Steps in Psychological Measurement

Section A

INTRODUCTION

Psychological assessment is similar to psychological testing but usually involves a more comprehensive assessment of the individual. Psychological assessment is a process that involves checking the integration of information from multiple sources, such as tests of normal and abnormal personality, tests of ability or intelligence, tests of interests or attitudes, as well as information from personal interviews (Hambleton and De Jong, 2003: 127). The technical term for the science behind psychological testing is psychometrics. Psychometrics is essentially the study of different mental traits and behavioural characteristics in amounts or scores. For example, these tests can take the form of intelligence scales, or a rating of different attitudes against a specific population standard or norm (Hambleton and De Jong, 2003: 129). Psychometrics involves the assessment of human data according to known, specific standards implied by the experienced researcher or scientist. Without psychometric theory, there would be problems to develop a reliable and valid psychological measure. It would be impossible to study human intelligence without comparing a person, or group to a normative sample (Hambleton and De Jong, 2003: 130). Psychological assessment measures on the other hand, involve five different processes, diagnosis, classification, planning of treatment, self-knowledge, research and program evaluation (Gregory, 2000: 41).The process of developing a reliable and valid psychological measure is a complex task. In this paper, the author hopes to further explain how to construct a test which can be considered both valid and reliable. Steps to developing a psychological measure. The steps to follow when developing a psychological measure can seem daunting and complex. There are nine basic steps which needs to be followed (Hambleton and De Jong, 2003: 127).

THE PLANNING PHASE

This is probably one of the most important steps before beginning a...