AAS.
See Addiction Accounting Program
Acknowledgment Scale
ABAP. See American Board
of Assessment
Psychology
ABLE. See Adult Basic
Learning
Examination
absolute cut score. See fi
xed cut score absolute zero
points, 75–77 abstract,
ability to, 525–526 abuse:
(1) Infl iction of or allowing
the infl iction of physical
injury or emotional
impairment that is
nonaccidental; (2) the
creation of or allowing the
creation of substantial risk
of physical injury or
emotional impairment that
is nonaccidental; (3) the
committing of or allowing
the committing of a sexual
offense against a child;
contrast with neglect, 142,
502. See also child abuse
accommodation: (1) In
Piagetian theory, one of
two basic mental
operations through which
humans learn, this one
involving change from
what is already known,
perceived, or thought to fi
t with new information
(contrast with
assimilation ) ; (2) in
assessment, the
adaptation of a test,
procedure, or situation, or
the substitution of one
test for another in order to
make the assessment
more suitable for an
assessee with exceptional
needs; (3) in the
workplace, modifi cation
of or adjustments to job
functions or
circumstances, 25 , 282
actuarial prediction: An
Admission Test
(APAT), 364
acculturation: The process by
which an individual’s
thoughts, behaviors, values,
identity, and worldview
develop in relation to the
general thinking, behavior,
customs, and values of a
particular cultural group, 419
measures of, 419–
420 reacculturation,
490 variables related
to, 421–422
Achenbach Child Behavior
Checklist
(CBCL), 346, 348
achievement test:
Evaluation of
accomplishment or the
degree of learning that has
taken place, usually with
regard to an academic
area, 20, 351
for educational
assessment, 351–357
general, 352–363 items
on, 357 minimum
competency, 57, 355–356
for predictive purposes,
359 in specifi c subject
areas, 353–357
acquiescent response style:
A way of responding to test
items characterized by
agreement with whatever is
presented; also referred to
as acquiescence, 390 ACT
Assessment, 360–361
actuarial assessment: An
approach to evaluation
characterized by the
application of empirically
demonstrated statistical
rules as a determining
factor in the assessor’s
judgment and actions;
contrast with clinical
assessment,
467 – 468 , 509
approach to predicting
behavior based on the
application of
empirically
demonstrated statistical
rules and probabilities;
contrast with clinical
prediction and
mechanical prediction,
509
adaptive behavior: Personal
conduct that one is
capable of modifying in
age-appropriate ways to
effectively address needs,
demands, and challenges,
94, 349
adaptive testing: An
examination method or
procedure characterized
by individually tailoring
presentation of items to
the testtaker; also
referred to as tailored
testing, sequential
testing, branched testing,
and response-contingent
testing, 316. See also
computerized adaptive
testing
ADD. See anatomically
detailed doll
Addiction Acknowledgment
Scale
(AAS), 489
addiction,
clinical/counseling
assessment for, 488–
490
Addiction Potential Scale
(APS), 489
Addiction Severity Index,
489
ADHD. See attention defi cit
hyperactivity disorder
adjective checklist, 395,
397 adjustable light beam
apparatus, 26
ADRESSING: A purposely
misspelled word but easy-
to-remember acronym to
 remind assessors of the aggression, 103, 380–381,
following sources of 394 Aggression
cultural infl uence: age, Questionnaire, 380–381
disability, religion, AHPAT. See Allied Health
ethnicity, social status, Professions Admission
sexual orientation, Test
indigenous heritage, AHSGE. See Alabama High
national origin, and School Graduation Exam
gender, 486 Airman Qualifying Exam,
Adult Basic Learning 337
Examination Alabama High School
(ABLE), 356 Graduation Exam
advanced placement (AHSGE), 355
program, 354 Alcohol Specifi c Role Play
Test, 489 alcoholism,
clinical/counseling
I-1 assessment for, 488–490
affi rmative action: alerting response: A
Voluntary and brightening and
mandatory efforts widening of the eyes in
undertaken by federal, response to a stimulus,
state, and local indicative of an infant’s
governments, private capacity for
employers, and schools responsiveness; contrast
to combat with orienting
discrimination and to response, 290
promote equal ALI standard: American Law
opportunity in education Institute standard of legal
and employment for all, insanity, which provides
53, 111 that a person is not
AFQT. See Armed Forces responsible for criminal
Qualifi cation Test conduct if, at the time of
AGCT. See Army General such conduct, the person
Classifi cation lacked substantial
Test age norms: Also capacity either to
referred to as age- appreciate the criminality
equivalent norms, norms of the conduct or to
specifi cally designed for conform the conduct to
use as a reference in the the requirements of the
context of the age of the law; contrast with the
testtaker who achieved a Durham standard and the
particular score; contrast M’Naghten standard,
with grade norms, 118 – 496
119 Allied Health Professions
age scale: A test with items Admission
organized by the age at Test (AHPAT), 364
which most testtakers are alternate assessment: An
believed capable of evaluative or diagnostic
responding in the way procedure or process that
keyed correct; contrast varies from the usual,
with point scale, 237 , customary, or standardized
314 way a measurement is
derived, either by alternate
assessment: (continued)
some special
accommodation made to the
assessee or by alternative
methods designed to
measure the same
variable(s), 2 5, 28
alternate forms: Different
versions of the same test
or measure; contrast with
parallel forms, 144 – 145
, 153–154
alternate item: A test item to
be administered only
under certain conditions
to replace the
administration of an
existing item on the test,
311
alternate-forms reliability:
An estimate of the extent to
which item sampling and
other errors have affected
scores on two versions of the
same test; contrast with
parallelforms reliability, 1
44 –1 45 , 153–154
American Board of
Assessment Psychology
(ABAP), 23
American Psychological
Association. See APA
Americans with Disabilities
Act, 56 analogue behavioral
observation: The observation
of a person or persons in an
environment designed to
increase the assessor’s
chance of observing targeted
behaviors and interactions,
461
analogue study: Research or
behavioral intervention
that replicates a variable
or variables in ways that
are similar to or
analogous to the real
variables the
experimenter wishes to
study; for example, a
laboratory study designed
 to research a phobia of
snakes in the wild, 460–
461
anatomically detailed doll
(ADD): A human fi gure
in doll form with
accurately represented
genitalia, typically used
to assist in the evaluation
of sexually abused
children, 504
anchor protocol: A test
answer sheet developed
by a test publisher to
check the accuracy of
examiners’ scoring, 272–
273
Anderson, Henry
Graeme, 565
Anderson, Rebecca,
352, 353 Angoff,
William H., 229
anorexia nervosa, 401
anxiety, 383
APA: American
Psychological
Association; in other
sources, particularly
medical texts, this may
refer to the American
Psychiatric
Association, 1 5, 32,
61–63 on anorexia
nervosa, 401 DSM-IV
of, 74, 471–472, 478–
479 on intelligence,
308 on revisions, 269
APAT. See Accounting
Program Admission Test
Apgar number: A score on a
rating scale developed by
physician
I-2
Virginia Apgar that
embodies a simple,
rapid method of
evaluating newborn
infants, 347
aphagia: A condition in
which the ability to eat is
lost or diminished, 5 33n2
aphasia: A loss of ability to
express oneself or to
understand spoken or
written language due to a
neurological defi cit,
533–534
apperceive: To perceive in
terms of past perceptions
(from this verb, the noun
apperception is derived),
4 33
Apperceptive Personality
Test (APT),
439–440 application
form, 561–562 APS. See
Addiction Potential Scale
APT. See Apperceptive
Personality Test aptitude test:
A test that usually focuses
more on informal as opposed
to formal learning
experiences and is designed
to measure both learning and
inborn potential for the
purpose of making
predictions about the
testtaker’s future
performance; also referred to
as a prognostic test and,
especially with young
children, a readiness test,
357
in career counseling, 548–
555 at college level, 361–
363 dynamic assessment,
363–366 for educational
assessment, 357–366 at
elementary-school level,
359–361 entrance
examinations for
professional or
occupational training,
363–364 GATB, 550–
555 at secondary-school
level, 360–362
arithmetic mean: Also
referred to simply as the
mean, a measure of
central tendency derived
by calculating an average
of all scores in a
distribution, 80, 84, 86
Armed Forces Qualifi cation
Test
(AFQT), 339
Armed Services Vocational
Aptitude Battery
(ASVAB), 337–340
Army Alpha test: An
intelligence and ability
test developed by military
psychologists for use in
World War I to screen
literate recruits; contrast
with Army Beta test, 336
Army Beta test: A
nonverbal intelligence
and ability test
developed by military
psychologists for use
in World War I to
screen illiterate and
foreign-born recruits;
contrast with Army
Alpha test, 336
Army General Classifi cation
Test
(AGCT), 337 assessment
center: An organizationally
standardized procedure for
evaluation involving multiple
assessment techniques, 2,
567
assimilation: In Piagetian
theory, one of two basic
mental operations
through which humans
learn, this one involving
the active organization of
new information into
what is already perceived,
known, and thought;
contrast with
accommodation, 282
assisted suicide, 63–65
AST. See Reitan-
Indiana Aphasia
Screening Test
astronauts, 564–567
ASVAB. See Armed
Services Vocational
 Aptitude Battery at risk:
Defi ned in different ways
by different school districts,
but in general a reference to
functioning that is defi cient
and possibly in need of
intervention, 346–349 Atlas,
Howard, 136 at-risk infant
or toddler: According to
IDEA, a child under 3 years
of age who would be in
danger of experiencing a
substantial developmental
delay if early intervention
services were not provided,
348–349
attention defi cit
hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD), 346, 348
attitude: A presumably
learned disposition to
react in some
characteristic manner to
a particular stimulus,
577–578
in consumer psychology,
582–583 in educational
assessment, 376–377
implicit, 583 inventories,
376–377, 408
Attitude Interest Scale,
408 Auditory
Apperception Test, 444
authentic assessment:
Also known
as performance-based
assessment, evaluation
on relevant, meaningful
tasks that may be
conducted to examine
learning of academic
subject matter but that
demonstrates the
student’s transfer of that
study to real-world
activities, 374–375
average deviation: A measure
of variability derived by
summing the absolute
value of all the scores in a
distribution and dividing
by the total number of
scores, 88–89
aviators, 564–567
back stress, 13 bar graph: A
graphic illustration of data
wherein numbers indicative
of frequency are set on the
vertical axis, categories are
set on the horizontal axis,
and the rectangle bars that
describe the data are
typically noncontiguous, 80–
81
Barnum effect: The
consequence of one’s
belief that a vague
personality description
truly describes oneself
when in reality that
description may apply to
almost anyone;
sometimes referred
to as the “Aunt Fanny
effect” because the same
personality might be
applied to anyone’s Aunt
Fanny, 506, 508 basal
level: A stage in a test
achieved by a testtaker by
meeting some preset
criterion to continue to be
tested-for example,
responding correctly to two
consecutive items on an
ability test that contains
increasingly diffi cult items
may establish a “base” from
which to continue testing;
contrast with ceiling level,
317
base rate: An index, usually
expressed as a proportion,
of the extent to which a
particular trait, behavior,
characteristic, or attribute
exists in a population, 1
89, 191–192, 220, 222
BASIC ID, 588–589
BCG formula. See
BrogdenCronbach-Gleser
formula
BDI. See Beck Depression
Inventory
Beck Depression Inventory
(BDI), 182, 480 Beck Self-
Concept Test (BST), 385
behavior raters, 458–459
behavior rating scale, 459
behavioral assessment: An
approach to evaluation based
on the analysis of samples of
behavior, including the
antecedents and
consequences of the
behavior, 452
analogue studies in,
460–461 approaches to,
456–464 behavioral
observation and rating
scales in, 457–559
behaviors measured in,
454 issues in, 464–467
location of, 456
participants in, 454
psychophysiological
methods of,
462–464 purpose of, 456
role play in, 462 self-
monitoring in, 460
situational performance
measures in,
461–462 timing of,
454–455 traditional
approach v., 453 , 455,
457 unobtrusive measures
in, 464
behavioral neurology: The
subspecialty area within
the medical specialty of
neurology that focuses on
brainbehavior
relationships, 512
behavioral observation:
Monitoring the actions of
others or oneself by
visual or electronic means
while recording
quantitative and/or
qualitative information
regarding those actions,
typically for diagnostic or
related purposes and
either to design
 intervention or to
measure the outcome of
an intervention,
10–11, 380, 457–459,
589 bell-shaped curve.
See normal curve Bender,
Lauretta, 530–531
Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt
Test: A widely used
screening tool for
neuropsychological defi
cit that entails the
copying and recall of
designs; developed by
Lauretta Bender, it is also
referred to simply as “the
Bender,” 481, 530–533
Bennet Mechanical
Comprehension
Test, 548 bias: As
applied to tests, a factor
inherent within a test that
systematically prevents
accurate, impartial
measurement, 106, 199
intercept, 200 observer,
466–467 in personality
assessment, 387–388 rating
error and, 202–203 slope,
200 of test items, 264
validity and, 199–203 Big
Five, 404 bimodal
distribution: A distribution
in which the central
tendency consists of two
scores, occurring an equal
number of times, that are
the most frequently
occurring scores in the
distribution, 82, 86
binary-choice item, 247, 249
Binet, Alfred, 39, 44, 75,
280, 291, 300, 303 Binet-
Simon Scale, 44, 303
biofeedback: A generic term
that refers to
psychophysiological
assessment techniques
designed to gauge, display,
and record a continuous
monitoring of selected
biological processes such as
pulse and blood pressure,
463
biopsychosocial assessment:
A multidisciplinary approach
to assessment that includes
exploration of relevant
biological, psychological,
social, cultural, and
environmental variables for
the purpose of evaluating
how such variables may have
contributed to the
development and
maintenance of a presenting
problem, 473 Birkeland,
Scott, 260, 261 bivariate
distribution: Also known as a
scatterplot, scatter diagram,
or scattergram, a graphic
representation of correlation
accomplished by the simple
graphing of the coordinate
points for values of the X -
variable and the Y -variable,
129–133
Black Intelligence Test
of Cultural
Homogeneity, 304–307
Blacky Pictures Test,
393 blueprinting, 176–
177 bookmark method:
An IRT-based
method of setting cut
scores that uses an item
book, where items are
placed in ascending
order of diffi culty and
with experts making
judgments and literally
“bookmarking” items
that exhibit the optimal
level of diffi culty for
test items, 231
Boring, Edwin G., 279
Bosnia, 179–180
Boston Naming Test, 528
BPS. See Bricklin
Perceptual Scales brain scan:
More formally referred to as
a radioisotope scan, a
procedure in neurology used
to detect tumors and other
possible abnormalities that
entails the introduction of
radioactive material into the
brain for the purpose of
tracking its fl ow, 542
brand names, 589–590
Breathalyzer, 156
Bricklin Perceptual Scales
(BPS), 109–110 Briggs,
Katharine Cook, 557–558
broad-band measures, 459
Brogden, Hubert E., 216
Brogden-Cronbach-Gleser
(BCG) formula, 216,
223–224
Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of
Motor Profi ciency, 530
BST. See Beck Self-Concept
Test burnout: A
psychological syndrome of
emotional exhaustion,
depersonalization, and
reduced personal
accomplishment, 577 Buros,
Oscar Krisen, 31 business
settings, 22. See also career
counseling; consumer
psychology; employment
assessment
Butcher, James, 411–412,
411n10
California Psychological
Inventory (CPI 434), 392
California Verbal Learning
Test-II
(CVLT-II), 536
CALS. See Checklist of
Adaptive Living Skills
Campbell Interest and Skill
Survey, 549
CAP. See Child Abuse
Potential Inventory
CAPA: An acronym that
stands for computer
assisted psychological
assessment, 13–14, 63,
66, 510
career counseling ability
and aptitude assessment
in, 548–555 CALS and,
 558–559 personal
interest assessment in,
545–548 personality
assessment in, 555–558
transitions and, 559–560
Career Interest Inventory,
549 Cascio, Wayne, 231 case
history data: Records,
transcripts, and other
accounts in any media that
preserve archival
information, offi cial and
informal accounts, and other
data and items relevant to an
assessee, 10
in clinical/counseling
assessment,
479–480 in
neuropsychological
assessment,
519–521
I-3
Caselman, Tonia, 448
CAT. See computerized
adaptive testing
CAT: An acronym that
stands for a neurological
scanning technology
called computerized axial
tomography, 542
categorical scaling: A system
of scaling in which
stimuli are placed into
one of two or more
alternative categories that
differ quantitatively with
respect to some
continuum, 237, 242
category response curve. See
item characteristic curve
category scoring. See
class scoring Cattell,
James McKeen, 38–39
Cattell, Raymond B., 285,
403–404
Cattell-Horn-Carroll model.
See CHC model
Cattell Infant Intelligence
Scale (CIIS), 3 9 causation,
correlation v., 125 CBA.
See curriculum-based
assessment
CBCL. See Achenbach
Child Behavior
Checklist
CBM. See curriculum-based
measurement
CCAI. See Cross-Cultural
Adaptability Inventory
CDR. See clinical data
recorder CDT. See clock-
drawing test ceiling, 317
ceiling effect: Diminished
utility of a tool of
assessment in
distinguishing testtakers at
the high end of the ability,
trait, or other attribute
being measured,
249–250, 298 ceiling
level: A stage in a test
achieved by a testtaker as a
result of meeting some preset
criterion to discontinue
testing-for example,
responding incorrectly to two
consecutive items on an
ability test that contains
increasingly diffi cult items
may establish a presumed
“ceiling” on the testtaker’s
ability; contrast with basal
level and testing the limits,
317
central nervous system: All
of the neurons or nerve
cells in the brain and the
spinal cord; contrast with
the peripheral nervous
system, 512
central processing:
Computerized scoring,
interpretation, or other
conversion of raw test
data that is physically
transported from the same
or other test sites;
contrast with
teleprocessing and local
processing, 13
central tendency error: A
type of rating error
wherein the rater exhibits
a general reluctance to
issue ratings at either the
positive or negative
extreme and so all or
most ratings cluster in the
middle of the rating
continuum, 202
I-4
cerebral angiogram: A
diagnostic procedure in
neurology that entails the
injection of a tracer
element into the
bloodstream prior to
taking X-rays of the
cerebral area, 542
CFA. See confi rmatory
factor analysis
Chapple v. Ganger, 539
CHC model: An abbreviation
for the Cattell-Horn-
Carroll model of
cognitive abilities, 285–
288
K-ABC and, 369
Stanford-Binet Intelligence
Scale and,
311, 314–315
WISC and, 325–326
WJ-III and, 371 checklist:
A questionnaire formatted to
allow a person to mark items
indicative of information
such as the presence or
absence of a specifi ed
behavior, thought, event, or
circumstance,
adjective, 395, 397
for preschool
assessment, 346,
348–349
Checklist of Adaptive Living
Skills
(CALS), 558–559 child
abuse: Nonaccidental infl
iction or creation of
conditions that result in a
child’s physical injury or
emotional impairment, or a
sexual offense committed
against a child, 502
emotional and behavioral
signs of,
503–504 issues of
reporting, 504 legal
mandate regarding,
502 physical signs
of, 503 risk
assessment in, 505
Child Abuse Potential
Inventory
(CAP), 191–192, 505
child neglect: The failure by
an adult responsible for a
child to exercise a
minimum degree of care in
providing the child with
food, clothing, shelter,
education, medical care,
and supervision,
502–505 Child Sexual
Behavior Inventory, 350
child with a disability: (1) In
general, according to IDEA,
a child with mental
retardation, hearing
impairments (including
deafness), speech or
language impairments, visual
impairments (including
blindness), serious emotional
disturbance, orthopedic
impairments, autism,
traumatic brain injury, other
health impairments, or
specifi c learning disabilities;
(2) for a child aged 3 through
9, according to IDEA, a child
experiencing developmental
delay in physical or
cognitive, social, emotional,
communication, or adaptive
development, 352
China, 35–36
CIIS. See Cattell Infant
Intelligence Scale Civil
Rights Act of 1991, 205, 571
class scoring: Also referred
to as category scoring, a
method of evaluation in
which test responses earn
credit toward placement in a
particular class or category
with other testtakers.
