry Herbert Goddard 44
MEET AN ASSESSMENT PROFESSIONAL Meet Dr. Neil Krishan Aggarwal 51
EVERYDAY PSYCHOMETRICS Life-or-Death Psychological Assessment 66
SELF-ASSESSMENT 74
II
P A R T The Science of Psychological Measurement
3 A Statistics Refresher 75
SCALES OF MEASUREMENT 76
Nominal Scales 77
Ordinal Scales 78
Interval Scales 79
Ratio Scales 79
Measurement Scales in Psychology 79
DESCRIBING DATA 81
Frequency Distributions 81
Measures of Central Tendency 84
Measures of Variability 89
Skewness 93
Kurtosis 94
THE NORMAL CURVE 95
The Area Under the Normal Curve 95
STANDARD SCORES 98
z Scores 98
T Scores 99
Other Standard Scores 99
CORRELATION AND INFERENCE 102
The Concept of Correlation 102
The Pearson r 104
The Spearman Rho 106
Graphic Representations of Correlation 107
Meta-Analysis 110
EVERYDAY PSYCHOMETRICS Consumer (of Graphed Data), Beware! 85
CLOSE-UP The Normal Curve and Psychological Tests 96
MEET AN ASSESSMENT PROFESSIONAL Meet Dr. Joni L. Mihura 112
SELF-ASSESSMENT 114
4 Of Tests and Testing 115
SOME ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
AND ASSESSMENT 115
Assumption 1: Psychological Traits and States Exist 115
Assumption 2: Psychological Traits and States
Can Be Quantified and Measured 117
Contents v
Assumption 3: Test-Related Behavior Predicts Non-Test-Related Behavior 119
Assumption 4: Tests and Other Measurement Techniques Have
Strengths and Weaknesses 119
Assumption 5: Various Sources of Error Are Part
of the Assessment Process 119
Assumption 6: Testing and Assessment Can Be Conducted
in a Fair and Unbiased Manner 121
Assumption 7: Testing and Assessment Benefit Society 121
WHAT’S A “GOOD TEST”? 122
Reliability 122
Validity 122
Other Considerations 123
NORMS 123
Sampling to Develop Norms 126
Types of Norms 132
Fixed Reference Group Scoring Systems 135
Norm-Referenced Versus Criterion-Referenced Evaluation 136
Culture and Inference 138
EVERYDAY PSYCHOMETRICS Putting Tests to the Test 124
CLOSE-UP How “Standard” Is Standard in Measurement? 127
MEET AN ASSESSMENT PROFESSIONAL Meet Dr. Steve Julius and
Dr. Howard W. Atlas 138
SELF-ASSESSMENT 139
5 Reliability 141
THE CONCEPT OF RELIABILITY 141
Sources of Error Variance 143
RELIABILITY ESTIMATES 145
Test-Retest Reliability Estimates 145
Parallel-Forms and Alternate-Forms Reliability Estimates 149
Split-Half Reliability Estimates 150
Other Methods of Estimating Internal Consistency 152
Measures of Inter-Scorer Reliability 156
USING AND INTERPRETING A COEFFICIENT OF RELIABILITY 158
The Purpose of the Reliability Coefficient 159
The Nature of the Test 160
The True Score Model of Measurement and Alternatives to It 163
RELIABILITY AND INDIVIDUAL SCORES 169
The Standard Error of Measurement 169
The Standard Error of the Difference Between Two Scores 172
CLOSE-UP Psychology’s Replicability Crisis 147
EVERYDAY PSYCHOMETRICS The Importance of the Method Used
for Estimating Reliability 157
MEET AN ASSESSMENT PROFESSIONAL Meet Dr. Bryce B. Reeve 168
SELF-ASSESSMENT 174
vi Contents
6 Validity 175
THE CONCEPT OF VALIDITY 175
Face Validity 177
Content Validity 178
CRITERION-RELATED VALIDITY 182
What Is a Criterion? 182
Concurrent Validity 184
Predictive Validity 184
CONSTRUCT VALIDITY 187
Evidence of Construct Validity 187
VALIDITY, BIAS, AND FAIRNESS 192
Test Bias 192
Test Fairness 196
MEET AN ASSESSMENT PROFESSIONAL Meet Dr. Adam Shoemaker 179
CLOSE-UP The Preliminary Validation of a Measure of Individual
Differences in Constructive Versus Unconstructive Worry 193
EVERYDAY PSYCHOMETRICS Adjustment of Test Scores by Group Membership:
Fairness in Testing or Foul Play? 197
SELF-ASSESSMENT 199
7 Utility 200
WHAT IS UTILITY? 201
Factors That Affect a Test’s Utility 201
UTILITY ANALYSIS 206
What Is a Utility Analysis? 206
