Test Theory: Categorize Tests According To Type of Behavior They Measure

Test Theory
Chapter 1
 Test: measurement device or technique used to quantify behavior or aid in the

understanding and prediction of behavior.
o Measures only a sample of behavior and error is always associated with a
sampling process.
 Item: is a specific stimulus to which a person responds overtly; this response

can be scored or evaluated
o Specific questions or problems that make up a test.
 Psychological test (educational test): set of items that are designed to
measure characteristics of human beings that pertain to behavior.
o Overt behavior; individual’s observable activity.

o Covert behavior; takes place within an individual and cannot be directly
observed.
 Scales: Used by psychologist to deal with problems of interpretation, relate raw

scores on test items to some defined theoretical or empirical distribution.
 TYPES OF TESTS:
o Individual Test; can be given to only one person at a time.
o Group Test; can be administrated to more than one person at a time by a
single administrator
o Test administrator; person giving the test.
Categorize tests according to type of behavior they measure;
 Ability Tests; contain items than can be scored in terms of speed, accuracy, or
both.
o Different Types Of Ability:
 Achievement Test: previous learning
 Aptitude Test: potential for learning or acquiring a specific skill
 Intelligence Test: person’s general potential to solve problems,
adapt to changing circumstances, think abstractly, and profit from
experience.
- These three concepts are encompassed by the term HUMAN ABILITY.
 Personality Tests; related to overt en covert dispositions of the individual.

o Different Types Of Personality Tests:
1. Structured personality tests: provide a statement, usually of the
“self-report” variety, and require the subject to choose between two
or more alternative responses as true/false.
2. Projective personality test: unstructured, either the stimulus or
required response are ambiguous.
 Psychological testing: all possible uses, applications, and underlying concepts
of psychological and educational tests. The main use of these tests though, is to
evaluate individual differences or variations among individuals.
o Principles of psychological testing: basic concepts and fundamental
ideas that underlie all psychological and educational tests
 Reliability: accuracy, dependability, consistency or repeatability of the test
results
 Validity: meaning and usefulness of test results
 Interview: method of gathering information through verbal interaction, such as
direct questions.
 Test batteries: two or more tests used in conjunction, quite common by Han
Dynasty
 Charles Darwin & Individual Differences:
o Most basic concept underlying psychological and educational testing
pertains to individual differences
o According to Darwin’s theory higher forms of life evolved partially because
of differences among individual forms of life within species.
o Sir Francis Galton, began applying Darwin’s theories to the study of
human beings. Galton initiated a search for knowledge concerning human
individual differences, which is now one of the most important domains of
scientific psychology.
 Psychological testing (experimental psychology and psychological
measurement):
o Developed from at least two lines of inquiry; one based on the work of
Darwin, Galton, and Cartell on the measurement of individual differences,
and the other based on the work of the German psychophysicists Herbart,
Weber, Fechner, and Wundt.
o Binet developed the first major general intelligence test. Binet’s early
effort launched the first systematic attempt to evaluate individual
differences in human intelligence.
 Evolution of intelligence and standardized achievement tests:
o The history and evolution of Binet’s intelligence are instructive. Binet was
aware of the importance of a standardization sample.
o Representative sample; one that comprises individuals similar to those
for whom the test is to be used.
o Mental age concept was one of the most important contributions of the
revised 1908 Binet-Simon Scale.
o 1916 L.M. Terman of Stanford University had revised the Binet test for
use in the United States.
o World war I: The war created a demand for large-scale group testing
because relatively few trained personnel could evaluate the huge influx of
military recruits
 World war I fueled the widespread development of group tests
o Achievements tests: Among the most important developments
following World War I was the development of standardized achievements
tests.
 Standardized achievements tests caught on quickly because of
the relative ease of administration and scoring and the lack of
subjectivity or favoritism that can occur in essay or other written
tests.
 by 1930, it was widely held that the objectivity and reliability of
these new standardized tests made them superior to essay tests.
o Wechsler’s test: produced various scores, among these was the
performance IQ. Wechsler’s inclusion of a nonverbal scale thus helped
overcome some of the practical and theoretical weakness of the Binet
test.
o Personality test: 1920-1940:
 Traits; relatively enduring dispositions that distinguish one
individual from another.
 Earliest personality test were structure paper-and-pencil group test
 Motivation underlying the development of the first personality test
was the need to screen military recruits.
 Introduction of the Woodworth test was enthusiastically followed
by the creation of a variety of structured personality tests, all of
which assumed that a subject’s response could be taken at face
value.

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Test Theory

 Test: measurement device or technique used to quantify behavior or aid in the

 Item: is a specific stimulus to which a person responds overtly; this response

o Overt behavior; individual’s observable activity.

 Scales: Used by psychologist to deal with problems of interpretation, relate raw

Categorize tests according to type of behavior they measure;

 Personality Tests; related to overt en covert dispositions of the individual.

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