Sometimes testtakers must
meet a set number of
responses corresponding to a
particular criterion in order
to be placed in a specifi c
category or class; contrast
with cumulative scoring and
ipsative scoring, 253
classifi cation: A rating,
categorizing, or
“pigeonholing” with
respect to two or more
criteria; contrast with
screening, selection,
and placement,
560 – 561
classroom, psychometrics in,
238–239 CLEP. See College
Level Examination
Program
clinical data recorder
(CDR), 458–459 clinical
prediction: In clinical
practice, applying a
clinician’s own training and
clinical experience as a
determining factor in
clinical judgment and
actions; contrast with
actuarial prediction and
mechanical prediction, 508
– 510
clinical psychology: That
branch of psychology that
has as its primary focus
the prevention, diagnosis,
and treatment of
abnormal behavior, 469.
See also clinical/
counseling assessment
clinical settings, 21 clinical
utility, 208
clinical/counseling
assessment. See also
culturally informed
psychological assessment
for addiction and substance
abuse,
488–490 case history
data in, 479–480 of child
abuse and neglect, 502–
505
of competency to stand
trial, 492,
494–495 of criminal
responsibility, 495–496 in
custody evaluations, 498,
500–502 of emotional
injury, 497–498 forensic
psychological assessment,
490–498 general
principles of, 484
interviews in, 473–
479 mental disorders
diagnosed in,
471–473 overview of,
469–471 profi ling and,
498–499 psychological
report of, 505–510
psychological tests in,
480–482 of readiness for
parole or probation,
496–497
treatment guided
by, 470
clock-drawing test (CDT): A
technique used in clinical
neuropsychological
examinations whereby
the testtaker draws the
face of a clock, usually
indicating a particular
time, that is then
evaluated for distortions
that may be symptomatic
of dementia or other
neurological or
psychiatric conditions,
528
Cloud Picture Test,
426n1 Cocaine Risk
Response Test, 489
Code of Fair Testing
Practices in
Education (Joint
Committee of
 Testing Practices), 62
code of professional
ethics: A body of
guidelines that sets forth
the standard of care
expected of members of a
profession, 54
coeffi cient alpha: Also
referred to as
Cronbach’s alpha and
alpha, a statistic widely
employed in test
construction and used to
assist in deriving an
estimate of reliability;
more technically, it is
equal to the mean of all
split-half reliabilities,
149–150 coeffi cient of
correlation: Symbolized by
r, the correlation coeffi cient
is an index of the strength of
the linear relationship
between two continuous
variables expressed as a
number that can range from –
1 to 1. Although different
statistics may be used to
calculate a coeffi cient of
correlation, the most
frequently used is the
Pearson r,
124 – 125 , 126–128,
150 coeffi cient of
determination: A value
indicating how much
variance is shared by two
variables being calculated;
this value is obtained by
squaring the obtained
correlation coeffi cient,
multiplying by 100, and
expressing the result as a
percentage, which indicates
the amount of variance
accounted for by the
correlation coeffi cient, 127
coeffi cient of equivalence:
An estimate of parallel-
forms reliability or
alternate-forms
reliability, 144
coeffi cient of
generalizability: In
generalizability theory, an
index of the infl uence
that particular facets have
on a test score, 158
coeffi cient of inter-scorer
reliability, 151 coeffi cient of
stability: An estimate of test-
retest reliability obtained
during time intervals of six
months or longer, 143
Coggins, Margaret, 493
Cognitive Behavioral
Driver’s
Inventory, 541
cognitive development,
stages of, 282 cognitive
interview: A type of
hypnotic interview without
the hypnotic induction; the
interviewee is encouraged
to use imagery and focused
retrieval to recall
information, 475
collaborative interview: In
clinical psychology, a
helping, open-ended
interview wherein both
parties work together on a
common mission of
discovery, insight, and
enlightenment, 475
collaborative psychological
assessment: A process of
assessment wherein the
assessor and assessee
work as “partners” from
initial contact through fi
nal feedback. See also
therapeutic psychological
assessment, 4
college level aptitude tests,
361–363 College Level
Examination Program
(CLEP), 354–355, 357
college yearbook photos, 465
Color Inkblot Therapeutic
Storytelling,
448
Color-Form Sorting Test,
526 communication, cultural
issues of, 47–49 comparative
scaling: In test
development, a method
of developing ordinal
scales through the use of
a sorting task that entails
judging a stimulus in
comparison with every
other stimulus used on
the test, 237, 242
comparative utility, 208
compensatory model of
selection: A model of
applicant selection based on
the assumption that high
scores on one attribute can
balance out low scores on
another attribute, 227
competence to stand trial:
Understanding the charges
against one and being able to
assist in one’s own defense,
492, 494–495 Competency
Screening Test, 495
completion item, 247, 249
composite judgment: An
averaging of multiple ratings
of judgments for the purpose
of minimizing rater error,
466
computer assisted
psychological
assessment. See CAPA
computerized adaptive
testing (CAT): An
interactive,
computeradministered
testtaking process
wherein items presented
to the testtaker are based
in part on the testtaker’s
performance on
previous items, 248,
274–275
computerized axial
tomography. See
CAT concurrent
validity: A form of
criterion-related validity
that is an index of the
degree to which a test
score is related to some
 criterion measure neuropsychological context, consultative report: A type of
obtained at the same time such as in response to interpretive report
(concurrently), 180, administration of items in the designed
182 confi dence interval: A Boston Naming Test,
range or band of test scores 528–529
that is likely to contain the Connors Rating Scales-
I-5
“true score,” 167 Revised
confi dential information: (CRS-R), 346, 348 co- consultative report:
Communication between norming: The test norming (continued) to provide
a professional and a process conducted on two or expert and detailed
client, along with other more tests using the same analysis of test data that
data obtained by the sample of testtakers; when mimics the work of an
professional in the course used to validate all of the expert consultant, 13
of a professional tests being normed, this consumer panel: A sample of
relationship that the process may also be referred respondents, selected by
professional has an to as co-validation, 270 demographic and other
ethical obligation not to construct: An informed, criteria, who have
disclose; contrast with scientifi c idea developed contracted with a
privileged information, or generated to describe consumer or marketing
68 or explain behavior; some research fi rm to respond
confi dentiality: The ethical examples of constructs on a periodic basis to
obligation of include “intelligence,” surveys, questionnaires,
professionals to keep “personality,” and related research
confi dential all “anxiety,” and “job instruments regarding
communications made or satisfaction,” various products,
entrusted to them in confi services, and/or
102, 193 construct
dence, although advertising or other
validity: A judgment about
professionals may be the appropriateness of promotional efforts, 585
compelled to disclose inferences drawn from test consumer psychology: The
such confi dential scores regarding individual branch of social
communications under standings on a variable called psychology dealing
court order or other a construct, 173, 193 primarily with the
extraordinary conditions, development,
in classrooms,
such as when such advertising, and
238 evidence of,
communications refer to marketing of products
194–199 of
a third party in imminent and services, 581
intelligence
danger; contrast with tests, 297 as attitude measurement in,
privacy right, 68 unifying 582–583 motivation
confi rmatory factor analysis concept, 194 research methods in,
(CFA): A constructed-response 586–591
class of mathematical format: A form of test surveys in,
item requiring the 584–586
procedures employed
when a factor structure testtaker to construct or content sampling: The
that has been explicitly create a response, as variety of the subject
hypothesized is tested opposed to simply matter contained in the
for its fi t with the selecting a response items; frequently referred
observed relationships (e.g., items on essay to in the context of the
between the variables, examinations, fi ll-in- variation between
198, the-blank, and short- individual test items in a
334–335 confrontation answer tests); contrast test or between test items
naming: Identifying a with selected-response in two or more tests and
pictured stimulus in a format, 245
 also referred to as item
sampling, 140
content validity: A judgment
regarding how adequately
a test (or other tool of
measurement) samples
behavior representative of
the universe of behavior
it was designed to
sample, 173, 176
blueprinting and, 176–
177 in classrooms, 238
culture and relativity of,
178–180 quantifi cation
of, 177–178, 177–179
content validity ratio (CVR):
A formula, developed by
C. H. Lawshe, used to
gauge agreement among
raters regarding how
essential an individual
test item is for inclusion
in a test, 178–179
content-referenced testing
and
assessment. See
criterionreferenced testing
and assessment
continuous scales, 72–73
contralateral control:
Phenomenon resulting from
the fact that each of the two
cerebral hemispheres
receives sensory
information from the
opposite side of the body
and also controls motor
responses on the opposite
side of the body;
understanding of this
phenomenon is necessary in
understanding brain-
behavior relationships and
in diagnosing
neuropsychological defi
cits, 513
contrast effect: A potential
source of error in
behavioral ratings when a
dissimilarity in the
observed behaviors (or
other things being
I-6
rated) leads to a more or
less favorable rating than
would have been made
had the dissimilarity not
existed, 466
control group: (1) In an
experiment, the untreated
group; (2) in test
development by means of
empirical criterion keying, a
group of randomly selected
testtakers who do not
necessarily have in common
the shared characteristic of
the standardization sample,
407 Controlled Word
Association Test, 533
convenience sample, 116
convergent evidence: With
reference to construct
validity, data from other
measurement instruments
designed to measure the
same or a similar construct as
the test being construct-
validated and that all point to
the same judgment or
conclusion with regard to a
test or other tool of
measurement; contrast with
discriminant evidence, 197
convergent thinking: A
deductive reasoning
process that entails recall
and consideration of facts
as well as a series of
logical judgments to
narrow down solutions
and eventually arrive at
one solution; contrast
with divergent thinking,
342
convergent validity: Data
indicating
that a test measures the
same construct as another
test purporting to
measure the same
construct, 197n3
Cooperative Achievement
Test, 354
COPS. See criterion-focused
occupational personality
scales
core subtest: One of a test’s
subtests that is routinely
administered during any
administration of the test;
contrast with
supplemental or optional
subtest, 322
correlation: An
expression of the
degree and direction
of correspondence
between two things,
when each thing is
continuous in nature,
124–125
causation v., 125 coeffi
cient of, 124–125, 126–
128, 150 graphic
representations of, 129–
135 Pearson r, 126 – 128
, 150 perfect, 125
regression and, 133–135
Spearman’s rho, 128–129
costs, utility infl uenced by,
210–212 counseling
psychology: A branch of
psychology that has to do
with the prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment of
abnormal behavior, with
emphasis on “everyday”
types of concerns and
problems such as those
related to marriage, family,
academics, and career, 469.
See also clinical/counseling
assessment counseling
settings, 21
Couples Interaction Scoring
System,
459 co-validation: The
test validation process
conducted on two or more
tests using the same sample
of testtakers; when used in
conjunction with the
creation of norms or the
revision of existing norms,
this process may also be
referred to as co-norming,
270 – 271
CPI 434. See California
Psychological
Inventory cranial nerves,
523–524 creativity tests,
341–343 credentialing, 22–
23 criminal responsibility,
495–496 criterion
contamination: A state in
which a criterion measure is
itself based, in whole or in
part, on a predictor measure,
181
criterion: The standard
against which a test or a
test score is evaluated;
this standard may take
many forms, including a
specifi c behavior or set
of behaviors, 122,
181–182, 404 criterion
group: A reference group of
testtakers who share
characteristics and whose
responses to test items serve
as a standard by which items
will be included or
discarded from the fi nal
version of a scale; the shared
characteristic of the criterion
group will vary as a function
of the nature and scope of
the test being developed,
404
empirical criterion keying
and, 404–406
MMPI and, 406–412
MMPI-2 and, 410–412 in
personality assessment,
404–418
criterion-focused
occupational personality
scales (COPS), 556
criterion-referenced testing
and assessment: Also
referred to as domain-
referenced testing and
assessment and content-
referenced testing and
assessment, a method of
evaluation and a way of
deriving meaning from
test scores by evaluating
an individual’s score with
reference to a set standard
(or criterion); contrast
with normreferenced
testing and assessment,
122 – 124 , 155, 235–
236 criterion-related validity:
A judgment regarding how
adequately a score or index
on a test or other tool of
measurement can be used to
infer an individual’s most
probable standing on some
measure of
interest (the criterion), 173,
175,
180 CAP Inventory
and, 191–192 in
classrooms, 238
concurrent, 180, 182
criterion characteristics
in, 181–182 decision
theory, test utility and,
189–190, 192–193
expectancy data and,
185–189 incremental,
184–185 of interviews,
479 predictive, 180,
182–183, 191–192
validity coeffi cient
and, 183–184
critical incidents technique:
In workplace settings, a
procedure that entails
recording employee
behavior evaluated as
positive or negative by a
supervisor or other rater,
572 Cronbach, Lee J., 157–
158, 216 cross-battery
assessment: Evaluation that
employs tests from
different test batteries and
entails interpretation of data
from specifi ed tests to
provide a comprehensive
assessment, 287
Cross-Cultural Adaptability
Inventory
(CCAI), 559 cross-
species research, 384 cross-
validation: A revalidation on
a sample of testtakers other
than the testtakers on whom
test performance was
originally found to be a valid
predictor of some criterion,
270–271
CRS-R. See Connors Rating
ScalesRevised
CRUST. See
Cultural/Regional
Uppercrust Savvy Test
crystallized intelligence: In
Cattell’s two-factor theory of
intelligence, acquired skills
and knowledge that are
highly dependent on formal
and informal education;
contrast with fl uid
intelligence, 285 – 287
cultural issues
communication, 47–
49 content validity
and, 178–180
evaluation standards,
49–50 evolving
interest in, 42–47
general principles of,
484–485 group
membership, 51–53
intelligence testing, 42–46,
69,
302–308 minority
cultures, 47, 205–
207,
302–308 in personality
assessment, 389, 400,
418–422
public
policy, 53
culturally informed
psychological assessment:
An approach to evaluation
that is keenly perceptive
about and responsive to
issues of acculturation,
values, identity, worldview,
language, and other
culture-related variables as
they may affect the
 evaluation process or the
interpretation of resulting
data, 137–138, 389
disagreements regarding,
482 interviews in, 486–487
managed care and, 487–
488 model for teaching,
484–485 questions about,
483
shifting cultural lenses in,
483, 486
Cultural/Regional Uppercrust
Savvy
Test (CRUST), 306–307
culture: The socially
transmitted behavior
patterns, beliefs, and
products of work of a
particular population,
community, or group of
people, 42
Culture Fair Test of
Intelligence, 304,
306–307 culture
loading: An index of the
magnitude to which a test
incorporates the
vocabulary, concepts,
traditions, knowledge, and
feelings associated with a
particular culture, 303–306
culture specifi c tests, 43
culture-fair intelligence
test: A test or assessment
process designed to
minimize the infl uence of
culture on various aspects
of the evaluation
procedures, such as the
administration instructions,
the item content, the
responses required of the
testtaker, and the
interpretations made from
the resulting data, 304, 306
culture-free intelligence
test: In psychometrics,
the ideal of a test that is
devoid of the infl uence
of any particular culture
and therefore does not
favor people from any
culture, 303
cumulative scoring: A
method of scoring whereby
points or scores accumulated
on individual items or
subtests are tallied and then,
the higher the total sum, the
higher the individual is
presumed to be on the
ability, trait, or other
characteristic being
measured; contrast with
class scoring and ipsative
scoring, 104 curriculum-
based assessment (CBA): A
general term referring to
schoolbased evaluations that
clearly and faithfully refl ect
what is being taught, 357
curriculum-based
measurement (CBM): A
type of curriculumbased
assessment characterized
by the use of standardized
measurement procedures
to derive local norms to
be used in the evaluation
of student performance
on curriculum-based
tasks, 357
curvilinearity: Usually with
regard to graphs or
correlation scatterplots,
the degree to which the
plot or graph is
characterized by
curvature, 129
custody evaluation: A
psychological
assessment of parents or
guardians and their
parental capacity and/or
of children and their
parental needs and
preferences—usually
undertaken for the
purpose of assisting a
court in making a
decision about awarding
custody, 500
child evaluation in, 501–
502 parent evaluation in,
500–501 projective
techniques used in, 501
tender years doctrine
and, 498, 500
cut score: Also referred to
as a cutoff score, a
reference point
(usually numerical)
derived as a result of
judgment and used to
divide a set of data into
two or more classifi
cations, with some
action to be taken or
some inference to be
made on the basis of
these classifi cations,
6–7, 225
fi xed, 226 for high stakes
decisions, 228 multiple,
226 relative, 225–226
setting of, 227–232 in
utility analysis, 220–223,
225–232
CVLT-II. See
California Verbal
Learning Test-II CVR.
