Introduction To Psychological Testing Paper

Introduction To Psychological Testing Paper The study of  person and his characteristics is the  most important  tasks  of psychological science.  Development of psychological science is characterized with significant increase in interest to problems of psycho diagnostic.  The aim of modern psycho diagnostic is research of characteristics and differences between individuals and groups in a systematic manner.  The task of such research in the most general form is definition of mental and psychological characteristics of individuals and their intra-individual relationships. Psychological  test is the  basis for  psycho diagnostics  of  people  and  the foundation  of practical  psychology. The aim of this paper is to define the concept of psychological test, describe its major categories, the concepts of reliability and validity, and other fundamental questions associated with psychological testing. The concept  of a psychological test  and its main  characteristics The scope of psycho diagnostic includes a set of various diagnostic methods to identify psychological characteristics of man.  It represents a bridge between general and applied psychology, and in relation to the methods used, it acts as a common ground that unites all areas of their practical application. Practical psycho diagnostics solves some typical problems, which include the following:   1.  To establish certain psychological properties or behavior in a person.   2.  Determine the degree of development of these properties and their expression in specific quantitative and qualitative terms.   3.  Description of diagnostic psychological behavior of a person 4.  Comparison of the degree of development of psychological characteristics in different people. The standardized psycho diagnostic methods, allowing obtaining comparable quantitative and qualitative indicators of the degree of development of the properties in people, are called psychological tests.  Under standardized techniques is meant that they have  strictly  defined  rules  of application,  ranging  from  studying the situation  and ending with  the methods of calculation  and  interpretation  of results. The literature presents a great variety of definitions of psychological tests:   Psychological test is essentially an objective and standardized measurement of a sample of behavior (The American Psychological Association).   Test is a standardized, often time-limited study designed to establish the quantitative (and qualitative) individual psychological differences (The American Psychological Association).   Under test is understood a specific tool for evaluating the psychological qualities of the individual, which consists of set of tasks or questions, offered under standard conditions and is intended to identify particle types of behavior (The American Psychological Association) Objectivity,  validity  and  reliability  are the main requirements  to the test.  It is necessary to consider these concepts and to discuss how they impact the field of psychological testing. Objectivity  of a psychological test  means  that primary  indicators, evaluation  and interpretation  of data do not  depend on  the behavior  and  subjective  judgments  of the experimenter.  Development  of testing tasks, its procedure, processing  of test results  is carried out  according to certain  standard  rules.  To achieve  objectivity,  a psychological test  must follow the next  conditions:   standardization of  procedures of conducting  the test  to allow comparison  of its results;   standardization of test  performance evaluation; Definition of result norms  of the test  for  comparison  them with  results  got from the  processing of test data. These three conditions are referred to as the stages of standardization of psychological tests. During the development of a test certain standardization procedures are carried out, which include three stages:   1.  The first stage of standardization of psychological tests is to establish uniform testing procedures. 2.  The second phase is to establish a uniform evaluation of the test: the standard interpretation of the results and pre-standard evaluation. 3.  The third stage of standardization of psychological tests is to determine the norms of the test.  Norms are necessary in the interpretation of test results (primary parameters), as a benchmark with which to compare testing data.  For example, in tests of intelligence the primary received IQ is correlated with standard IQ (43, 44, 45 points in the test of Raven).  If the IQ received by respondent is above normative, as 60 points, we can talk about of the respondent as high.  If the resulting IQ is lower than the norm, then the level of intelligence is low, if the received IQ is 43, 44 or 45 points, then it is average. (Ford-Martin, 2004) All methods of psychological diagnosis, both standardized and non-standardized, are aimed at measuring personality traits and characteristics of intelligence.  Each method is designed to measure a certain personal characteristic, and information about the extent to which the test actually measures it is known as the concept of validity.   Effective  method of  testing  can be  created, if  it passed  all  the stages of  validation,  when it meets requirements of both general  and  practical validity.  Practical  validity describes  the test  not by  its  psychological  content,  but in terms  of  its  value for achieving  certain  practical  goals  (prediction,  diagnosis). (Messic, 1980) The last important  characteristic of  tests  are their reliability.   Reliability  means  consistency of  test  results  of each  testing attempt with the same subject,  with the  results  of his first  test.  Absolute  reliability of  the test  does not  exist, and errors  are allowed,  but  the higher are  they,  the lower is the  test  reliability. The high  reliability of  the testing method  means  that  it  accurately  measures  the characteristic. These  three basic characteristics of  psychological test  determine  its  use in practical  psychology. Conclusion Psycho diagnostics  is  an area  of psychological science, and  at the same time  the most important  form  of psychological practice,  that is associated  with the development and use  of various  methods  of recognition  of individual  psychological characteristics of people. Psycho diagnostics  is a  set of  methods and tools for  diagnosis  of mental  characteristics of man.  One of such  methods  is  testing.  The use of  psychological  tests  is aimed  to investigate the characteristics  of person, and provide  information  about mental  properties of  a particular  person  (the subject). An effective psychological  test  should  meet requirements such  as objectivity,  validity  and  reliability,  in this case  it  gives  the correct results,  which can  be  interpreted  and applied  in practical  psychology.