What is a test? Different types well talk about over the semester. Cognitive vs.

affective, speed vs. power, objective vs. nonobjective, individual vs. group, norm-
referenced vs. criterion-referenced.

Test a set of items representing the characteristics of a stimulus situation to
which individuals respond (official definition of tests accepted worldwide by
various testing agencies)

Cognitive tests
Achievement
Aptitude
Ability

Achievement tests capability of demonstrating performance on tasks that have
been acquired

Aptitude predicting future performance
Selection process in hiringorganizational and industrial psychology
SAT very good at this (validity coefficient ~0.6-0.7, which is quite high)
NOTE: Binet and his colleagues at the turn of the 20
th
century in Paris started
this type of testing to determine

Ability what you can do in skill areas (laypeople often confuse aptitude and
ability testsaptitude tests predict future performance vs. test of what you can do)
Typing test
Test of playing a musical instrument
Performance on driving part of drivers test
NOTE: In cognitive tests, especially, the higher the person scores, the more
he/she is said to have of that particular attribute

Affective Tests
Interest inventoriesStrong Vocational Interest test
Self-concept tests
Personality testsMMPI, Rorschach Ink Blot test
Often come from task analysis where you choose what you want to analyze and then
build a test around it

Psychomotor tests
things like PE coordination test

Special tests
Eye testsvisual field
Hearing tests
Still margin of error even in these kinds of tests

Important:
When youre assessing a person, a test should under no circumstances be the only
criterion used to evaluate the person. Even an eye test has a lack of reliability and
validity. Supplement the tests with personal judgment.

Some Technical Points in Testing
Psychometriciana specialist in psychology or education who develops
and evaluates psychological tests
Very helpful in test interpretation (to their best judgment)
The word test is broadly defined to include things which we might not
normally categorize as tests in the usual sense
o Ex: a list of non-intrusive behaviors which might characterize
individuals using drugs
o Situational testse.g. Observations of test taking behavior under
stressful conditions
A test is a standardized procedure for sampling behavior and describing it
with categories or scores. Most tests possess these defining features:
o Standardized procedure
o Behavioral sample
o Scores or categories
o Norms or Standards
o Prediction of non-test behavior
Standardized procedureif the procedure for administering the test is
uniform from one examiner and setting to another. (NOTE: the importance
of the instructions in the accompanying test manual and scoring.)
Comparable stimulus materials to all testers, specify oral instructions for
each item or subtest and advise the examiner how to handle a wide range of
queries from the examinee.
o Read the manual
o Memorize the key elements
o Rehearse giving the test
o Must be extremely careful for tests in the affective domain because
they are lacking in reliability to being with. If you decrease the
reliability by changing the way in which the test is given, it can create
a big problem.