See content validity
ratio dangerousness,
491–494
DAP test. See Draw a
Person test DAP:SPED. See
Draw a Person:
Screening Procedure for
Emotional
Disturbance
Darwin, Charles, 36–37
DAS. See Differential
Abilities Scale DAT. See
Dental Admission Test
data
safekeeping of, 69
statistics
describing, 77–92
data reduction, 402–404
Daubert v. Merrell Dow
Pharmaceuticals,
59 – 61 , 539
decision study: Conducted at
the conclusion of a
generalizability study,
this research is designed
to explore the utility and
value of test scores in
making decisions, 158
decision theory: A body of
methods used to
quantitatively evaluate
selection procedures,
diagnostic classifi
cations, therapeutic
interventions, or other
assessment or
intervention-related
procedures in terms of
how optimal they are
(most typically from a
cost-benefi t perspective),
189–190, 192–193
decision-theoretic approach,
to setting cut scores, 231
declarative memory:
Memory of factual
material; contrast with
procedural memory, 534 –
536 Delayed Response test,
316–317 dementia, 521–
522, 533 demoralization,
413 Dental Admission Test
(DAT), 364 deterioration
quotient: Also referred to
as a deterioration index,
this is a pattern of subtest
scores on a Wechsler test
that Wechsler himself
viewed as suggestive of
neurological defi cit, 525
I-7
developmental delay: Slower
than expected progress
(usually on the basis of
age norms) with regard to
physical, cognitive,
social, emotional,
adaptive, or
communication-related
expansion of one’s ability
or potential, 94,
317, 319, 327, 330, 353
developmental milestone:
Important event during the
course of one’s life that may
be marked by the acquisition,
presence, or growth of
certain abilities or skills or by
the failure, impairment, or
cessation of such abilities or
skills, 519–520
developmental norms: Norms
derived on the basis of
any trait, ability, skill, or
other characteristic that is
presumed to develop,
deteriorate, or otherwise
be affected by
chronological age, school
grade, or stage of life,
120
deviation IQ: A variety of
standard score used to
report “intelligence
quotients” (IQs) with a
mean set at 100 and a
standard deviation set at
15; on the Stanford-Binet,
it is also referred to as a
test composite and
represents an index of
intelligence derived from
a comparison between the
performance of an
individual testtaker and
the performance of other
testtakers of the same age
in the test’s
standardization sample,
313
diagnosis: A description or
conclusion reached on the
basis of evidence and
opinion through a process
of distinguishing the
nature of something and
ruling out alternative
conclusions, 20
Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental
Disorders IV (DSM-IV)
(APA), 74, 471–472
revised (DSM-IV-TR),
471–472, 479 third
edition v., 478 – 479
diagnostic information: In
educational contexts, test
or other data used to
pinpoint a student’s diffi
culties for the purpose of
remediating them;
contrast with evaluative
information, 366
diagnostic test: A tool used
to make a diagnosis,
usually to identify areas
of defi cit to be targeted
for intervention, 20, 366
for educational
assessment, 366–368
group, 368 math, 367–368
reading, 366–367, 368
diagnostic utility, 208 diary
panel: A variety of
consumer panel in which
respondents have agreed to
keep diaries of their
thoughts and/or behaviors,
585
dichotomous test item: A
test item or question that
can be answered with
only one of two
response
I-8
options, such as true-
false or yesno, 159
Dietz, Park, 494
DIF. See differential item
functioning
DIF analysis: In IRT, a
process of group-by-
group analysis of item
response curves for the
purpose of evaluating
measurement instrument
or item equivalence
across different groups of
testtakers, 274
DIF items: In IRT, test
items that respondents
from different groups,
who are presumably at
 the same level of the
underlying construct
being measured, have
different probabilities
of endorsing as a
function of their group
membership, 274
Differential Abilities Scale
(DAS),
200–201, 335 differential
item functioning (DIF): In
IRT, a phenomenon in which
the same test item yields one
result for members of one
group and a different result
for members of another
group, presumably as a result
of group differences that are
not associated with group
differences in the construct
being measured, 274
diffuse lesion, 514
dimensional qualitative
research: An adaptation of
Lazarus’s multimodal
clinical approach for use in
qualitative research
applications and designed to
ensure that the research is
comprehensive and
systematic from a
psychological perspective
and is guided by discussion
questions based on the seven
modalities (or dimensions)
named in Lazarus’s model,
which are summarized by the
acronym BASIC ID
(behavior, affect, sensation,
imagery, cognition,
interpersonal relations, and
drugs); Cohen’s adaptation
of Lazarus’s work adds an
eighth dimension,
sociocultural, changing the
acronym to BASIC IDS, 5 88
direct estimation, 243
disability: As defi ned in the
Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990, a physical or
mental impairment that
substantially limits one or
more of the major life
activities of an individual,
29–30,
63, 235, 349, 485, 543,
548 discrete scales, 72
discriminant analysis: A
family of statistical
techniques used to shed light
on the relationship between
certain variables and two or
more naturally occurring
groups, 231
discriminant evidence: With
reference to construct
validity, data from
a test or other
measurement instrument
showing little
relationship between test
scores or other variables
with which the scores on
the test being
constructvalidated should
not theoretically be
correlated; contrast with
convergent evidence, 197
– 198
discrimination: In IRT, the
degree to which an item
differentiates among
people with higher or
lower levels of the trait,
ability, or whatever it is
that is being measured
by a test, 52, 57–58, 159
Discussion of Organizational
Culture
(DOC), 580–581 distinct
groups, evidence from, 196–
197 distractors, 245
distribution: In a
psychometric context, a set
of test scores arrayed for
recording or study, 78
divergent thinking: A
reasoning process
characterized by fl
exibility of thought,
originality, and
imagination, making
several different solutions
possible; contrast with
convergent thinking, 342
DMM. See Drinking
Motives Measure
DOC. See Discussion of
Organizational
Culture domain
sampling: (1) A sample
of behaviors from all
possible behaviors that
could be indicative of a
particular construct; (2) a
sample of test items from
all possible items that
could be used to measure
a particular construct, 1
04n1, 157
domain-referenced testing
and assessment. See
criterionreferenced
testing and assessment
Draw a Person: Screening
Procedure for Emotional
Disturbance (DAP:
SPED), 447
Draw a Person (DAP) test,
446 Drinking Motives
Measure (DMM), 23 drug
addiction, clinical/counseling
assessment for, 488–490
drug testing, 569–570
DSM-IV. See Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders IV
DSM-IV-TR: Abbreviation
for
Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders,
Fourth Edition, Text
Revision (published in
May 2000), a slightly
modifi ed version of
DSM-IV (published in
1994),
471–472, 479
dual-easel format,
350 Dugdale,
Richard, 294
Durham standard: A standard
of legal insanity in
Durham v. United States
wherein the defendant
was not found culpable
for criminal action if his
unlawful act was the
product of a mental
disease or defect; contrast
with the ALI standard
and the M’Naghten
standard, 496
Dusky v. United States, 492
duty to warn: A legally
mandated obligation—to
advise an endangered third
party of their peril—which
may override patient
privilege; therapists and
assessors may have a legal
duty to warn when a client
expresses intent to hurt a
third party in any way,
ranging from physical
violence to disease
transmission, 491
dynamic assessment: An
interactive approach to
psychological assessment
that usually follows a
model of evaluation
followed by intervention
of some sort, and then
further evaluation, 4,
363–366
dynamic characteristic: A
trait, state, or ability
presumed to be ever-
changing as a function
of situational and
cognitive experiences;
contrast with static
characteristic, 153
dynamometer, 77
easel format, 350 eating
disorders, 26, 198–199
echoencephalograph: In
neurology, a machine that
transforms electrical energy
into sound energy for the
purpose of diagnostic studies
of brain lesions and
abnormalities, 542
economic benefi ts,
213–214 economic
costs, 210–211 ECSP.
See Exceptional Case
Study
Project educational
assessment achievement
tests for, 351–357 aptitude
tests for, 357–366 authentic
assessment, 373–374
diagnostic tests for, 366–
368 peer appraisal, 375–376
performance assessment,
373–375 portfolio
assessment, 373–375
psychoeducational test
batteries for,
368–373 of study
habits, interests, and
attitudes, 376–377
Educational Resources
Information
Center (ERIC), 32
educational settings, 20–
21
testing and assessment in,
345–377
Educational Testing Service
(ETS), 32
Edwards Personal Preference
Schedule
(EPPS), 253, 396, 555,
567
EEG. See
electroencephalograph
EEOC. See Equal
Employment
Opportunity
Commission egalitarianism,
53 elaboration, 342
electroencephalograph
(EEG): A machine that
records electrical activity of
the brain by means of
electrodes pasted to the
scalp, 542
electromyograph (EMG): A
machine that records
electrical activity of
muscles by means of an
electrode inserted directly
into the muscle, 5 42
elementary-school
aptitude tests, 359–361
Ellis Island, 42–43, 46
EMG. See
electromyograph emotional
expression, 465 emotional
injury: A term sometimes
used synonymously with
mental suffering, emotional
harm, and pain and
suffering to convey
psychological damage,
497–498
emotional intelligence: A
popularization of aspects
of Gardner’s theory of
multiple intelligences,
with emphasis on the
notions of interpersonal
and intrapersonal
intelligence, 284
empirical criterion keying:
The process of using
criterion groups to
develop test items,
where the scoring or
keying of items has been
demonstrated
empirically to
differentiate among
groups of testtakers,
404–406
employment
assessment
application form in,
561–562 attitude and,
577–578 of cognitive
ability, 570–571
diversity and, 570–
571 interviews in,
563 letters of
recommendation in,
562–563 motivation and,
574–577 organizational
culture and, 578–581
performance tests in, 563–
567 physical tests in, 567–
570 portfolio assessment
in, 563 productivity and,
571–574 résumé and letter
 of application in, 561
screening, selection,
classifi cation,
and placement in, 560–
561 English profi ciency
tests, 354
Entrance Examination for
Schools of
Nursing (RNEE), 364
environment, testing, 24, 28,
29–30 episodic memory:
Memory for facts but only
within a particular context or
situation; contrast with
semantic memory, 535 – 536
EPPS. See Edwards Personal
Preference Schedule
Equal Employment
Opportunity
Commission (EEOC), 57
equal-appearing intervals,
243 equipercentile method: A
procedure for comparing
scores on two or more tests
(as in the creation of national
anchor norms) that entails
calculating percentile norms
for each test and then
identifying the score on each
test that corresponds to the
percentile, 121
error: Collectively, all of the
factors other than what a
test purports to measure
that contribute to scores
on the test; error is a
variable in all testing and
assessment, 73, 105. See
also error variance;
reliability
rating, 202–203
transient, 152
error of central tendency:
Less than accurate rating
or evaluation by a rater or
judge due to that rater’s
general tendency to make
ratings at or near the
midpoint of the scale;
contrast with generosity
error and severity error,
387
error variance: In the true
score model, the
component of variance
attributable to random
sources irrelevant to the
trait or ability the test
purports to measure in
an observed score or
distribution of scores;
common sources of
error variance include
those related to test
construction (including
item or content
sampling), test
administration, and test
scoring and
interpretation, 1 05–106,
140
from assessment situation,
142–143 summary of,
152–153 from test
administration, 141 from
test construction, 140 from
test scoring and
interpretation,
141–142 essay item,
247, 249 estimate of inter-
item consistency. See
inter-item consistency
estimated true score
transformations, 202 eta
squared, 129n8 ethical issues
assisted suicide, 63–65
computerized tests, 63,
66 ethics code, 54
general principles of,
484 informed consent,
66–67 informed of test fi
ndings, 67–68 least
stigmatizing label, 69–
70 people with
disabilities, 63 privacy
and confi dentiality, 68–
69 professional
guidelines, 61–62
testtaker’s rights, 66–70
test-user qualifi cations,
62–63
Ethical Standards for the
Distribution of
Psychological Tests and
Diagnostic
Aids (APA), 62 ethics:
A body of principles of
right,
proper, or good conduct;
contrast with laws, 54 ETS.
See Educational Testing
Service eugenics: The
science of improving
qualities of a breed through
intervention with factors
related to heredity, 45
evaluation standards, cultural
issues regarding, 49–50
evaluative information: Test
or other data used to
make judgments such as
class placement, pass-fail,
and admit-reject
decisions; contrast with
diagnostic information,
366
event recording, 455
everyday accommodations,
29–30 evolutionary view of
mental disorder:
The view that an
attribution
I-9
evolutionary view of mental
disorder: (continued) of
mental disorder requires a
scientifi c judgment (from
an evolutionary
perspective) that there
exists a failure of
function as well as a
value judgment (from the
perspective of social
values) that the failure is
harmful to the individual,
472
Exceptional Case Study
Project (ECSP),
494
executive
functions: In
neuropsychology,
organizing, planning,
 cognitive fl exibility,
inhibition of impulses,
and other activities
associated with the
frontal and prefrontal
lobes of the brain, 526–
530
Exner, John E., Jr., 428, 430–
431, 449 expectancy chart:
Graphic representation of an
expectancy table, 185, 187,
224
expectancy data:
Information, usually in
the form of an expectancy
table, illustrating the
likelihood that an
individual testtaker will
score within some
interval of scores on a
criterion measure, 185–
189
in utility analysis, 216, 224
expectancy table:
Information presented in
tabular form illustrating
the likelihood that an
individual testtaker will
score within some
interval of scores on a
criterion measure, 185–
188
experimental psychology,
37–38, 67 expert panel: In
the test development process,
a group of people
knowledgeable about the
subject matter being tested
and/or the population for
whom the test was designed
who can provide input to
improve the test’s content,
fairness, and other related
ways, 267
expert witnesses, 59–61
exploratory factor analysis:
A class of mathematical
procedures employed to
estimate factors, extract
factors, or decide how many
factors to retain, 1 98, 333–
334
extended scoring report: A
type of scoring report
that provides not only
a listing of scores but
statistical data as well,
13
external locus of control,
392–393 extra-test behavior:
Observations made by an
examiner regarding what the
examinee does and how the
examinee reacts during the
course of testing (e.g., how
the testtaker copes with
frustration; how much
support the testtaker seems to
require; how anxious,
fatigued, cooperative, or
distractible the testtaker is)
that are indirectly related to
the test’s specifi c content
but of possible signifi cance
to
I-10
interpretations regarding
the testtaker’s
performance, 318
extrinsic motivation: A state
in which the primary
force driving an
individual comes from
external sources (such as
a salary or bonus) and
external constraints (such
as job loss); contrast with
intrinsic motivation, 576
face validity: A judgment
regarding how well a
test or other tool of
measurement measures
what it purports to
measure that is based
solely on “appearances,”
such as the content of
the test’s items,
174–176 facet: In
generalizability theory,
variables of interest in the
universe including, for
example, the number of items
in the test, the amount of
training the test scorers have
had, and the purpose of the
test administration, 157
factor analysis: A class of
mathematical
procedures, frequently
employed as data
reduction methods,
designed to identify
variables on which
people may differ (or
factors), 198–199, 256–
257, 282
correlations in,
332–333 factor
loadings in, 333
purpose of, 332–
333 two-factor,
283–284 types of,
198, 283, 333–
335
factor loading: In factor
analysis, a metaphor
suggesting that a test (or
an individual test item)
carries with it or “loads”
on a certain amount of
one or more abilities that,
in turn, have a
determining infl uence on
the test score (or on the
response to the individual
test item), 198, 333
fairness: As applied to tests,
the extent to which a test
is used in an impartial,
just, and equitable way,
106
group membership and,
205–207 item, 264
misunderstandings of,
204 validity and, 199,
203–207
false negative: A specifi c
type of miss
characterized by a tool
of assessment indicating
that the testtaker does
not possess or exhibit a
particular trait, ability,
 behavior, or attribute
when in fact, the
testtaker does possess or
exhibit this trait, ability,
behavior, or attribute,
190, 569
false positive: An error in
measurement
characterized by a tool of
assessment indicating
that the testtaker
possesses or exhibits a
particular trait, ability,
behavior, or attribute
when in fact the testtaker
does not, 190, 569
family environment, 302
fatalism: The belief that what
happens
in life is largely out of a
person’s control, 473
Federal Rules of Evidence,
60 fi eld dependent and
independent people, 26
fi eld-of-search item: A type
of
test item used in ability
and neurodiagnostic tests
wherein the testtaker’s
task is to locate a match
to a visually presented
stimulus,
528–529 fi gure drawing
test: A general reference to a
type of test in which the
testtaker’s task is to draw a
human fi gure and/or other fi
gures, and inferences are then
made about the testtaker’s
ability, personality, and/or
neurological intactness on the
basis of the fi gure(s)
produced, 444–448, 504
fi ndings, right to be
informed of, 67–68
fi rst moments of
distribution, 128 fi t
statistics, 335
fi xed battery: A
prepackaged test
battery containing a
number of
standardized tests to
be administered in a
prescribed fashion,
such as the
HalsteadReitan
Neuropsychological
Battery; contrast with fl
exible battery, 538 – 539
fi xed cut score: Also known
as an absolute cut score,
a reference point in a
distribution of test scores
used to divide a set of
data into two or more
classifi cations that is
typically set with
reference to a judgment
concerning a minimum
level of profi ciency
required to be included in
a particular classifi
cation; contrast with
relative cut score, 226
fi xed reference group
scoring system: A system
of scoring wherein the
distribution of scores
obtained on the test from
one group of testtakers
(the fi xed reference
group) is used as the basis
for the calculation of test
scores for future
administrations; the SAT
and the
GRE are scored this way,
121–122
fl exibility, 342 fl exible
battery: Best associated with
neuropsychological
assessment, a group of tests
hand-picked by the assessor
to provide an answer to the
referral question; contrast
with fi xed battery, 538 –
539
fl oor, 317 fl oor effect: A
phenomenon arising from
the diminished utility of a
tool of assessment in
distinguishing testtakers at
the low end of the ability,
trait, or other attribute
being measured,
248–249
fl uency, 342 fl uid
intelligence: In Cattell’s
twofactor theory of
intelligence, nonverbal
abilities that are relatively
less dependent on culture
and formal instruction;
contrast with crystallized
intelligence, 285 – 287
Flynn, James R., 299–300
Flynn effect: “Intelligence
infl ation”; the fact that
intelligence measured
using a normed
instrument rises each year
after the test was normed,
usually in the absence of
any academic dividend,
299–300
focal lesion, 514 focus
group: Qualitative research
conducted with a group of
respondents who typically
have been screened to
qualify for participation in
the research,
587–588 foils, 245
forced distribution
technique: A procedure
entailing the distribution of
a predetermined number or
percentage of assessees into
various categories that
describe performance (such
as categories ranging from
“unsatisfactory” to
“superior”), 572 forced-
choice format: A type of item
sometimes used in
personality tests wherein
each of two or more choices
has been predetermined to be
equal in social desirability,
396
forensic psychological
assessment: The theory
and application of
psychological evaluation
 and management in a
legal context, 490
of competence to stand
trial, 492,
494–495 of criminal
responsibility, 495–496
of dangerousness to
oneself or others, 491–
494
of emotional injury, 497–
498 general clinical
practice v., 490 – 491
profi ling, 498 of
readiness for parole or
probation,
496–497 formal
evaluation: A
typically
systematic, “on-the-
record” assessment
leading to a diagnosis,
opinion, or
recommendation for
intervention, or other
course of action that is
conducted by a qualifi ed
person in an unoffi cial
context and subject to
ethical and other
professional standards;
contrast with informal
evaluation, 347
format: A general reference
to the form, plan,
structure, arrangement, or
layout of test items as
well as to related
considerations such as
time limits for test
administration, 5
frame of reference: In the
context of item format,
aspects of the focus
of the item such as the
time frame
(past, present, or future),
395, 397 Frank, Jerome, 413
Franz Ferdinand, Archduke,
178, 180 free association: A
technique, most frequently
used in psychoanalysis,
wherein the subject relates all
his or her thoughts as they
occur,
441n5 frequency
distributions: A tabular
listing of scores along
with the number of times
each score occurred, 78
graphs of,
80, 82, 83
grouped, 79
shapes of,
80, 82
simple, 78
frequency polygon: A
graphic illustration of
data wherein numbers
indicating frequency are
set on the vertical axis,
test scores or categories
are set on the horizontal
axis, and the data are
described by a
continuous line
connecting the points
where the test scores or
categories meet
frequencies, 80–81
frequency recording,
455 Freud, Sigmund,
37n1, 49, 64
Frye v. United States, 60 –
61 FSIQ. See Full Scale IQ
Full Scale IQ (FSIQ), 167–
168 functional analysis: In
behavioral assessment, the
process of identifying the
dependent and independent
variables with respect to a
presenting problem, 460
g factor: In Spearman’s two-
factor theory of intelligence,
the general factor of
intelligence; also, the factor
that is measured to greater or
lesser degrees by all tests of
intelligence; contrast with s
factor and group factors,
283 , 286–288, 301 Galton,
Francis, 37, 127, 279–280,
291
Garruto, John, 286
Gas Chromatography/Mass
Spectrometry (GCMS)
Test, 569
GATB. See General
Aptitude Test Battery
GCMS Test. See Gas
Chromatography/ Mass
Spectrometry Test GCR. See
group conformity rating
gender
intelligence testing and,
301–302 societal standards
of, 51
General Aptitude Test
Battery (GATB) controversy
over, 551, 555 introduction
of, 550 validity
generalization and, 552–554
General Electric Co. v.
