46-320-01 Tests and Measurements

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46-320-01Tests and Measurements

• Intersession 2006

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Examiner/Test-Taker Relationship

• Children
• Rapport, IQ tests and age of child
• Familiarity
• Adults
• Attitudinal studies

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Race of Tester

• Little evidence race of tester affects
  performance on IQ
• Why?
• Testing limits

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Language and Training

• Knowledge of language can influence scores
• Translation of test
• Interpreters
• Training generally, more is better

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Expectancy Effects

• aka Rosenthal effects
• Told success vs. failure expected (1 point on 20
  scale difference)
• Seen in some situations (not all)
• Subtle nonverbal cues?
• Scoring?

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Reinforcing Responses

• Rewards can affect behaviour
• Children and IQ
• Tangible rewards vs. praise
• Complicated results
• Attitudinal studies
• Nodding
• Random reinforcing

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Computer-Assisted Test Administration

• Advantages
• Sensitive information
• Interpretive reports
• Can have undetected scoring problems

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State of the Test Taker

• Motivation and anxiety
• Illness
• Drugs
• Hormones

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Behavioural Assessment

• Observer
• Reactivity
• Reliability and validity highest when observed
• Drift
• Contrast effect
• Expectancies
• Rating accuracy
• Halo effect

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Interviews

• Standardized/structured
• Unstructured
• Always have a purpose
• Mutual interaction that influences
• Social facilitation
• Interviewers set a relaxed and warm environment,
  but remain in control

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Effective Interviewing

• Attitude
• Avoid
• Judgmental or evaluative statements
• Probing statements
• Hostile responses
• False reassurance
• Flow of interview
• Close-ended questions
• Open-ended questions

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Flow Responses

• Transitional phrase
• Verbatim playback
• Paraphrasing and restating
• Summarizing
• Clarification
• Empathy/understanding

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Measuring Understanding

• Active listening using understanding statements
• Carkhuff and colleagues 5-point scale
• Level 1 no relationship to interviewees
  response
• Level 2 superficial awareness of meaning
• Level 3 interchangeable with response
  (paraphrase, verbatim playback, clarification,
  restatements),
• Level 4 go noticeably beyond statement
• Level 5 go significantly beyond statement

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Types of Interviews

• Evaluation
• Confrontation
• Direct questions
• Structured clinical interview
• Spitzer et al. SCID
• DISC

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Types of Interviews

• Case History Interview
• Major life events, education, work, medical,
  family, relationships
• More information is often better
• Using computers?
• Mental Status Exam
• Diagnose psychosis, brain damage, etc

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Source http//www.lawandpsychiatry.com/html/mini_
mental_status_examination.pdf
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Types of Interviews

• Employment Interview
• Best structured format
• Hired
• Rejected
• First impressions
• Interviewing Skills
• Familiarize with research and theory
• Supervised practice
• Apply good interviewing principles

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Error in Interviewing

• Interview validity
• Natural errors in observation and judgment
• Halo effect
• General standoutishness
• Cross-cultural/class differences
• Consider interview data tentative
• Interview Reliability
• Interinterviewer agreement

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Reducing Error

• Interviews imposing structure
• Provide interviewers with scripts and standard
  sets of questions
• Develop scoring guides for interviewee responses
• Use multiple interviews