How Is a Utility Analysis Conducted? 207
Some Practical Considerations 221
METHODS FOR SETTING CUT SCORES 225
The Angoff Method 225
The Known Groups Method 226
IRT-Based Methods 226
Other Methods 228
MEET AN ASSESSMENT PROFESSIONAL Meet Dr. Delphine Courvoisier 204
CLOSE-UP Utility Analysis: An Illustration 208
EVERYDAY PSYCHOMETRICS The Utility of Police Use of Body Cameras 218
SELF-ASSESSMENT 228
8 Test Development 229
TEST CONCEPTUALIZATION 230
Some Preliminary Questions 232
Pilot Work 234
TEST CONSTRUCTION 234
Scaling 234
Writing Items 239
Scoring Items 246
Contents vii
TEST TRYOUT 246
What Is a Good Item? 247
ITEM ANALYSIS 248
The Item-Difficulty Index 248
The Item-Reliability Index 249
The Item-Validity Index 250
The Item-Discrimination Index 250
Item-Characteristic Curves 253
Other Considerations in Item Analysis 256
Qualitative Item Analysis 258
TEST REVISION 260
Test Revision as a Stage in New Test Development 260
Test Revision in the Life Cycle of an Existing Test 262
The Use of IRT in Building and Revising Tests 266
INSTRUCTOR-MADE TESTS FOR IN-CLASS USE 270
Addressing Concerns About Classroom Tests 270
CLOSE-UP Creating and Validating a Test of Asexuality 231
MEET AN ASSESSMENT PROFESSIONAL Meet Dr. Scott Birkeland 254
EVERYDAY PSYCHOMETRICS Adapting Tools of Assessment for
Use with Specific Cultural Groups 261
SELF-ASSESSMENT 272
III
P A R T The Assessment of Intelligence
9 Intelligence and Its Measurement 273
WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE? 273
Perspectives on Intelligence 275
MEASURING INTELLIGENCE 285
Some Tasks Used to Measure Intelligence 285
Some Tests Used to Measure Intelligence 287
ISSUES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF INTELLIGENCE 308
Culture and Measured Intelligence 308
The Flynn Effect 314
The Construct Validity of Tests of Intelligence 315
A PERSPECTIVE 315
CLOSE-UP Factor Analysis 277
MEET AN ASSESSMENT PROFESSIONAL Meet Dr. Rebecca Anderson 287
EVERYDAY PSYCHOMETRICS The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude
Battery (ASVAB): A Test You Can Take 304
SELF-ASSESSMENT 316
viii Contents
10 Assessment for Education 317
THE ROLE OF TESTING AND ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION 317
THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST EDUCATIONAL TESTING
IN THE SCHOOLS 318
THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS 319
Response to Intervention (RtI) 320
Dynamic Assessment 324
ACHIEVEMENT TESTS 328
Measures of General Achievement 328
Measures of Achievement in Specific Subject Areas 329
APTITUDE TESTS 331
The Preschool Level 333
The Elementary-School Level 338
The Secondary-School Level 340
The College Level and Beyond 341
DIAGNOSTIC TESTS 344
Reading Tests 345
Math Tests 346
PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL TEST BATTERIES 346
The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and the
Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition (KABC-II) 346
The Woodcock-Johnson IV (WJ IV) 348
OTHER TOOLS OF ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS 348
Performance, Portfolio, and Authentic Assessment 349
Peer Appraisal Techniques 351
Measuring Study Habits, Interests, and Attitudes 352
EVERYDAY PSYCHOMETRICS The Common Core Controversy 321
MEET AN ASSESSMENT PROFESSIONAL Meet Eliane Keyes, M.A. 325
CLOSE-UP Educational Assessment: An Eastern Perspective 339
SELF-ASSESSMENT 353
IV
P A R T The Assessment of Personality
11 Personality Assessment: An Overview 354
PERSONALITY AND PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT 354
Personality 354
Personality Assessment 355
Traits, Types, and States 355
PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT: SOME BASIC QUESTIONS 359
Who? 360
What? 366
Where? 368
How? 368
Contents ix