Joiner, 61 generalizability
study: In the context of
generalizability theory,
research conducted to
explore the impact of
different facets of the
universe on a test score, 158
generalizability theory: Also
referred to as domain
sampling theory, a system
of assumptions about
measurement that
includes the notion that a
test score (and even a
response to an individual
item) consists of a
relatively stable
component that actually
is what the test or
individual item is
designed to measure as
well as relatively unstable
components that
collectively can be
accounted for as error,
157–158
generosity error: Also
referred to as leniency error,
a less than accurate rating or
evaluation by a rater due to
that rater’s general tendency
to be lenient or insuffi ciently
critical; contrast with
severity error, 202 , 387
genogram: A graphic
representation of themes and
behavioral patterns in
successive generations of a
family that is used as a tool
of evaluation and
intervention, 448
Georgetown criteria for
competency to stand trial,
492, 494
geriatric settings, 22
Gesell, Arnold, 293–294
GF-Gc: Fluid-crystallized
intelligence as described
in the Cattell-Horn
model, Carroll’s three-
stratum theory, and other
models, 285–287
giftedness: Performance that
is consistently remarkable
in any positively valued
area, 298, 374
GIS 3.0. See Guidance
Information
System giveaway item: A
test item, usually near the
beginning of a test of ability
or achievement, designed to
be relatively easy—usually
for the purpose of building
the testtaker’s confi dence or
lessening test-related anxiety,
255n4
Goal Instability Scale, 560
Goddard, Henry H., 42–
46, 278, 294
Goldstein-Scheerer Tests of
Abstract and Concrete
Thinking, 515–516
governmental credentialing,
22–23 GPA. See grade
point average grade norms:
Norms specifi cally
designed as a reference in
the context of the grade of
the testtaker who achieved a
particular score; contrast
with age norms, 119 – 120
grade point average
(GPA), 184 grade-based
scale, 237 Graduate
Management Admission
Test, 364
Graduate Record
Examination (GRE),
98, 359, 361–362
graph: A diagram or chart
composed of lines, points,
bars, or other symbols that
describe and illustrate data,
80–81, 82, 83, 129–135
I-11
GRE. See Graduate Record
Examination group
conformity rating
(GCR),
438–439 group
diagnostic tests, 368 group
factors: According to
Spearman, factors common
to a group of activities
indicating intelligence, such
as linguistic, mechanical, or
arithmetic abilities, 283
group intelligence
tests in military,
336–340 pros
and cons of, 341
in schools, 340–
341
grouped frequency
distribution: Also referred
to as class intervals, a
tabular summary of test
scores in which the test
scores are grouped by
intervals, 79
groupthink: Collective
decisionmaking
characterized more by a
drive toward consensus
than critical analysis
and evaluation, which
may lead to less
reasoned and riskier
decisions than those
that might have been
made by an individual
making the same
decision, 10
group-related test-score
adjustment, 205–207
Grutter v. Bollinger, 58 – 59
Guantanamo Bay,
391–392 Guess Who?
technique, 375
guessing, 263–264
Guidance Information
System (GIS 3.0), 549
Guilford, J. P., 297, 379–380
Guilford-Zimmerman
Temperament Survey,
555
Guttman scale: Named for its
developer, a scale
wherein items range
sequentially from weaker
to stronger expressions of
the attitude or belief
being measured,
242–243
Hall, C. S., 378–379 Hall,
Stanley G., 546 halo effect:
A type of rating error
wherein the rater views the
object of the rating with
extreme favor and tends to
bestow ratings infl ated in a
positive direction; a set of
circumstances resulting in a
rater’s tendency to be
positively disposed and
insuffi ciently critical,
202–203, 387
Halstead, Ward C., 538
Halstead-Reitan
Neuropsychological
Battery: A widely used fi
xed neuropsychological
test battery based on the
work of Ward Halstead
and Ralph Reitan, 538,
540–541
hand grip test,
76–77 Hand
Test, 397, 438
Hand-Tool Dexterity Test,
548
I-12
hard sign: In
neuropsychological
assessment, an indicator
of defi nite neurological
defi cit, such as an
abnormal refl ex
response; contrast with
soft sign, 517
Hare, Robert D., 497
Hathaway, Starke R.,
406, 408, 410 health
care, 487–488 Health
Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act
(HIPAA), 69 health
psychology: A specialty
area of psychology that
focuses on understanding
the role of psychological
variables in the onset,
course, treatment, and
prevention of illness,
disease, and disability, 23
health-related quality of life
(HRQOL), 165–166
Hereditary Genius ( Galton),
291 heterogeneity, 147, 153
hierarchical model: A term
usually applied to a
theoretical model organized
into two or more layers, with
each layer subsumed by or
incorporated in the preceding
layer; for example, Carroll’s
three-stratum theory of
cognitive abilities is a
hierarchical model with g as
the top layer followed by two
layers of cognitive abilities
and processes, 285
HIPAA. See Health
Insurance
Portability and
Accountability Act hired
guns, 64 histogram: A graph
with vertical lines drawn at
the true limits of each test
score (or class interval),
forming a series of
contiguous rectangles, 80–81
historical perspective
academic and applied
traditions, 41 antiquity to
nineteenth century,
35–38
intelligence
testing, 39–40
twentieth century,
38–41
history taking, 519–521
HIT. See Holtzman Inkblot
Technique hit rate: The
proportion of people who
are accurately identifi ed as
possessing or not
possessing a particular trait,
behavior, characteristic, or
attribute based on test
scores, 189, 191
Holland, John, 382
Holtzman Inkblot Technique
(HIT),
430n3
homogeneity, 147,
153, 194–195
Hopwood v. State of
Texas, 571
Horn Art Aptitude Inventory,
363
House-Tree-Person (HTP)
test, 446–447
HRQOL. See health-related
quality of life
HTP test. See House-Tree-
Person test Hutt, Max,
531–532 hypnotic
interview: An interview
conducted after a hypnotic
state has been induced in
the interviewee, most
typically in an effort to
enhance concentration,
focus, imagery, and
recall, 475
IAT. See Implicit
Attitude Test ICC. See
item characteristic curve
IDEA: Individuals with
Disabilities
Education Act, 351–352
identifi cation: (1) A process
by which an individual
assumes a pattern of behavior
that is characteristic of other
people; (2) thoughts,
feelings, or behavior on the
part of one person that
resonates in some familiar
way with the experiences of
another person, 422
identity: A set of cognitive
and behavioral
characteristics by which
individuals defi ne
themselves as members
of a particular group;
one’s sense of self, 422
idiographic approach: An
approach to assessment
characterized by efforts to
learn about each individual’s
unique constellation of
personality traits, with no
attempt to characterize each
person according to any
particular set of traits;
contrast with nomothetic
approach, 398 Immunoassay
Test, 569 imperial
examinations, 36 implicit
attitude: A nonconscious,
automatic association in
memory that produces a
disposition to react in some
characteristic manner to a
particular stimulus, 583
Implicit Attitude Test (IAT),
583 implicit memory:
Memory that is outside of
conscious control and
accessible only by indirect
measures, 536
implicit motive: A
nonconscious infl
uence on behavior,
typically acquired on
the basis of experience,
437
impression management:
Attempting to
manipulate others’
opinions and
impressions through the
selective exposure of
 some information,
including false
information, usually
coupled with the
suppression of other
information; in
responding to self-report
measures of personality,
psychopathology, or
achievement, impression
management may be
synonymous with
attempts to
“fake good” or “fake
bad,” 390 in-basket
technique: A measurement
technique used to assess
managerial ability and
organizational skills that
entails a timed simulation of
the way a manager or
executive deals with an in-
basket fi lled with
mail, memos,
announcements, and other
notices and directives, 564
incidental sampling: Also
referred to as convenience
sampling, the process of
arbitrarily selecting some
people to be part of a sample
because they are readily
available, not because they
are most representative of the
population being studied,
112, 116
incremental validity: Used in
conjunction with
predictive validity, an
index of the explanatory
power of additional
predictors over and above
the predictors already in
use, 184–185
indirect estimation, 243
individual intelligence test,
141–142, 335–336
Individuals with Disabilities
Education
Act. See IDEA infant
or toddler with a disability:
According to IDEA, a
child under 3 years of age
who needs early
intervention service
because of developmental
delays or a diagnosed
physical or mental
condition that has a high
probability of resulting in
developmental delay, 345–
346
inference: A logical result or
a inkblots. See also Rorschach
deduction in a reasoning
process,
124, 172 infl ation of
range: Also referred to as
infl ation of variance, a
reference to a phenomenon
associated with reliability
estimates wherein the
variance of either variable
in a correlational analysis is
infl ated by the sampling
procedure used and so the
resulting correlation coeffi
cient tends to be higher;
contrast with restriction of
range,
153 – 154 , 183
informal evaluation: A
typically nonsystematic,
relatively brief, and “off-
the-record” assessment
leading to the formation of
an opinion or attitude,
conducted by any person in
any way for any reason, in
an unoffi cial context and
not subject to the same
ethics or standards as
evaluation by a professional;
contrast with formal
evaluation, 21 , 348
information function, 162–
164 information
processing styles: A way
of looking at intelligence
that focuses on how
information is processed
rather than what is
processed, 283, 288–289.
See also simultaneous
processing; successive
processing
informed consent:
Permission to proceed
with a (typically)
diagnostic, evaluative, or
therapeutic service on
the basis of knowledge
about the service and its
risks and potential benefi
ts, 67
inkblots
in Color Inkblot
Therapeutic Storytelling,
448 Holtzman, 430n3
personality assessment
with, 427–432
inquiry: A typical element of
Rorschach test
administration; following
the initial presentation of
all ten cards, the assessor
asks specifi c questions
designed, among other
things, to determine what
about each card led to the
assessee’s perceptions,
428
insanity: A legal term
denoting an inability to
tell right from wrong, a
lack of control, or a state
of other mental
incompetence or disorder
suffi cient to prevent that
person from standing
trial, being judged guilty,
or entering into a contract
or other legal
relationship, 495
instrumental values: Guiding
principles in the
attainment of some
objective—for example,
honesty and ambition;
contrast with terminal
values, 419
integrative report: A form
of interpretive report of
psychological
assessment, usually
 computer-generated, in
which data from
behavioral, medical,
administrative, and/or
other sources are
integrated; contrast with
scoring report and
interpretive report, 13
integrity test: A screening
instrument designed to
predict who will and will
not be an honest
employee,
556–557 intelligence: A
multifaceted capacity that
manifests itself in different
ways across the life span
but in general includes the
abilities and capacities to
acquire and apply
knowledge, to reason
effectively and logically, to
exhibit sound judgment, to
be perceptive, intuitive,
mentally alert, and able to fi
nd the right words and
thoughts with facility, and
to be able to cope with and
adjust to new situations and
new types of problems, 277
ability clusters in, 292 age-
related decline in, 296
APA on, 308 of children,
289–291, 296–297, 297n2
complexity of, 280
controversy over, 308–309
crystallized, 285–287
emotional, 284 expert
views of, 278–283 factor-
analytic theories of, 282–
288 fl uid, 285–287 of
gifted, 296–299
information-processing
view of, 283,
288–289
interpersonal and social
aspects of, 279
intrapersonal, 284 lay
public views of, 278–279
motivation and, 278
multiple-factor models of,
284 nature v. nurture and,
279, 292–297 observable, interactionism: The belief
278 sensory abilities and, that heredity and
279–280 social outcomes environment interact to
of, 309 stability of, 295– infl uence the
297 two-factor theory of, development of one’s
283–284, mental capacity and
286–288, 301 types of, abilities, 282, 295
284–285 Wechsler on, intercept: In the equation for
40, 280–281, 286, 290, a regression line, Y a
291, 300, 319, 322, 324 bX, the letter a,
intelligence testing. See which stands for a
also StanfordBinet constant indicating
Intelligence Scale; where the line crosses
Wechsler intelligence tests the vertical or Y -axis,
absolute zero point and, 133
76 age and, 289–291, intercept bias: A reference to
296–297 construct the intercept of a
validity of, 297 cost- regression line exhibited
effectiveness of, 110 by a test or measurement
cultural issues of, 42–46, procedure that
69, 302–308 culture systematically
loading in, 303–306 underpredicts or
culture-fair, 304, 306–307 overpredicts the
developers of, 310 performance of members
examiner’s role in, 343 of a group; contrast with
factors infl uencing, 299– slope bias, 200
308 family environment
and, 302 Flynn effect in,
299–300 gender and, 301–
302 general principles of, I-13
484 group, 336–341 interest inventories, 376–
historical perspective of, 377, 545–548 inter-item
39–40 individual, 141– consistency: The
142, 335–336 of infants, consistency or
349 IQ and, 98–99, homogeneity of the items
119n3, 167–168 in of a test, estimated by
neuropsychological techniques such as the
assessment, split-half method, 147,
524–525 normal 256–257
curve and, 94–96 internal consistency estimate
personality and, 299– of reliability: An estimate
300 profi le analysis of the reliability of a test
and, 382n1 purpose obtained from a measure
of, 291 specifi c of inter-item consistency,
abilities measured 145–150, 153 coeffi
by, cient alpha and, 149–150
341–343 in item-reliability index
standard battery, and, 256–257 KR-20
481–482 tasks used and, 148–149 split-half
in, 289–291 theory reliability and, 145–147
in, 291–292 internal locus of control,
392–393 interpersonal
intelligence: In Gardner’s
theory of multiple
intelligences, the ability to
understand other people,
what motivates them, how
they work, and how to work
cooperatively with them;
contrast with intrapersonal
intelligence, 284
Interpersonal Support
Evaluations
List, 560 interpretive
report: A formal or offi cial
computer-generated account
of test performance presented
in both numeric and narrative
form and including an
explanation of the fi ndings;
the three varieties of
interpretive report are
descriptive, screening, and
consultative; contrast with
scoring report and
integrative report, 13
interquartile range: An
ordinal statistic of
variability equal to the
difference between the
third and fi rst quartile
points in a distribution
that has been divided into
quartiles, 88
inter-scorer reliability: Also
referred to as inter-rater
reliability, observer
reliability, judge
reliability, and scorer
reliability, an estimate of
the degree of agreement
or consistency between
two or more scorers (or
judges or raters or
observers), 150–151,
153, 156
interval recording,
455 interval scale: A
system of
measurement in which all
things measured can be
rank-ordered into equal
intervals, where every
unit on the scale is equal
to every other and there work; contrast with
is no absolute zero point extrinsic motivation, 576
(which precludes involuntary hospitalization,
mathematical operations 214 ipsative scoring: An
on such data), 7 5–76 approach to test scoring and
interview: A tool of interpretation wherein the
assessment in which testtaker’s responses and the
information is gathered presumed strength of a
through direct, reciprocal measured trait are interpreted
communication, 8 relative to the measured
in clinical/counseling strength of other traits for
assessment, that testtaker; contrast with
473–479 criterion- class scoring and cumulative
related validity of, 479 scoring, 253–254
cultural aspects of, IQ (intelligence quotient): A
486–487 widely used, shorthand
reference to intelligence
that echoes back from
days now long gone when
I-14 a testtaker’s mental age
in employment as determined by a test
assessment, 563 in was divided by
neuropsychological chronological age and
assessment, multiplied by 100 to
521–522 in determine the
psychological “intelligence quotient,”
assessment, 7–9 98–99, 119n3, 167–168,
psychometric aspects 313. See also
of, 478–479 standard intelligence
questions in, 476 styles adoption and, 294
of, 9 types of, 8, 474– deviation, 313
478 ratio, 313
intrapersonal intelligence: In Wechsler tests for,
Gardner’s theory of 280–281
multiple intelligences, a IRT. See item response
capacity to form accurate theory Ishihara test, 530
self-perceptions, to item analysis: A general
discriminate accurately term to describe various
between emotions, and to procedures, usually
be able to draw upon statistical, designed to
one’s emotions as a explore how individual test
means of understanding items work as compared to
and an effective guide; other items in the test and in
contrast with the context of the whole test
interpersonal (e.g., to explore the level of
intelligence, 284 diffi culty of individual
intrinsic motivation: A state items on an achievement
in which the primary test or the reliability of a
force driving an personality test); contrast
individual comes from with qualitative item
within, such as personal analysis, 233
satisfaction with one’s
 fairness in, 264
guessing in, 263–
264 item
characteristic curves
in,
260–263, 264
item-diffi culty index in,
255–256 item-
discrimination index in,
258–260 item-
endorsement index in,
256 item-reliability
index in, 256–257 item-
validity index in, 257–
258 procedures, 195
qualitative, 265–267
speed tests and, 264–
265 in test development,
233, 255–267
item bank: A collection of
questions to be used in
the construction of tests,
248, 250–252, 274–275
item branching: In
computerized adaptive
testing, the individualized
presentation of test items
drawn from an item bank
based on the testtaker’s
previous responses, 252–
253
item characteristic curve
(ICC): A graphic
representation of the
probabilistic relationship
between a person’s level
on a trait (or ability or
other characteristic being
measured) and the
probability for
responding to an item in a
predicted way; also
known as a category
response curve, an item
response curve, or an
item trace line,
162 , 260–263, 264 item
format: A reference to the
form, plan, structure,
arrangement, or layout of
individual test items,
including whether the items
require testtakers to select a
response from existing
alternative responses or to
construct a response, 244–
245,
249, 396 item pool: The
reservoir or well from
which items will or will not
be drawn for the fi nal
version of the test; the
collection of items to be
further evaluated for
possible selection for use in
an item bank,
244, 268 item
response curve. See
item characteristic
curve
item response theory (IRT):
Also referred to as
latent-trait theory or the
latent-trait model, a
system of assumptions
about measurement
(including the assumption
that a trait being
measured by a test is
unidimensional) and the
extent to which each test
item measures the trait,
158
assumptions in using,
161 cut score setting
and, 230–231 HRQOL
and, 165–166 in
practice, 162–164
reliability and, 158–160
TAT data and, 468 in
test development, 260,
273–275
item sampling: Also referred
to as content sampling,
the variety of the subject
matter contained in the
items; frequently referred
to in the context of the
variation between
individual test items in a
test or between test items
in two or more tests, 140
item trace line. See item
characteristic curve
item-diffi culty index: In
achievement or ability
testing and other contexts
in which responses are
keyed correct, a statistic
indicating how many
testtakers responded
correctly to an item; in
contexts where the nature
of the test is such that
responses are not keyed
correct, this same statistic
may be referred to as an
item-endorsement index,
255 – 256
item-discrimination index:
A statistic designed to
indicate how adequately
a test item discriminates
between high and low
scorers, 258–260
item-endorsement index: In
personality assessment
and other contexts in
which the nature of the
test is such that
responses are not keyed
correct or incorrect, a
statistic indicating how
many testtakers
responded to an item in
a particular direction; in
achievement tests, which
have responses that are
keyed correct, this
statistic is referred to as
an item-diffi culty index,
256
item-mapping method: An
IRTbased method of
setting cut scores that
entails a histographic
representation of test
items and expert
judgments regarding
item effectiveness, 231
item-reliability index: A
statistic designed to
provide an indication of a
test’s internal
consistency; the higher
the item-reliability index,
 the greater the test’s
internal consistency, 256–
257
item-validity index: A
statistic indicating the
degree to which a test
measures what it
purports to measure; the
higher the itemvalidity
index, the greater the
test’s criterion-related
validity,
257–
258 items
for computer
administration, 248–249,
252–253
DIF, 274 ”good,” 254–
255 in personality
assessment, 393–396
scoring of, 253–254
writing of, 244–253
Jackson Vocational Interest
Survey, 549
Jaffee v.
