Psychometric Assessment in Guidance

Effective guidance depends upon accurate and comprehensive information about the counselee. The principle of individual differences is the basic idea behind psychological testing. We need to have objective information which is not biased and which will be useful for understanding the individual and taking some decisions about his future. It is a systematic way of evaluating individual’s status as compared to normal population.

Psychological tests are used for measuring personality, abilities and aptitudes as well as attitudes and interests.

Training is essential for using psychological tests and interpreting their results. There are different types of tests, which are to be administered in different style and interpreted in specific ways. Guidance and counselling largely depends upon use of psychological tests.

Nature of Psychological Tests

Eysenck’s encyclopaedia of psychology defines psychological testing as a routine scientific method of studying one or more empirically defined traits in order to draw quantitative conclusions on relative importance of particular features in the individual. A psychometric test measures some aspects of psychological functioning to provide a score, which can be objectively compared with others and enables prediction concerning future performance.

A psychological test is a devise to determine presence or absence, quality or quantity of a trait, ability, characteristics, skill, knowledge or habit. It consists of carefully selected sample of work that a normal individual is supposed to do more or less effectively during different developmental stages. It is essential to remember that no psychological test can measure innate capacity of the individual.

All psychological tests measure effect of developed abilities, which are resulting from interaction of life experiences with innate abilities. The test material, instructions and test situation must be standardised for each subject to be confronted with same or identical conditions, so that his own behaviour is the only thing that varies. In this way inter-individual comparability is guaranteed. It is the relative position of the individuals that is more meaningful and information regarding others’ status is essential for that.

Norms are provided by standardised tests to compare individual’s performance with other normal individuals. Any standardised test has to be reliable, valid and must have norms as well as a systematic prescribed way for administration. Reliability refers to the consistency of results when the same test is given to the same individual again and again. In a way, this is accuracy of results. Validity indicates whether the test measures what it intents to measure. There are various ways and methods to measure reliability and validity.

Reliability can be measured by using:

• Test retest reliability technique by repeating the same test
• Split half reliability by halving the test.

Three different validation types are commonly used. They are:

• Criterion related validity for example by comparing test results with criterion performance or other measures.
• Content validity-if no practical objective criteria, then content of the test are to be evaluated
• Construct validity focuses on practical diagnostic relevance of the test.

Standardisation includes precise instructions to be given to the counselee as well as prior arrangement of the material to be used for testing purpose. It also gives the administrator clear directions as to how scoring and interpretation of the test results should be done.

a. There are various types of standardised tests like- b. Verbal and nonverbal tests c. Individual and group tests d. Speed and power tests e. One dimensional and multidimensional tests

Limitations of Psychological Tests

Limitations of psychological tests also need to be considered. Some important limitations are

• Psychological tests usually yield a score that has to be interpreted with reference to certain norms. If the norms given are for a specific population and the counselee belongs to some other type, then the norms are not applicable to him.
  
  
  Say for example, we want to test intelligence of a hearing-impaired child; we are not supposed to use the test that is developed for normal healthy children. The basic reason is the norms are of not applicable to understand the child’s relative standing and what is normal for him. We can also take another example of an achievement test in English that is developed for British children, will be of no use to determine if an Indian child has average proficiency in English and his status among Indian children.
  
  
  
• No test can give us complete all sided picture of individuals abilities, interests or aptitudes. Hence, if the consequences are serious it becomes a must to use more than one tests. If the counsellor thinks that the child he is treating is having borderline intelligence, before arriving at any conclusion, he should administer at least two tests of intelligence covering different aspects like verbal and non-verbal tests.
  
  
  There is every possibility that child’s intelligence is better in nonverbal aspects and that is why he is lagging behind in studies. However, the child may not be having below average intelligence.
  
  
  
• Sophisticated statistical as well as psychometric training is essential for interpreting test results. Without this training, test results will be grossly misunderstood. Like for example if a child is getting a raw score of 75 in a test of intelligence a lay person will think that it is a good score because it is equal to 75% in any other examination.
  
  
  Actually, it is to be seen as below average intelligence as it may be below 1 standard deviation. One more thing is general understanding of mathematics cannot be applied to psychological tests. For example, the difference between intelligence quotient of 80 and 100 is not equal to that of 120 and 140. Their qualitative meaning also has to be carefully considered.

Test results sometimes may not be able to give objective facts. This may be because of:

• Limitations of the test-is the test fairly constructed is an important question. It should not be biased and more weightage should not be given in favour of any one community or region or any specific population. It should be culture free.
  
  
• Subjective factors affecting performance of the individual like lack of motivation
  
  
• Limitations of test administrator like lack of proper training
  
  
• Limitations of the environment like lot of disturbance

No assessment should be considered as permanent or stable as abilities are constantly changing. Periodic use of similar tests is essential to keep a track of changes that are taking place in the individual. Though psychological tests are used for prediction it is necessary to understand that there is a vast difference in day to life situation and sample behaviour or aspects studied in psychological tests, prediction may not be perfect.

Any overreaction or over enthusiasm may be detrimental. It is the responsibility of the counsellor to select appropriate test. Projective tests or specific tests of like test of creativity are difficult to score and interpret.

Performance of any individual depends on individual’s attitudes and objectives of the counselee. If the individual’s aim is to create favourable impression then he may give socially desirable answers and try to hide his true responses. However, if the individual wants to enhance insight about oneself then he will give true candid responses and will not distort his orientation.

Sometimes the items are so culture specific that the individual may not be able to understand its real sense. The same words are used to denote different things in different cultures. Let us take one example. The word like privacy may suggest something else in India and in America. The response given by any individual depends upon how he makes the word meaningful and what is the context. Due care must be taken to avoid such errors which may lead to inaccurate results.