Redmond, 69
Jeffery, Diana D.,
49, 50 job
applicant pool,
225 job
complexity, 225
job satisfaction: A
pleasurable or positive
emotional state resulting
from the appraisal of
one’s job or job
experience, 577–578
job-related performance
sample, 563 Johnson,
Wendy, 295
Joint Committee of Testing
Practices, 62 journal articles,
31–32, 33 J-shaped curve, 82
Julius, Steve, 136
Jung, Carl, 382, 441, 557
K-ABC. See Kaufman
Assessment Battery for
Children Kaiser, Robert
B., 573
The Kallikak Family
(Goddard), 45, 294
Kaufman Assessment
Battery for
Children (K-ABC), 288,
368–371 KDS. See Kinetic
Drawing System
Kent-Rosanoff Free
Association Test,
441–442
KeyMath Revised test, 367–
368
KFD. See Kinetic Family
Drawing
Kinetic Drawing System
(KDS), 447
Kinetic Family Drawing
(KFD), 447 Kinetic School
Drawing (KSD), 447 known
groups method: Also referred
to as the method of
contrasting groups, a system
of collecting data on a
predictor of interest from
groups known to possess
(and
not to possess) a trait,
attribute, or ability of
interest, 196–197, 229–
230
KOIS. See Kuder
Occupational Interest
Survey
KR-20. See Kuder-
Richardson formulas
KSD. See Kinetic School
Drawing
Kuder, G. Frederic, 148
Kuder Occupational Interest
Survey (KOIS), 549
Kuder-Richardson formulas:
A series of equations
developed by G. F. Kuder
and M. W. Richardson
designed to estimate the
inter-item consistency of
tests, 148–149, 154 Kumho
Tire Company Ltd. v.
Carmichael, 61 kurtosis: An
indication of the nature of the
steepness (peaked versus fl
at) of the center of a
distribution, 92
latent-trait theory: Also
referred to as latent-trait
model, a system of
assumptions about
measurement, including the
assumption that a trait being
measured by a test is
unidimensional, and the
extent to which each test
item measures the trait, 158
Laurent, Jeff, 72 law
enforcement agencies, 493
Law School Admission Test
(LSAT),
58, 364
laws: Rules that individuals
must obey because they
are deemed to be good for
society as a whole;
contrast with ethics, 5 3
–45,
56–59, 345
Lawshe, C. H., 177–178
Lazarus, Arnold, 588
leaderless group technique:
A situational assessment
procedure wherein an
observer/assessor evaluates
the performance of assessees
in a group situation with
regard to variables such as
leadership, initiative, and
cooperation, 461, 564
Leadership Q-Test, 395
learning disability: A
disorder involving a
discrepancy between ability
and achievement, which may
manifest itself in attentional,
emotional, perceptual, and/or
motor defi cits and/or in
problems related to doing
mathematical calculations,
reading, writing, spelling, or
using or understanding
spoken or written language;
not applicable to persons
who have academic problems
that are cultural or economic
in origin or to persons who
have learning problems
arising primarily from visual,
hearing, or motor handicaps
or mental retardation, 351,
353
Learning Potential
Assessment Device
(LPAD), 364 least
stigmatizing label,
69–70 legal issues
expert witnesses, 59–61
general principles of, 484
laws, 53–54, 56–59
litigation, 56–57, 59–61
preschool assessment and,
345 public opinion and, 54–
56 Leisure Satisfaction
Scale, 560 leniency error:
Also referred to as a
generosity error, a rating
error that occurs as the result
of a rater’s tendency to be
too forgiving and insuffi
ciently critical, 202, 387
leptokurtic: A description of
the kurtosis of a
distribution that is
relatively peaked in its
center, 92
lesion: A pathological
alteration of
tissue as might result
from injury or infection,
514
letter of application,
561 licensing, 236
Life Satisfaction
Index A, 560
Likert scale: Named for its
developer, a summative
rating scale with fi ve
alternative responses ranging
on a continuum from, for
example, “strongly agree” to
“strongly disagree,” 240–241
Lindzey, G., 378–379 linear
transformation: In
psychometrics, a process
of changing a score such
that (a) the new score has
a direct numerical
relationship to the
original score and (b) the
magnitude of the
I-15
linear transformation:
(continued) difference
between the new score
and other scores on the
scale parallels the
magnitude of
differences between the
original score and the
other scores on the
scales from which it
was derived; contrast
with nonlinear
transformation, 98 – 99
linguistic barriers, 48
Lipinski, Tara, 296
literature reviews, 589–
590 litigation, signifi
cant, 56–57, 59–61
LNNB. See Luria-Nebraska
Neuropsychological
Battery local norms:
Normative information
about some limited
population, frequently of
specifi c interest to the test
user, 121
local processing: On-site,
computerized
scoring, interpretation, or
other conversion of raw
test data; contrast with
central processing and
teleprocessing, 13
local validation study: The
process of gathering
evidence, relevant to how
well a test measures what
it purports to measure, for
the purpose of evaluating
the validity of a test or
other measurement tool;
typically undertaken in
conjunction with a
population different from
the population for whom
the test was originally
validated, 173
locator test: A pretest or
routing test, usually for
determining the most
appropriate level of test,
352
locus of control: The self-
perceived
source of what happens
to oneself,
392
LPAD. See Learning
Potential
Assessment Device
LSAT. See Law School
Admission Test lumbar
puncture: A diagnostic
procedure typically
performed by a neurologist
in which spinal fl uid is
extracted from the spinal
column by means of an
inserted needle; also
referred to as a spinal tap,
543
Luria-Nebraska
Neuropsychological
Battery (LNNB), 540
MacAndrew Alcoholism
Scale
(MAC-R), 489
Machover, Karen, 445–446
MAC-R. See MacAndrew
Alcoholism
Scale mail surveys,
585 maintained abilities:
In the CattellHorn model
of intelligence, cognitive
abilities that do not
decline with age and tend
to return to pre-injury
levels after brain damage;
contrast with vulnerable
abilities, 285
malingering, 474, 477
I-16
mall intercept studies, 584
managed care: A health
care system wherein the
products and services
provided to patients by a
participating network of
health care providers are
mediated by an
administrative agency of
the insurer that works to
keep costs down by fi xing
schedules of reimbursement
to providers,
487–488
Management Progress Study
(MPS),
567–568
Marital Interaction Coding
System, 459
Marital Satisfaction Scale
(MSS), 195, 196–198
Marlow-Crowne Social
Desirability Scale, 197
Maslach Burnout Inventory
(MBI), 577
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,
575–576 MAT. See Miller
Analogies Test matching
item, 245–246, 249 math
tests, 367–368 mazes, 527
MBI. See Maslach Burnout
Inventory MBTI. See
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
MCAT. See Medical College
Admission Test
McGrew, Kevin, S., 287
McGrew-Flanagan CHC
model,
287–288
McKinley, John Charnley,
406, 408, 410
MCMI-III. See Million
Clinical Multiaxial
Inventory-III
MCT. See Minnesota
Clerical Test
MDBS-R. See Morally
Debatable
Behaviors Scale-
Revised mean: Also called
the arithmetic mean, a
measure of central tendency
derived by calculating an
average of all scores in a
distribution, 0, 84, 8 86
measure of central tendency:
One of three statistics
indicating the average or
middlemost score
between the extreme
scores in a distribution;
the mean is a measure of
central tendency and a
statistic at the ratio level
of measurement, the
median is a measure of
central tendency that
takes into account the
order of scores and is
ordinal in nature, and the
mode is a measure of
central tendency that is
nominal in nature, 80–83
arithmetic mean,
80, 84, 86 median,
84–85 mode, 85–
87
measure of variability: A
statistic indicating how
scores in a distribution
are scattered or dispersed;
range, standard deviation,
and variance are common
measures of variability,
87
average deviation, 88–89
interquartile and semi-
interquartile
ranges, 88
range, 87 standard
deviation, 89–91
measurement: Assigning
numbers or symbols to
characteristics of people
or objects according to
rules, 72
equivalence, across
testtaker
populations, 273–274
error in, 73
inference from,
136–138 rules
of, 72 scales of,
72–77
mechanical prediction: The
application
of computer algorithms
together with statistical
rules and probabilities to
generate fi ndings and
recommendations;
contrast
with clinical prediction
and actuarial prediction,
508 – 510
median: A measure of central
tendency derived by
identifying the
middlemost score in a
distribution,
84–85
Medical and Psychiatric
Inventory. See
Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality
Inventory (MMPI)
Medical College Admission
Test
(MCAT), 363–364
medical diagnostic aids,
542–543 Meehl, Paul,
410 Meier Art
Judgment Test, 27
memory
model of,
535 tests
of, 534–538
types of,
534–536
mental age: An index, now
seldom used, that refers
to the chronological age
equivalent of one’s
performance on a test or
subtest; derived by
reference to norms
indicating the age at
which most testtakers can
pass or meet some
performance criterion
with respect to individual
or groups of items, 1 19,
290
Mental Measurements
Yearbook (Buros),
 31, 33
mental status examination:
A specialized interview and
observation used to screen
for intellectual, emotional,
and neurological defi cits by
touching on areas such as
the interviewee’s
appearance, behavior,
memory, affect, mood,
judgment, personality,
thought content, thought
processes, and state of
consciousness, 476–477,
522 Merrill, Maude, 311
mesokurtic: A description of
the kurtosis of a distribution
that is neither extremely
peaked nor fl at in its center,
92
meta-analysis: A family of
techniques used to
statistically combine
information across
studies to produce single
estimates of the statistics
being studied, 137
method of contrasted groups.
See known groups
method
method of paired
comparisons: Scaling
method whereby one of a
pair of stimuli (such as
photos) is selected
according to a rule (such
as “select the one that is
more appealing”), 241–
242
method of predictive yield: A
technique for identifying
cut scores based on the
number of positions to be
fi lled, 231
Metropolitan Readiness
Tests (MRTs),
359–361 military
settings, 22, 26, 336–340,
384
leadership and, 395, 462
terrorism and, 391–392
Miller Analogies Test
(MAT), 362–363
Million Clinical Multiaxial
InventoryIII (MCMI-III),
480
Mills v. Board of Education
of District of Columbia, 59
Milner, Joel, 192 Mini-
Mental State Exam, 522
minimum competency
testing program: Formal
evaluation program in basic
skills such as reading,
writing, and arithmetic
designed to aid in
educational decision making
that ranges from remediation
to graduation,
57, 355–356
Minnesota Clerical Test
(MCT), 564
Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality
Inventory (MMPI), 393
for adolescents (MMPI-
A), 416–417 clinical
scales in, 406–407, 411,
413–415, 417 content
scales in, 409 criterion
groups and, 406–412
restructured form of
(MMPI-2-RF),
412–418, 489 revised
(MMPI-2), 410–412,
417–418, 482 Rorschach
test v., 432
supplementary scales in,
409, 417 T scores in, 97,
412 validity scales in,
408, 417
Minnesota Teacher Attitude
Survey, 582
Minnesota Vocational
Interest
Inventory, 548 minority
cultures, 47, 205–207, 302–
308 miss rate: The proportion
of people a test or other
measurement procedure fails
to identify accurately with
respect to the possession or
exhibition of a trait,
behavior, characteristic, or
attribute; a “miss” in this
context is an inaccurate
classifi cation or prediction;
may be subdivided into false
positives and false negatives,
190
MMPI. See Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality
Inventory
M’Naghten standard: Also
known as the “right or
wrong” test
of insanity, a (since
replaced) standard that
hinged on whether an
individual knew right
from wrong at the time of
commission of a crime;
contrast with the
Durham standard and the
ALI standard, 496
mode: A measure of central
tendency derived by
identifying the most
frequently occurring
score in a distribution,
85–87
Montreal Neurological
Institute Battery, 540
Morally Debatable Behaviors
ScaleRevised (MDBS-R),
239–242 Morgan, Christiana
D., 41, 432, 434 motivation,
employment assessment and,
574–577
motivation research methods:
Tools and procedures
(e.g., in-depth interviews
and focus groups),
typically qualitative,
associated with consumer
research to explore
consumer attitudes,
behavior, and motivation,
586–591
motor defi cits, 514–515
motor test: A general
reference to a type of
instrument or evaluation
procedure used to obtain
information about one’s
ability to move one’s limbs,
eyes, or other parts of the
body (psychomotor ability)
as opposed to abilities that
are more strictly cognitive,
behavioral, or sensory in
nature,
530–533
MPS. See Management
Progress Study
MRTs. See Metropolitan
Readiness Tests MSS. See
Marital Satisfaction Scale
multidimensional scale, 237,
241 Multilingual Aphasia
Examination, 534 multiple
cut scores: The use of two or
more cut scores with
reference to one predictor for
the purpose of categorizing
testtakers into more than two
groups, or the use of a
different cut score for each
predictor when using
multiple predictors for
selection, 226 multiple
hurdles: A multistage
decision-making process in
which the achievement of a
particular cut score on one
test is necessary in order to
advance to the next stage of
evaluation in the selection
process, 226–228
multiple regression: The
analysis of relationships
between more than one
independent variable and
one dependent variable to
understand how each
independent variable
predicts the dependent
variable, 135
multiple-choice format, 245,
249 multiple-factor
intelligence models, 284
multitrait-multimethod
matrix: A method of
evaluating construct validity
by simultaneously
examining both
convergent and divergent
evidence by means of a nature-nurture question, 42–
table of correlations 43, 46, 279 controversy
between traits and over, 295 intelligence and,
methods, 198 279, 292–297
Murray, Henry A., 41, 432, interactionism and, 295
434–435, predeterminism and, 293–
443, 567 muscle 294 preformationism and,
coordination, 523 292–293 VPR model and,
Myers, Isabel Briggs, 295
557–558 Naylor-Shine tables:
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Statistical tables once
(MBTI), 382, 557–558 widely used to assist in
judging the utility of a
narrow-band measures, 459 particular test, 188, 224
NASA. See National NCCEA. See Neurosensory
Aeronautics and Space Center
Administration Comprehensive
NASP. See National Examination of
Association of School Aphasia need: According
Psychologists to personality theorist Henry
National Aeronautics and Murray, determinants of
Space behavior arising from within
Administration (NASA), the individual; contrast with
566 national anchor norms: the
An Murrayan concept of
equivalency table for press, 435 negative skew, 82,
scores on two nationally 90, 91 neglect: Failure on the
standardized tests part of an adult responsible
designed to measure the for the care of another to
same thing, 120–121 exercise a minimum degree
National Association of of care in providing food,
School Psychologists clothing, shelter, education,
(NASP), 24 medical care, and
National Defense Education supervision; contrast with
Act, 55 abuse, 502 – 505
National Education NEO PI-R. See Revised
Association (NEA), NEO
61–62 national norms: Personality Inventory
Norms derived from a
standardization sample that
was nationally representative
of the population, 120 I-17
naturalistic observation: nervous system, behavior
Behavioral observation and, 512–517
that takes place in a neurodevelopment training
naturally occurring ball, 27 neurological
setting (as opposed to a damage: Impairment, injury,
research laboratory) for harm, or loss of function of
the purpose of any part or process of the
evaluation and central or peripheral nervous
information-gathering, systems,
380
 513–517 neurology: A
branch of medicine that
focuses on the nervous
system and its disorders;
contrast with
neuropsychology, 512
neuron: Nerve cell, 512
neuropsychological
assessment: The evaluation
of brain and nervous system
functioning as it relates to
behavior, 512
content and nature of, 517–
519 executive function
tests in, 526–530 general
intelligence and ability
tests
in, 524–525
general principles of, 484
history taking, case history,
and case
studies in, 519–521
interview in, 521–522
medical diagnostic aids
and, 542–543 memory tests
in, 534–538 mental status
examination in, 522
nervous system, behavior
and,
512–517
neuropsychological tests
in, 524 perceptual, motor,
and perceptualmotor
function tests in, 530–
533
physical examination in,
522–524 purpose of, 519
signs in, 517 of special
populations, 543–544 test
of ability to abstract in,
525–526 test batteries
and, 481–482, 538–543
verbal functioning tests
in, 533–534
Neuropsychological
Impairment Scale,
521
neuropsychological
mental status examination:
A general clinical
evaluation designed to
sample and check for
various possible defi
ciencies in brain-behavior
functioning, 522
neuropsychology: A branch
of psychology that
focuses on the
relationship between
brain functioning and
behavior; contrast with
neurology, 512
Neurosensory Center
Comprehensive
Examination of Aphasia
(NCCEA),
540
neurotology: A branch of
medicine that focuses on
problems relating to
hearing, balance, and
facial nerves, 512
noir acronym, 73–74
nominal scale: A system of
measurement in which all
things measured are classifi
ed or categorized based on
one or more distinguishing
characteristics and placed
into mutually exclusive and
exhaustive categories, 74, 76
I-18
nominating technique: A
method of peer appraisal
in which members of a
class, team, work unit,
or other type of group
are asked to select (or
nominate) people in
response to a question or
statement, 299, 375–376
nomothetic approach: An
approach to assessment
characterized by efforts to
learn how a limited
number of personality
traits can be applied to all
people; contrast with
idiographic approach,
398
noneconomic benefi ts (in the
context of utility), 213–
214
noneconomic costs (in the
context of utility), 211
noninvasive procedures: A
method of evaluation or
treatment that does not
involve intrusion (by
surgical procedure, X-
ray, or other means) into
the body; for example, in
a neuropsychological
evaluation, observation of
the client walking or
skipping, 522
nonlinear transformation: In
psychometrics, a process
of changing a score such
that (a) the new score
does not necessarily have
a direct numerical
relationship to the
original score and (b) the
magnitude of the
differences between the
new score and the other
scores on the scale may
not parallel the
magnitude of differences
between the original
score and the other scores
on the scales from which
the original score was
derived; contrast with
linear transformation, 99
nonverbal communication,
48–49 norm: (1) Behavior or
performance that is usual,
average, normal, standard,
expected, or typical; (2)
singular form of norms, 108,
111.
See also norms normal
control group, 406–407
normal curve: A bell-shaped,
smooth, mathematically defi
ned curve highest at the
center and gradually tapered
on both sides, approaching
but never actually touching
the horizontal axis, 80, 82
 area under, 93, 95–96 referenced testing and Dignity Act odd-
psychological tests and, assessment, 111 , 122– even reliability: An
94–96 124, 235–236 estimate
normalized standard score norms: The test performance of split-half reliability of
scale: data of a group of a test, obtained by
Conceptually, the end testtakers, designed as a assigning oddnumbered
product of “stretching” a reference for evaluating, items to one-half of the
skewed distribution into interpreting, or otherwise test and even-numbered
the shape of a normal placing in context items to the other half,
curve, usually through individual test scores; 145, 147
nonlinear transformation, also referred to as Offi ce of Strategic Services
99–100 normative data, 108–109, (OSS),
normalizing a distribution: A 111–112. See also 337, 394, 462
statistical correction norming; norm- Offi cer Qualifying Test, 337
applied to distributions referenced testing and Olley, Rivka, 343
meeting certain criteria assessment On the Origin of Species by
for the purpose of age, 118–119 Means of
approximating a normal developmental, 120 Natural Selection
distribution, thus making fi xed reference
(Darwin), 36 online
the data more readily group scoring
databases, 32, 33 online
comprehensible or systems and, 121–122 surveys, 584–585 online
manipulable, 99 grade, 119–120 testing, 66 optional subtest.
normative sample: Also sampling to develop, See supplemental subtest
referred to as a norm 112–118 for Optometry Admission Test
group, a group of people standardized test, (OAT), 364 ordinal scale: A
presumed to be 117–118 types of, system of
representative of the 118–122 user, 111 measurement in which all
universe of people who things measured can be
may take a particular test OAT. See Optometry
Admission Test Object rank-ordered, where the
and whose performance rank-ordering implies
data on that test may be Sorting Test, 516, 526
objective personality test: nothing about exactly
used as a reference source how much greater one
or context for evaluating Typically a test consisting of
short-answer items wherein ranking is than another
individual test scores, and there is no absolute
111, 117 the assessee’s task is to select
one response from the two or zero point on the scale;
norming: The process of most scales in
deriving or creating more provided and all
scoring is done according to psychology and
norms, 111 education are ordinal,
set procedures involving
norm-referenced cut score. 74–76
See relative little if any judgment on the
part of the scorer, 424–425 Oregon’s Death with Dignity
cut score Act
observer bias, 466–467
norm-referenced testing and O’Connor Tweezer (ODDA), 64–65
assessment: A method Dexterity Test, organicity: An abbreviated
of evaluation and a way 549–550 reference to organic brain
of deriving meaning damage and to one of the
OCQ. See Organizational
from test scores by Commitment varieties of functional
evaluating an individual consequences that attends
Questionnaire
testtaker’s score and such damage, 513–517
ODDA. See Oregon’s Death
comparing it to scores of organizational commitment:
with
a group of testtakers on The strength of an
the same test; contrast individual’s identifi
with criterion- cation with and
 involvement in a
particular organization,
578
Organizational Commitment
Questionnaire (OCQ),
578 organizational
credentialing, 22–23
organizational culture: The
totality of socially
transmitted behavior patterns
characteristic of an
organization or company,
including the structure of the
organization and the roles
within it, the leadership style,
the prevailing values, norms,
sanctions, and support
mechanisms as well as the
traditions and folklore,
methods of enculturation,
and characteristic ways of
interacting with people and
institutions outside the
culture (such as customers,
suppliers, competition,
government agencies, and the
general public), 578–581
orientation: A three-part
element of the mental
status examination
consisting of orientation
to self (if the interviewee
knows who he or she is),
place (where the
interview is taking
place), and time (the date
of the interview);
interviewees oriented to
person, place, and time
are said to be
“oriented times 3,”
477 orienting response:
Indicative of an infant’s
capacity for
responsiveness, the
action of turning in the
direction of a stimulus;
contrast with alerting
response, 290
originality, 342 OSS. See
Offi ce of Strategic
Services Otis-Lennon
School Ability Test, 340
outlier: (1) An extremely
atypical plot point in a
scatterplot; (2) any
extremely atypical fi nding
in research, 132
overt behavior: An
observable action
or the product of an
observable action,
including test- or
assessment-related
responses, 102
Paced Auditory Serial
Addition Task
(PASAT), 213 panel
interview: Also referred to
as a board interview, an
interview conducted with
one interviewee by more
than one interviewer at a
time, 8
parallel forms: Two or more
versions or forms of the
same test where, for each
form, the means and
variances of observed test
scores are equal; contrast
with alternate forms, 144
– 145
parallel processing. See
simultaneous processing
parallel-forms reliability: An
estimate of the extent to
which item sampling and
other errors have affected
test scores on two
versions of the same test
when, for each form of
the test, the means and
variances of observed test
scores are equal; contrast
with alternate-forms
reliability, 144 – 145
PARC v. Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, 59
Parent Attitude
Questionnaire, 347
Parenting Stress Index
(PSI), 505 parents,
evaluation of, 500–501
parole, readiness for, 496–
497 PASAT. See Paced
Auditory Serial Addition
Task
PASS model: Information-
processing model
developed by Luria;
PASS stands for
planning, attention,
simultaneous, and
successive,
288–289 pattern
analysis: Study of the pattern
of test scores on a Wechsler
or other test in order to
identify a pattern associated
with a diagnosis (e.g.,
neurological defi cit in the
right hemisphere), 525
Pavlo, Barbara C., 17
PCAT. See Pharmacy
College Admission Test
PCL. See Psychopathy
Checklist
PCL-R. See Revised
Psychopathy Checklist
Pearson, Karl, 37, 126–127
Pearson r: Also known as the
Pearson coeffi cient of
product-moment
correlation and the
Pearson
correlation coeffi cient, a
widely used statistic for
obtaining an index of the
relationship between two
variables when that
relationship is linear and
when the two correlated
variables are continuous
(i.e., theoretically can
take any value),
126–128, 150 peer
appraisal: A method of
obtaining evaluation-related
information about an
individual by polling that
individual’s friends,
classmates, work colleagues,
or other peers,
 375–376, 572 penile
plethysmograph: An
instrument, used in the
assessment and treatment of
male sex offenders, designed
to measure changes in penis
volume as a function of
sexual arousal, 463
PEP. See Profi ciency
Examination
Program
percentage correct: On a test
with responses that are
scored correct or
incorrect, an expression
of the number of items
answered correctly,
multiplied by 100 and
divided by the total
number of items;
contrast with percentile,
118
percentile: An expression of
the percentage of people
whose score on a test or
measure falls below a
particular raw score, or
a converted score that
refers to a percentage of
testtakers; contrast with
percentage correct, 118
percentile norms: The raw
data from a test’s
standardization sample
converted to percentile
form, 118
percept: A perception of an
image (typically used with
reference to the Rorschach
Inkblot Test), 428
perceptual test: A general
reference to any of many
instruments and procedures
used to evaluate varied
aspects of sensory
functioning, including
aspects of sight, hearing,
smell, touch, taste, and
balance, 530–533
perceptual-motor test: A
general reference to any
of many instruments and
procedures used to
evaluate the integration or
coordination of sensory
and motor abilities, 530–
533
performance assessment: An
evaluation of
performance tasks
according to criteria
developed by experts
from the domain of study
tapped by those tasks,
373–375
performance task or test: (1)
In general, a work sample
designed to elicit
representative
knowledge, skills, and
values from a particular
domain of study; (2) in
employment settings, an
instrument or procedure
I-19
performance task or test:
(continued) that requires
the assessee to
demonstrate certain job-
related skills or abilities
under conditions identical
or analogous to
conditions on the job, 373
peripheral nervous system:
All of the nerve cells that
convey neural messages to
and from the body except
those nerve cells of the brain
and spinal cord; contrast with
the central nervous system,
512 Personal Data Sheet, 40–
41, 401, 408 personality: An
individual’s unique
constellation of
psychological traits and
states, including aspects of
values, interests, attitudes,
worldview, acculturation,
sense of personal identity,
sense of humor, cognitive
and behavioral styles, and
related characteristics,
299–300, 378–379, 382,
422 personality assessment:
The
measurement and
evaluation of
psychological traits,
states, values, interests,
attitudes, worldview,
acculturation, personal
identity, sense of humor,
cognitive and behavioral
styles, and/or related
individual characteristics,
379. See also behavioral
assessment;
Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality
Inventory; projective
method actuarial
approach to, 467–468
Barnum effect in, 506,
508 biased judgments in,
387–388 in career
counseling, 555–558
clinical approach to, 467–
468 context of, 388
criterion groups in, 404–
418 cultural issues in,
389, 400, 418–422 data
reduction methods in,
402–404 fi gure drawings
in, 444–448 frame of
reference in, 395, 397
general principles of, 484
with inkblots, 427–432
ipsative scoring of, 253–
254 issues in
development and use of,
398–400 item formats
in, 393–396 life
outcomes infl uenced
by, 465 location of, 391
logic and reason in, 401
objective, 424–425
origin of, 36 pictures in,
432–440 primary
content area sampled in,
389–390 procedures in,
393–395 purpose of, 383–
385 referents in, 385–389
 response styles in, 390–391
sample questions from, 383
scope and theory of, 392–
393 scoring and
interpretation of, 3 97–398
sounds in, 443–444 in
standard battery, 481–482
I-20
testtakers of, 385–391
theory behind, 401–402
validity scales in, 399–
400, 408, 417 words in,
440–443
Personality Inventory for
Children
(PIC), 387 personality
profi le: A description, graph,
or table representing the
extent to which a person has
demonstrated a particular
pattern of traits and states,
382
Personality Projection in
the Drawing of the
Human Figure
(Machover),
445–446 personality
states, 102, 382–383
personality trait: Any
distinguishable, relatively
enduring way in which one
individual varies from
another, 101–104, 379–381,
403,
556–557 personality
type: A constellation of
traits and states that is
similar in pattern to one
identifi ed category of
personality within a
taxonomy of personalities,
381–382, 557–558
PET (positron emission
tomography) scan: A tool
of nuclear medicine
particularly useful in
diagnosing biochemical
lesions in the brain, 5 42
phallometric data, 463
Pharmacy College
Admission Test
(PCAT), 364
Piaget, Jean, 281–283
PIC. See Personality
Inventory for
Children picture
absurdity item: A type of
test item that presents the
testtaker with the task of
identifying what is wrong or
silly about a stimulus image,
528–530
pictures, as projective
stimuli early uses
of, 433 examples
of, 432, 439–440
TAT, 433–439
Piers-Harris Self-Concept
Scale,
385–386 pilot work:
Also referred to as pilot
study and pilot research, the
preliminary research
surrounding the creation of a
prototype test; a general
objective of pilot work is to
determine how best to
measure, gauge, assess, or
evaluate the targeted
construct(s), 236–237 PL 94-
142. See Public Law 94-142
placement: A disposition,
transfer, or assignment to a
group or category that may
be made on the basis of one
criterion, 560–561
platykurtic: A description of
the kurtosis of a
distribution that is
relatively fl at in its
center, 92
plethysmograph: An
instrument that records
changes in the volume of
a part of the body arising
from variations in blood
supply, 463
PMAs. See primary mental
abilities point scale: A test
with items
organized into subtests
by category of item;
contrast with age scale,
314
poll: A type of survey used
to record votes, usually
containing questions
that can be answered
with a “yes-no” or “for-
against” response,
typically used to gauge
opinion about issues,
584
polygraph: The instrument
popularly known as a lie
detector, 463–464
polytomous test item: A test
item or question with three or
more alternative responses,
where only one alternative is
scored correct or scored as
being consistent with a
targeted trait or other
construct, 159 Porteus,
Stanley D., 527 portfolio: A
work sample; referred to as
portfolio assessment when
used as a tool in an
evaluative or diagnostic
process, 9–10, 373–375, 563
positive skew, 82, 90, 91
positron emission
tomography scan.
See PET scan
power test: A test,
usually of
achievement or ability,
with (1) either no time
limit or such a long time
limit that all testtakers
can attempt all items and
(2) some items so diffi
cult that no testtaker can
obtain a perfect score;
contrast with speed test,
154 – 155
predeterminism: The
doctrine that one’s
abilities are
predetermined by
genetic inheritance and
that no amount of
 learning or other
intervention can
enhance what is
genetically coded to
unfold,
293–294
predictive validity: A
form of
criterion-related validity
that is an index of the
degree to which a test
score predicts some
criterion measure, 180,
182–183, 191–192
preformationism: The
doctrine that all living
organisms are preformed
at birth and that
intelligence, much like
other preformed
“structures,” cannot be
improved upon by
environmental
intervention,
292–293 premorbid
functioning: One’s ability
level, personality, or other
behavioral attributes prior
to the onset of illness or
disorder, and/ or prior to an
injury-producing accident,
470
preschool assessment
ADHD and, 346, 348
checklists for, 346,
348–349 laws
regarding, 345
psychological tests for,
349–350 rating scales
for, 346–349
specialized instruments
for, 350 press:
According to
personality theorist
Henry Murray,
determinants of
behavior arising from
within the
environment; contrast
with the
Murrayan concept of
need, 435 pretest-posttest
changes, 196 primary
mental abilities (PMAs),
310 Princip, Gavrilo, 178–
180 privacy right: The
freedom of people to choose
the time, circumstances, and
extent to which they wish to
share or withhold from
others personal beliefs,
opinions, and behavior;
contrast with
confi dentiality, 68
privileged information: Data
protected by law from
disclosure in a legal
proceeding; typically,
exceptions to privilege
are also noted in law;
contrast with confi
dential information, 68
probation, readiness for,
496–497 procedural
memory: Memory for how to
do certain things or perform
certain functions; contrast
with declarative memory,
534 – 535
process score: A score on a
test designed to help the
test user understand the
way that the testtaker
processes information,
326
processing strength, 369
product-moment coeffi cient
of correlation. See Pearson r
productivity gain: A net
increase in work output,
which in utility analyses
may be estimated through
the use of a particular test
or other evaluative
procedure,
223–224 productivity:
Output or value yielded
relative to work effort, 571–
574
professional or occupational
entrance examinations,
363–364
Profi ciency Examination
Program
(PEP), 354, 356 profi le:
A narrative description,
graph, table, or other
representation of the extent
to which a person has
demonstrated certain targeted
characteristics as a result of
the administration or
application of tools of
assessment; also (a verb) to
profi le, 382
profi le analysis: The
interpretation of
patterns of scores on a
test or test battery,
frequently used to
generate diagnostic
hypotheses from
intelligence test data,
382n1
profi ler: An occupation
associated with law
enforcement; one who
creates psychological
profi les of crime
suspects to help law
enforcement personnel
capture the profi led
suspect, 382n1
profi ling: Referred to by the
FBI as “criminal
investigative analysis,” a
crime-solving process
that
draws upon
psychological and
criminological expertise
applied to the study of
crime-scene evidence,
498–499 prognostic test:
A tool of assessment used to
predict; sometimes
synonymous with aptitude
test, 358
program norms. See user
norms progressive condition,
521 Project Head Start, 327
projective hypothesis: The
thesis that an individual
supplies structure to
unstructured stimuli in a
manner consistent with the
individual’s own unique
pattern of conscious and
unconscious needs, fears,
desires, impulses, confl icts,
and ways of perceiving and
responding, 426
projective method: A
technique of personality
assessment in which
some judgment of the
assessee’s personality is
made on the basis of his
or her performance on a
task that involves
supplying structure to
relatively unstructured or
incomplete stimuli, 41,
426–427.
See also inkblots
assumptions of, 449–
451 in custody
evaluation, 501 fi gure
drawings, 444–448,
504 Hand Test, 397,
438 pictures as, 432–
440 pros and cons of,
448–449 psychometric
considerations in,
451–452
Rosenzweig Picture-
Frustration
Study, 438–440
situational variables in, 451
sounds as, 443–444 words as,
440–443 Proposition 209,
571 protocol: (1) The form or
sheet on which testtakers’
responses are entered; (2) a
method or procedure for
evaluation or scoring, 24,
24n2
Proverbs Test, 525
PSI. See Parenting
Stress Index
psychasthenia, 407n5
psychiatric patients,
214 psychoanalysis:
A theory of
personality and
psychological treatment
originally developed by
Sigmund Freud, 49, 64
psychoeducational
assessment: Psychological
evaluation in a school or
other setting, usually
conducted to diagnose,
remedy, or measure
academic or social progress
or to otherwise enrich a
student’s education, 287
psychoeducational test
battery: A packaged kit
containing tests that
measure educational
achievement and abilities
related to academic
success, 343, 368 for
educational assessment,
368–373 K-ABC and,
368–371
WJ-III, 286, 371–373
psychological assessment:
The gathering and integrating
of psychological data for
psychological evaluation,
through the use of tests,
interviews, case studies,
behavioral observation, and
specially designed
apparatuses and
measurement procedures;
contrast with psychological
testing, 1–4. See also
clinical/counseling
assessment; educational
assessment;
neuropsychological
assessment; personality
assessment; preschool
assessment
assessor’s role in, 3–4, 29
assumptions about, 101–
107 behavioral
observation in, 10–11 in
biopsychosocial
assessment, 473 CAPA,
13–14, 63, 66, 510 case
history data in, 10
collaborative, 4
conducting of, 24–30
culturally informed, 137–
138, 389,
482–488 custody
evaluation, 498, 500–
502 dynamic, 4, 363–
366 fairness in, 106
forensic, 490–498
general principles of,
484–485 intervention
and, 4 interviews in, 7–
9 medical tools in, 14
norm-referenced v.
criterion-
referenced, 122–124
parties in, 15–20 by Pavlo,
17 of people with
disabilities, 25, 28–30
portfolio in, 9–10 process
of, 2–4 psychoeducational,
287 psychophysiological,
462–464 quality of life in,
22 reference sources for,
30–33 role-play tests in,
11–12 roots of, 1 settings
of, 20–24 social
facilitation in, 16 testing
v., 2–3 tests in, 5–7
therapeutic, 4 third-party
observer in, 18 types of, 4
video in, 14
psychological autopsy: A
reconstruction of a
deceased individual’s
psychological profi le on
the basis of archival
records, artifacts, and
interviews with the
assessee while living or
with people who knew
the deceased, 19
psychological report: An
archival document
describing fi ndings as a
result of psychological
testing or assessment, 505
I-21
psychological report:
(continued)
Barnum effect in, 506,
508 clinical v.
mechanical prediction in,
 508–510 of antiquated term selection of people to be part
clinical/counseling psychometry ), 6 of a sample because they are
assessment, psychometrist: A thought to be representative
505–510 professional in testing of the population being
elements of, and assessment who studied, 112, 115
507–508 typically holds a master’s
psychological test: A degree in psychology or Q-sort technique: An
measuring device or education and is qualifi assessment technique in
procedure designed to ed to administer specifi c which the task is to sort a
measure psychology- tests; contrast with group of statements,
related variables, 5 psychometrician, 6 usually in perceived rank
choice of, 109 psychopath: A diagnosis that order ranging from “most
normal curve describes individuals with descriptive” to “least
and, 94–96 few inhibitions who may descriptive”; the
psychological testing: The pursue pleasure or money statements, traditionally
measuring of psychology- with callous disregard for the presented on index cards,
related variables by welfare of others, 497 may be sorted in ways
means of devices or Psychopathy Checklist that refl ect various
procedures designed to (PCL), 497 perceptions, such as how
obtain samples of psychophysiological respondents see
assessment methods: themselves or would like
behavior, 1–4. See also
intelligence testing Techniques for monitoring to see themselves, 395
assessment v., 2–3 physiological changes known qualitative item analysis: A
assumptions about, 101– to be infl uenced by general term for various
107 in psychological factors, such nonstatistical procedures
clinical/counseling as heart rate and blood designed to explore how
assessment, pressure, 462–464 individual test items
PsycINFO: An online work, both compared to
480–482 fairness
electronic database, other items in the test and
in, 106 norm-
maintained by the in the context of the
referenced v.
American whole test; in contrast to
criterion-
Psychological statistically based
referenced, 122–124
Association and leased procedures, qualitative
roots of, 1 methods involve
psychologist-client to institutional users,
designed to help exploration of the issues
relationship, 68–69 by verbal means such as
psychometrician: A individuals locate
relevant documents interviews and group
professional in testing and discussions conducted
assessment who typically from psychology,
education, nursing, with testtakers and other
holds a doctoral degree in relevant parties, 265–267
psychology or education and social work, law,
medicine, and other qualitative methods, 265
specializes in areas such as quality assurance, 271–273
individual differences, disciplines, 32
quality of life: in
quantitative psychology, or psychological assessment, an
theory of assessment; evaluation of variables such
contrast with psychometrist, I-22
Public Law (PL) 94–142, as perceived stress,
6 loneliness, sources of
psychometrics: The science 345 public opinion, legal
considerations and, 54–56 satisfaction, personal values,
of quality of living conditions,
psychological public policy, cultural issues
and, 53 Purdue Pegboard and quality of friendships
measurement and other social support, 22
(synonymous with the Test, 530 purposive
sampling: The arbitrary quantitative methods:
Techniques of data
 generation and analysis
that rely primarily on
mathematical or
statistical rather than
verbal procedures, 265
quartile: One of three
dividing points between
the four quarters of a
distribution, each
typically labeled
Q1, Q2, or Q3, 88 quota
system: A selection
procedure whereby a fi xed
number or percentage of
applicants with certain
characteristics or from
certain backgrounds are
selected regardless of other
factors such as documented
ability, 58–59
race norming: The
controversial practice of
norming on the basis of
race or ethnic
background, 111,
551, 555
racism, 294 range: A
descriptive statistic of
variability derived by
calculating the difference
between the highest and
lowest scores in a
distribution, 87
rank-difference correlation
coeffi cient.
See Spearman’s rho
rank-order correlation coeffi
cient. See
Spearman’s rho
ranking: The ordinal
ordering of persons, scores,
or variables into relative
positions or degrees of
value, 202 Raphael, Alan,
481 rapport: A working
relationship between
examiner and examinee in
testing or assessment, 24
Rasch, Georg, 160 RAT. See
Remote Associates Test
rating: A numerical or verbal
judgment that places a
person or attribute along a
continuum identifi ed by a
scale of numerical or word
descriptors called a rating
scale, 202
rating error: A judgment that
results from the
intentional or
unintentional misuse of a
rating scale; two types of
rating error are leniency
error (or generosity
error ) and severity
error, 202 – 203
rating scale: A system of
ordered numerical or
verbal descriptors on
which judgments about
the presence/absence or
magnitude of a particular
trait, attitude, emotion, or
other variable are
indicated by raters,
judges, examiners, or
(when the rating scale refl
ects self-report) the
assessee, 202, 239
in behavioral observation,
457–559 for preschool
assessment, 346–349
ratio IQ: An index of
intelligence derived from
the ratio of the testtaker’s
mental age (as calculated
from a test) divided by
his or her chronological
age and multiplied by 100
to eliminate decimals,
313
ratio scale: A system of
measurement in which all
things measured can be
rank-ordered, the rank
ordering does imply
something about exactly
how much greater one
ranking is than another,
equal intervals exist
between each number on
the scale, and all
mathematical operations
can be performed
meaningfully because a
true or absolute zero
point exists; few scales in
psychology or education
are ratio scales, 76–77
raw score: A straightforward,
unmodifi ed accounting
of performance, usually
numerical and typically
used for evaluation or
diagnosis, 78
RCRAS. See Rogers
Criminal
Responsibility
Assessment Scale
reacculturation, 490
reactivity: Changes in an
assessee’s behavior, thinking,
or performance that arise in
response to being observed,
assessed, or evaluated,
460, 467 readiness test:
A tool of assessment
designed to evaluate whether
an individual has the
requisites to begin a program
or perform a task; sometimes
synonymous with
aptitude test, 359
reading rate, 195
reading tests, 366–367,
368 Reading-Free
Vocational Interest
Inventory (R-FVII), 549
reasonable boundaries, 172
rectangular distribution, 82
Reeve, Bryce B., 160, 165–
166 reference volumes, 31,
33 refl ex: Involuntary motor
response to a
stimulus, 523
regression: The analysis of
relationships among
variables to understand
how one variable may
predict another, 133
correlation and, 133–
135 multiple, 135
regression coeffi cient: In the
formula Y a bX,
the letter a (symbolizing
 the ordinate intercept) is a
regression coeffi cient
and so is the letter b
(which is equal to the
slope of the line); in
practice, the actual values
of a and b are
determined by simple
algebraic calculation, 133
regression line: The result of
simple regression
analysis; the graphic “line
of best fi t” that comes
closest to the greatest
number of points on the
scatterplot of the two
variables,
133–134
Reik, Theodor, 467
Reitan, Ralph M., 538
Reitan-Indiana Aphasia
Screening Test
(AST), 534 relative cut
score: Also referred to as a
norm-referenced cut score, a
reference point in a
distribution of test scores
used to divide a set of data
into two classifi cations
based on norm-related
considerations rather than on
the relationship of test scores
to a criterion, 225–226
reliability: The extent to
which measurements are
consistent or repeatable;
also, the extent to which
measurements differ from
occasion to occasion as a
function of measurement
error, 107–108,
109–110, 331
alternate-forms, 144–
145, 153–154 in
classrooms, 239 error
and, 139–143, 152–153
estimates of, 143–151
generalizability theory
and, 157–158 internal
consistency estimate of,
145–150, 153, 256–257
inter-scorer, 150–151,
153, 156 IRT and, 158–
160 odd-even, 145, 147
parallel-forms, 144–145
split-half, 145–148, 154
standard error of the
difference and,
168–170 standard error
of measurement and,
160, 164, 166–168 and
test nature, 152–160 test-
retest, 143–144, 153–154,
431 utility infl uenced by,
209–210 Remote Associates
Test (RAT), 342 reliability
coeffi cient: General term for
an index of reliability or the
ratio of true score variance
on a test to the total variance,
139, 151–160
response style: A tendency
to respond to a test item
or interview question in
some characteristic
manner regardless of
content; for example, an
acquiescent response
style (a tendency to
agree) and a socially
desirable response style
(a tendency to present
oneself in a favorable or
socially desirable way),
390–391
restriction of range: Also
referred to as
restriction of variance,
a improvised or partially
phenomenon associated
with reliability estimates
wherein the variance of
either variable in a
correlational analysis is
restricted by the sampling
procedure used and so
the resulting correlation
coeffi cient tends to be
lower; contrast with infl
ation of range,
132 – 133 , 153–154,
183 restriction of variance.
See restriction
of range
résumé, 561 retirement, 559–
560 Retirement Satisfaction
Inventory, 560 return on
investment: A ratio of the
economic and/or
noneconomic benefi ts
derived from expenditures to
initiate or improve a
particular testing program,
training program, or
intervention as compared to
all of the costs of the
initiative or improvements,
223 Revised NEO
Personality Inventory
(NEO PI-R), 399, 403–
405
Revised Psychopathy
Checklist
(PCL-R), 497
R-FVII. See Reading-Free
Vocational Interest
Inventory Richardson, M.
W., 148 risk assessment,
of child abuse and neglect,
505
RNEE. See Entrance
Examination for Schools
of Nursing
Rogers, Carl, 395
Rogers Criminal
Responsibility
Assessment Scale
(RCRAS), 496 Rokeach
Value Survey, 75 role
play: Acting an
improvised part in a
simulated situation, 11,
462
role-play test: An assessment
tool wherein assessees are
instructed to act as if they
were placed in a
particular situation, 11–
12, 489
Rorschach, Hermann, 41,
427
Rorschach inkblots, 397
administration, scoring, and
interpretation of, 428–
430
 assumptions of,
450
development of,
427 inkblots in,
428–429 MMPI
v., 432 systems
of, 430 testing
the limits in, 429
value of, 481
Rosenzweig Picture-
Frustration Study,
438–440
Rotter Incomplete Sentences
Blank,
442–443 routing test:
A subtest used to direct
or route the testtaker to a
suitable level of items,
316
Rule 702, 60
Russell, J. T.,
185
s factor: In Spearman’s two-
factor theory of
intelligence, a specifi c
component of g, such as
a specifi c ability;
contrast with g factor
and group factors, 283 –
284
SADS. See Schedule for
Affective
Disorders and
Schizophrenia Salomone,
Kathleen, 513 sample: A
group of people presumed
to be representative of the
total population or universe
of people being studied or
tested, 112
sample approach, 453
sampling: A general
reference to the
process of developing a
sample, 112
item, 140 norms
developed from, 112–
118 SAT. See Scholastic
Aptitude Test
SATB. See Special Aptitude
Test Battery
SB5. See Stanford-Binet
Intelligence
Scale scale: (1) A system
of ordered numerical or
verbal descriptors, usually
occurring at fi xed intervals,
used as a reference standard
in measurement; (2) a set of
numbers or other symbols
whose properties model
empirical properties of the
objects or traits to which
numbers or other symbols are
assigned, 72, 241–242
absolute zero points
in, 75–77
continuous, 72–73
discrete, 72 interval,
75–76 Likert, 240–
241 nominal, 74, 76
ordinal, 74–76
I-23
scale: (continued) rating,
202, 239,
346–349, 457–
559 ratio, 76–77
summative, 240
scaling: (1) In test
construction, the process
of setting rules for
assigning numbers in
measurement; (2) the
process by which a
measuring device is
designed and calibrated
and the way numbers (or
other indices that are
scale values) are
assigned to different
amounts of the trait,
attribute, or
characteristic measured;
(3) assigning numbers in
accordance with
empirical
properties of objects or
traits, 237,
239–243 scalogram
analysis: an item-analysis
procedure and approach to
test development that
entails a graphic mapping
of a testtaker’s responses,
242
scatter diagram. See
bivariate
distribution
scattergram. See bivariate
distribution scatterplot: Also
referred to as a scatter
diagram, a graphic
description of correlation
achieved by graphing the
coordinate points for the two
variables, 129–133
Schedule for Affective
Disorders and
Schizophrenia (SADS),
474 schema: In Piagetian
theory, an action or mental
structure that, when applied
to the world, leads to
knowing or understanding,
281
schemata: The plural of
schema, as in “Infants are
born with several simple
schemata, including
sucking and grasping,”
281
Scholastic Aptitude Test
(SAT), 98, 122,
360–361
school ability tests, 20, 340–
341. See also
educational assessment;
preschool assessment
School and College Ability
Test, 567
SCID-D-R. See Structured
Clinical Interview for
Dissociative
Disorders-Revised
SCII. See Strong-Campbell
Interest
Inventory score: A code
or summary statement—
usually but not necessarily
numerical—that refl ects an
evaluation of the
performance on a test, task,
interview, or other sample of
behavior, 5–6. See also
standard score
generalizability of,
110 limitations of,
343 meaning
attached to, 30
scoring: The process of
assigning evaluative
codes or statements to
performance on tests,
tasks, interviews, or
other behavior samples,
6 particular trait or
anchor protocol for, 272–
273
I-24
class, 253 cumulative,
104 error variance from,
141–142 extended report
of, 13 fi xed reference
group, 121–122 inter-
scorer reliability and,
150–151 ipsative, 253–
254 of items, in test
development,
253–254 of personality
assessments, 397–398 of
Rorschach test, 428–430
simple report of, 13 of
Stanford-Binet
Intelligence Scale,
318–319 scoring drift:
A discrepancy between the
scoring in an anchor
protocol and the scoring of
another protocol, 273
scoring report: A formal or
offi cial computer-
generated account of test
performance, usually
represented numerically;
the two varieties are the
simple scoring report
(containing only a report
of the scores) and the
extended scoring report
(containing item
statistics); contrast with
interpretive report and
integrative report, 13
screening: A relatively
superfi cial process of
evaluation based on
certain minimal
standards, criteria, or
requirements; contrast
with selection, classifi
cation, and placement,
560 – 561
screening tool: (1) An
instrument or procedure
used to identify a
constellation of traits at a
gross or imprecise level,
as opposed to a test of
greater precision used for
more defi nitive diagnosis
or evaluation; (2) in
preschool assessment, an
instrument or procedure
used as a fi rst step in
identifying a child who is
“at risk” or not
functioning within
normal limits; (3) in
employment settings, an
instrument or procedure
used as a gross measure
to determine who meets
minimum requirements
set by the employer, 337
SD scales. See social
desirability scales
SDMT. See Stanford
Diagnostic Mathematics
Test
SDRT. See Stanford
Diagnostic Reading Test
SDS. See Self-Directed
Search
Seashore Bennett
Stenographic Profi ciency
Test, 564 Seashore Measures
of Musical Talent, 363
second-order factors, 333
secondary-school aptitude
tests, 360–362 Secret
Service, 493–494 selected-
response format: A form of
test item requiring testtakers
to select a response (e.g.,
true-false, multiple-choice,
and matching items) as
opposed to constructing
or creating one; contrast
with constructed-
response format, 245
selection: A process
whereby each person
evaluated for a position
is either accepted or
rejected; contrast with
screening, classifi
cation, and placement,
560 – 561
selection ratio: A numerical
value that
refl ects the relationship
between the number of
people to be hired and
the number of people
available to be hired,
185, 210,
221–222 self-concept:
One’s attitudes, beliefs,
opinions, and related
thoughts about oneself,
385–386
self-concept differentiation:
The degree to which an
individual has different
self-concepts in different
roles, 386
self-concept measure: An
instrument designed to
yield information about
how an individual sees
him- or herself with
regard to selected
psychological variables,
the data from which are
usually interpreted in the
context of how others
may see themselves on
the same or similar
variables, 385
Self-Directed Search (SDS),
382, 402,
548–549 self-effi cacy:
Confi dence in one’s own
ability to accomplish a task,
473
Self-Help Agency
Satisfaction Scale,
582 self-
monitoring: The act
of
systematically observing
and recording aspects of
one’s own behavior
and/or events related to
that behavior, 460
self-report: The process
wherein an assessee
supplies personal
information in forms
such as responding to
questions, keeping a
diary, or reporting on
selfmonitored thoughts
and/or behaviors, 41,
385
objectivity and, 425
problems with, 399,
425
semantic differential
technique: An item
format characterized by
bipolar adjectives
separated by a seven-
point rating scale on
which respondents select
one point
to indicate their response,
396,
585–586 semantic
memory: Memory for facts;
contrast with episodic
memory,
535 – 536
semi-interquartile range: A
measure of
variability equal to the
interquartile range
divided by 2, 88
semi-structured
techniques, 440 Sensation-
Seeking Scale (SSS), 103
sensitivity review: A study
of test items, usually
during test development,
in which items
are examined for
fairness to all
prospective testtakers
and for the presence of
offensive language,
stereotypes, or
situations, 267
sensory defi cits, 514–515,
518 sentence completion
stem: All the words that
make up the part of a
sentence completion item,
not including the blank
space to be completed by
the testtaker, 442 sentence
completion tests, 395, 397,
442–443, 502, 567
sequential learners, 370
sequential processing. See
successive
processing
7 Minute Screen, 522
Severe Impairment Battery
(SIB),
540–541 severity error:
Less than accurate rating or
error in evaluation due to the
rater’s tendency to be overly
critical; contrast with
generosity error, 202 , 387
shifting cultural lenses,
483, 486 Shoemaker,
Adam, 175 short form: An
abbreviated version of a
test that has typically been
reduced in number of
items from the original,
usually to reduce the time
needed for test
administration, scoring,
and/or interpretation, 330–
331
Short Portable Mental Status
Questionnaire, 521
short-answer, 247, 249
SIB. See Severe
Impairment Battery sign
approach, 453 simple
frequency distribution, 78
simple regression: The
analysis of the
relationship between one
independent variable and
one dependent variable,
133
simple scoring report: A type
of
scoring report that
provides only a listing of
scores, 13
simultaneous learners, 370
simultaneous processing:
Also called parallel
processing; based on Luria’s
writings, a type of
information processing
whereby information is
integrated and synthesized all
at once and as a whole;
contrast with successive
processing, 288
single photon emission
computed tomography.
See SPECT
SIRS. See Structured
Interview of Reported
Symptoms Situational
Competency Test, 489
situational performance
measure: A procedure that
typically involves the
performance of a task by the
assessee under actual or
simulated conditions while
allowing for observation and
evaluation by an assessor,
461–462
Sixteen Personality Factor
(16PF)
Questionnaire, 403
16PF Questionnaire. See
Sixteen
Personality Factor
Questionnaire skewness: An
indication of the nature and
extent to which symmetry is
absent in a distribution; a
distribution is said to be
skewed positively when
relatively few scores fall at
the positive end and skewed
negatively when relatively
few scores fall at the negative
end, 91–92 Skinner, B. F.,
443–444 slope bias: A
reference to the slope of a
regression line being
different between groups,
this term refers to a test or
measurement procedure
systematically yielding
different validity coeffi cients
for members of different
groups; contrast with
intercept bias, 200
social desirability (SD)
scales, 399 social facilitation:
The process by which the
presence of one or more
people can infl uence the
performance of other
persons; in the context of
psychological assessment, it
refers more specifi cally to
the infl uence of third parties
on the performance of the
assessee, 16 Social Situation
Picture Test, 432 social
support: Expressions of
understanding, acceptance,
empathy, love, advice,
guidance, care, concern, or
trust from friends, family,
community caregivers, or
others in one’s social
environment, 473
sociogram: A graphic
representation of peer
appraisal data or other
interpersonal information,
376
soft sign: In
neuropsychological
assessment, an
indication that
neurological defi cit may
be present; for example,
a signifi cant
discrepancy between
Verbal and Performance
subtests on a
Wechsler test, 517
sounds, as projective
stimuli, 443–444 source
traits, 403 Southern
California Sensory
Integration Tests, 540
Spearman, Charles, 128–129,
283–284, 297
Spearman-Brown formula:
An
equation used to
estimate internal
consistency reliability
from a correlation of
two halves of a test that
has been lengthened or
shortened; inappropriate
for use with
heterogeneous tests or
speed tests, 146–148
Spearman’s rho: Also
referred to as the rank-
order correlation coeffi
cient and the
rank-difference
correlation coeffi cient,
this index of correlation
may be the statistic of
choice when the sample
size is small and both sets
of measurements are
ordinal, 128–129 Special
Aptitude Test Battery
(SATB),
550 specifi c learning
disability (SLD): A
disorder in one or more of
the basic psychological
processes involved in
understanding or using
language, spoken or
written, that may manifest
itself in the imperfect
ability to listen, think,
speak, read, write, spell, or
perform mathematical
calculations, 351
SPECT (single photon
emission computed
tomography): A
technology that records
the course of a
radioactive tracer fl uid
(iodine) and produces
exceptionally clear
photographs of organs
and tissues, 542
speed test: A test, usually of
achievement or ability,
with a time limit; speed
tests usually contain
items of uniform diffi
culty level,
154–155, 264–265
Spielberger, Charles D., 383
split-half reliability: An
estimate of the internal
consistency of a test obtained
by correlating two pairs of
scores obtained from
equivalent halves of a single
test administered once, 145
Spearman-Brown formula
for,
146–148
of speed
tests, 154
Sputnik, 55
SSHA. See Survey of Study
Habits and Attitudes
SSS. See Sensation-Seeking
Scale STAI. See State-Trait
Anxiety Inventory standard
battery: The administration
of a group of at least three
different types of tests for the
purpose of evaluating
different spheres of
functioning: usually an
intelligence test, a
personality test, and a
neuropsychological test,
481–482 standard
deviation: A measure of
variability equal to the square
root of the averaged squared
deviations about the mean; a
measure of variability equal
to the square root of the
variance, 89–91
standard error of the
difference: A statistic
designed to aid in
determining how large
a difference between
two scores should be
before it is considered
statistically signifi cant,
168–170
standard error of the
estimate: In regression,
an estimate of the
magnitude of error; the
lower the degree of
correlation, the higher the
standard error of the
estimate,
115, 135 standard error
of measurement: In true
score theory, a statistic
designed to estimate the
extent to
I-25
standard error of
measurement: (continued)
which an observed score
deviates from a true
score; also called the
standard error of a score,
164
reliability and, 160, 164,
166–168
Stanford-Binet Intelligence
Scale and, 168
standard score: A raw score
that has been converted
from one scale into
another, where the latter
scale (1) has some
arbitrarily set mean and
standard deviation and (2)
is more widely used and
readily interpretable;
examples of standard
scores are z scores and T
scores, 96
normalized, 99–
100 stanine, 98–
99 T scores, 97 z
scores, 96–97,
100, 115
standardization. See test
standardization
standardize: The verb “to
standardize” refers to
making or transforming
something into something
that can serve as a basis
of comparison or
judgment, 114
standardized test: A test or
measure that has
undergone standardization,
114, 117–118 Standards
for Educational and
Psychological Testing, 16,
54, 69,
113, 123n6
Stanford Achievement Test
series, 267
Stanford Diagnostic
Mathematics Test
(SDMT), 368
Stanford Diagnostic Reading
Test (SDRT), 368
Stanford-Binet Intelligence
Scale administration of,
316–318 categories of, 319
CHC model and, 311, 314–
315 cultural considerations,
43, 69 development of,
311–314 features of, 312–
313 fi fth edition, 314–319
limitations of, 312–313
psychometric soundness of,
315–316 scoring and
interpretation of,
318–319 short form of,
330 standard errors of
measurement of,
168
standardization of,
314–315
Wechsler intelligence tests
v., 315 ,
327–328 stanine: A
standard score derived
from a scale with a mean
of 5 and a standard
deviation of
approximately 2, 98–99,
237
state: (1) As in personality
state, the transitory
exhibition of a trait,
indicative of a relatively
temporary predisposition
to behave in a particular
way (contrast with trait
); (2) in psychoanalytic
theory, an inferred
I-26
psychodynamic
disposition designed to
convey the dynamic
quality of id, ego, and
superego in perpetual
confl ict, 102, 382–383
state anxiety, 383 State-
Trait Anxiety Inventory
(STAI),
383 static
characteristic: A trait, state,
or ability presumed to be
relatively unchanging over
time; contrast with
dynamic characteristic, 153
statistics
consumers and,
73 data
described in, 77–
92
fi t, 335
frequency distributions in,
78–80, 82–83 general
principles of, 484 importance
of, 71 kurtosis in, 92
measurement scales in, 72–
77 measures of central
tendency in, 80–87 measures
of variability in, 87–91
normal curve in, 80, 82, 93–
96 skewness in, 91–92
standard scores in, 96–100,
115 Sternberg, Robert, 289,
308 stratifi ed sampling: The
process of developing a
sample based on specifi c
subgroups of a population,
112 stratifi ed-random
sampling: The process of
developing a sample based
on specifi c subgroups of a
population in which every
member has the same chance
of being included in the
sample, 112 Strauss, Alfred,
515 streetwiseness, 301, 307
stress interview: An
interview purposely designed
to pressure or stress the
interviewee in order to gauge
reaction to that stress, 474
Stresseraser, 27
Strong, Edward K., Jr., 546
Strong Interest Inventory,
546–548
Strong Vocational Interest
Blank
(SVIB), 269, 546
Strong-Campbell Interest
Inventory
(SCII), 546
Structured Clinical Interview
for
Dissociative Disorders-
Revised
(SCID-D-R), 474
structured interview:
Questions posed from a
guide with little if any
leeway to deviate from the
guide, 393
Structured Interview of
Reported Symptoms
(SIRS), 474
Study Attitudes and Methods
Survey,
377, 582 study habits,
assessment of, 376–377
Study Habits Checklist,
376 subgroup norms:
Norms for any
defi ned group within a
larger group, 121
substance abuse,
clinical/counseling
assessment for, 488–490
successive processing: Also
referred to as sequential
processing; based on
Luria’s writings, a type of
information processing
whereby information is
processed in a sequential,
bit-by-bit fashion and
arranged and rearranged
until it is logical; contrast
with simultaneous
processing, 288
summative scale: An index
derived from the
summing of selected
scores on a test or subtest,
240
supplemental subtest: Also
referred to as an optional
subtest, one of a test’s
subtests that may be used
either for purposes of
providing additional
information or in place of
a core subtest if, for any
reason, the use of a score
on a core subtest would
be questionable; contrast
with core subtest, 322
surface traits, 403 survey: In
consumer psychology, a fi
xed list of questions
administered to a selected
sample of persons, typically
to learn about consumers’
attitudes, beliefs, opinions,
and/or behavior regarding
targeted products, services,
or advertising,
584–586
Survey of Study Habits and
Attitudes (SSHA), 377
SVIB. See Strong
Vocational Interest
Blank syndrome: A
set of co-occurring
emotional and behavioral
problems, 346
T score: Named for
Thorndike, a standard
score calculated using a
scale with a mean set at
50 and a standard
deviation set at 10; used
by developers of the
MMPI, 97
tactile memory tests, 537
tail: The area on the
normal curve between 2
and 3 standard deviations
above the mean, and the
area on the normal curve
between –2 and –3
standard deviations below
the mean; a normal curve
has two tails, 93
Tarasoff v. Regents of the
University of California,
68 – 69 , 491
TAT. See Thematic
Apperception Test
tautophone, 443 Taylor, H.
C., 185
Taylor-Russell tables:
Statistical tables once
extensively used to
provide test users with an
estimate of the extent to
which inclusion of a
particular test in the
selection system would
improve selection
decisions, 185, 187–188,
224
teaching item: A test item
designed to illustrate
the task required and
assure the examiner
that the examinee
understands what is
required for success on
the task, 316
team, 573 Technical
Recommendations
for
Achievement Tests
(NEA), 62
Technical Recommendations
for
Psychological Tests and
Diagnostic
Tests (APA), 61
telephone surveys, 585
teleprocessing: Computerized
scoring, interpretation, or
other conversion of raw test
data sent over telephone lines
by modem from a test site to
a central location for
computer processing;
contrast with central
processing and local
processing, 13
temperament: With reference test blueprint: A detailed 147 , 153 test
to personality plan of the content, homogeneity: The extent to
assessments of infants, organization, and which individual test items
the distinguishing manner quantity of the items measure a single construct;
of the child’s observable that a test will contain, contrast with test
actions and reactions, 176–177 heterogeneity, 147 , 153,
300–301 test composite: A test score 194–195
tender years doctrine, 498, or index test manual: An archival
500 Terman, Lewis M., 294, derived from the document in any media
296–297, 297n2, combination and/or (booklet, book, electronic
311, 313 terminal values: mathematical form, etc.) devoted to a
Guiding principles and a transformation of one or detailed description of a
mode of behavior that are an more test scores, 314 test and usually available
endpoint objective; for test developers, 15– from the test’s publisher,
example, “a comfortable life” 16, 100 of that ideally provides all
and “an exciting life”; intelligence tests, of the key information
contrast with instrumental 310 prospective test users
values, 419 standardization by, need to know in order to
”termites”: Humorous 114 strengths and make an informed
reference to gifted weaknesses decision about whether
children who participated balanced the test is appropriate for
in Lewis M. Terman’s by, 268 use with a particular
study of intelligence validity and, 184 of testtaker for a particular
initiated in 1916, 297n2 Wechsler intelligence purpose, 31, 33
terrorism, 391–392 test: A tests, 331 test revision, 267–275 test
measuring device or test development standardization: A process of
procedure, from blueprint, 176– test development wherein the
5–7. See also specifi 177 conceptualization test is administered to a
c tests catalogs, 30–31, in, 233–237 control representative sample of
33 environment of, 24, group in, 407 with testtakers under clearly
28, 29–30 ”good,” 107– empirical criterion specifi ed conditions and the
110 manuals, 31, 33 keying, data are scored and
strengths and 404–406 error and, 140 interpreted; the results
weaknesses of, 105 IRT in, 260, 273–275 item establish a context for future
test battery: A selection of analysis in, 233, 255–267 test administrations with
tests and assessment item development issues in, other testtakers, 3 7–38, 112,
procedures typically 235–236 items scored in, 113–115,
composed of tests 253–254 items written in, 117–118, 314–315, 324,
designed to measure 244–253 of personality tests, 330, 407 test user, 16–17,
different variables but 398–400 preliminary 24–25, 71. See also
having a common questions in, 234–235 inter-scorer reliability
objective; for example, an process of, 233–234 revision qualifi cations of, 62–
intelligence test, a in, 267–275 scaling in, 237, 63 validity and, 184
personality test, and a 239–243 tryout in, 254–255 test utility. See utility
neuropsychological test Test of Grocery Shopping testing enterprise: A general
might be used to obtain a Skills, 11–12 test reference to the engagement
general psychological heterogeneity: The extent to of individuals,
profi le of an individual, which individual test items organizations, and
148n5, 286–287, 343, do not measure a single businesses in aspects of
368–373, 481–482, 538– construct but instead measure psychological measurement
539, 550. See also specifi different factors; contrast ranging from
c test batteries with test homogeneity,
 instrument development interpretation of, 435 IRT 297 three-stratum theory of
through instrument and, 468 liberties taken cognitive abilities: John B.
administration and with, 433–434 in MPS, 567 Carroll’s conception of
interpretation, 2 origin of, 433 pros and mental abilities and
testing the limits: (1) In cons of, 448–449 processing classifi ed by
ability testing, the psychometric soundness of, three levels or strata, with g
continued administration 435–437 rationale of, 438 at the broadest level followed
of test items beyond the raw material of, 434–435 by eight abilities or processes
level at which the test sample picture from, 435– at the second level and a
manual dictates 437 value of, 437–438 number of more narrowly
discontinuance, usually Theories of Personality (Hall defi ned abilities and
conducted only when the and processes at the third level,
examiner has reason to Lindzey), 378–379 285, 287 Thurstone, Louis
believe an examinee can therapeutic contract: An L., 237, 240, 310, 583 timed
“pass” the higher-level agreement made between a tests, 49 timeline followback
items; (2) in the therapist and a client (TLFB) methodology: A
administration of the regarding various aspects of technique of behavioral
Rorschach test, an the therapeutic process, 474 observation that involves the
optional interview (after therapeutic psychological recording of the frequency
the initial inquiry) in assessment: A and the intensity of a targeted
which the examiner asks collaborative approach behavior over time, 455
questions designed to wherein discovery of TLFB methodology. See
yield additional insights therapeutic insights about timeline followback
into the assessee’s oneself are encouraged methodology
thought processes and and actively promoted by top-down selection: A
personality, 317n3, 429 the assessor throughout process of awarding
test-related behavior, 104– the assessment process, 4 available positions to
105 test-retest reliability: “think aloud” test applicants whereby the
An estimate of reliability administration: A highest scorer is awarded
obtained by correlating method of qualitative the fi rst position, the
pairs of scores from the item analysis requiring next highest scorer the
same people on two examinees to verbalize next position, and so forth
different administrations of their thoughts until all of the positions
the same test, are fi lled, 217
143–144, 153–154, Torrance Tests of Creative
431 testtaker, 17–19, 29– Thinking,
30 I-27 342
error variance and, 141 “think aloud” test Tower of Hanoi, 526–527
measurement equivalence administration: trail-making item: An item
across populations of, 273– (continued) as they take that taps visual-conceptual,
274 a test; useful in visual-motor, planning, and
of personality tests, understanding how other cognitive abilities by
385–391 response individual items function means of a task in which the
styles of, 390–391 in a test and how testtaker must connect the
rights of, 66–70 testtakers interpret or circles in a logical fashion;
thema: In the personality misinterpret the meaning the component of the
theory of Henry of individual items, 265– Halstead-Reitan
Murray, a unit of 266 Neuropsychological Battery
interaction between third moments of called the Trail Making Test
need and press, 435 distribution, 128 third-order is one of the most widely
Thematic Apperception Test factors, 333 Thorndike, used instruments for the
(TAT) APT and, 439 Edward L., 2 31, 232, 292, assessment of brain damage,
 528–529 trait: Any
distinguishable, relatively
enduring way in which one
individual varies from
another; contrast with
state, 101 , 379–381,
403, 556–567 existence
of, 101–103 quantifi ed
and measured, 103–104
trait anxiety, 383 transient
error: A source of error
attributable to variations
in the testtaker’s feelings,
moods, or mental state
over time, 152
translators, 48, 483
TRIN scale. See True
Response
Inconsistency scale
I-28
True Response Inconsistency
(TRIN) scale, 411, 417
true score theory: Also
referred to as the true
score model or classical
test theory, a system of
assumptions about
measurement that
includes the notion that a
test score (and even a
response to an individual
item) is composed of a
relatively stable
component that actually
is what the test or
individual item is
designed to measure as
well as a random
component that is error,
106, 157 true variance:
In the true score model, the
component of variance
attributable to true
differences in the ability or
trait being measured that are
inherent in an observed score
or distribution of scores, 140
true-false item, 247 truth-in-
testing legislation, 57
tryout, in test development,
254–255 two-factor theory
of intelligence: Spearman’s
theory of general
intelligence, which
postulates the existence of a
general intellectual ability
factor (g) that is partially
tapped by all other mental
abilities, 283–284, 286–288,
301
Tyler Vocational Classifi
cation System,
395 type: As in
personality type, a
constellation of traits and
states similar in pattern to
one identifi ed category
of personality within a
taxonomy of
personalities, 382
type A personality: In
Friedman and
Rosenman’s typology, a
personality characterized
by competitiveness,
haste, restlessness,
impatience, feelings of
being time-pressured,
and strong needs for
achievement and
dominance, 382
type B personality: In
Friedman and
Rosenman’s typology, a
personality characterized
by traits (e.g., “mellow”
and “laid-back”) that are
opposite the Type A
personality, 382
unidimensional scale, 237,
241 Uniform Guidelines on
Employee Selection
Procedures, 57 – 58
uniform T score:
Abbreviated UT,
a variety of T score used
in the
MMPI-2, 412 units of
measure, 1 universe: In
generalizability theory, the
total context of a particular
test situation, including all
the factors that lead to an
individual testtaker’s score,
157
universe score: In
generalizability theory, a
test score corresponding
to the particular universe
being assessed or
evaluated, 157
University of Pennsylvania
Smell
Identifi cation Test
(UPSIT), 518 unobtrusive
measure: A type of measure
that does not necessarily
require the presence or
cooperation of respondents,
often a telling physical trace
or record,
464 unrestricted ranges,
132–133 UPSIT. See
University of Pennsylvania
Smell Identifi cation Test
user norms: Also referred to
as program norms,
descriptive statistics based on
a group of testtakers in a
given period of time rather
than on norms obtained by
formal sampling methods,
111 UT score. See uniform T
score utility ( also test
utility): In the context of
psychological testing and
assessment, a reference to
how useful a test or
assessment technique is for a
particular purpose, 6, 189–
190, 192–193, 209
benefi ts infl
uencing, 212–215
clinical, 208
comparative, 208
costs infl uencing,
210–212 decision
theory and, 189–190,
192–193 diagnostic,
208 questions related to,
208–209 reliability and
validity infl uencing,
 209–210
theory, 189
utility analysis: A family of
techniques designed to
evaluate the costs and
benefi ts of testing and not
testing in terms of likely
outcomes, 215 BCG
formula in, 216, 223–224
cut score in, 220–223, 225–
232 expectancy data in,
216, 224 illustration of,
217–223 practical
considerations, 224–227
productivity gain and, 223–
224 purpose of, 215–216
utility gain: An estimate of
the benefi t, monetary or
otherwise, of using a
particular test or selection
method, 216
validation: The process of
gathering
and evaluating validity
evidence, 173
validation study: Research
that entails gathering
evidence relevant to how
well a test measures what
it purports to measure for
the purpose of evaluating
the validity of a test or
other measurement tool,
173
validity: A general term
referring to a judgment
regarding how well a
test or other
measurement tool
measures what it
purports to measure; this
judgment has important
implications regarding
the appropriateness of
inferences made and
actions taken on the
basis of measurements,
108, 110, 170, 172. See
also criterion-related
validity
bias and, 199–203 coeffi
cient, 183–184 concept
of, 172–174 construct,
173, 193–199, 238, 297
content, 173, 176–180,
238 convergent, 197n3
face, 174–176 fairness
and, 199, 203–207
generalization, GATB
and, 552–554
incremental, 184–185
scales, 390–391, 399–
400, 408, 417 of short
forms, 330–331
shrinkage, 270 test
developers, users and,
184 utility infl uenced by,
209–210
validity coeffi cient: A
correlation coeffi cient
that provides a measure
of the relationship
between test scores and
scores on a criterion
measure, 183–184
validity scale: A subscale of
a test designed to assist
in judgments regarding
how honestly the
testtaker responded and
whether or not observed
responses were products
of response style,
carelessness, deliberate
efforts to deceive, or
unintentional
misunderstanding, 390–
391, 399–
400, 408, 417 validity
shrinkage: The decrease in
item validities that
inevitably occurs after
cross-validation, 270
values: That which an
individual prizes; ideals
believed in, 419 variability:
An indication of how scores
in a distribution are scattered
or dispersed, 87. See also
measure of variability
Variable Response
Inconsistency
(VRIN) scale, 411, 417
variance: A measure of
variability equal to the
arithmetic mean of the
squares of the differences
between the scores in a
distribution and their mean,
89–90, 140. See also bias;
error variance
VCAT. See Veterinary
College
Admission Test verbal
communication, 47–48
verbal functioning tests, 533–
534 verbal, perceptual, and
image rotation (VPR) model:
A hierarchical model of the
structure of mental abilities,
with a g factor that
contributes to verbal,
perceptual, and image
rotation abilities in addition
to eight more specialized
abilities, 295
verbal summator, 443 verbal-
performance dichotomy,
280– 281, 291, 319
Veterinary College
Admission Test
(VCAT), 364
Viirre, Erik, 212, 213, 512
vocational assessment,
51–52 VRIN scale. See
Variable Response
Inconsistency scale
vulnerable abilities: In the
CattellHorn model of
intelligence, cognitive
abilities that decline with age
and that do not return to
preinjury levels after brain
damage; contrast with
maintained abilities, 285
Vygotsky, Lev
Semyonovitch, 364–365
WAIS. See Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale
Washington University
Sentence Completion
Test, 442
WASI. See Wechsler
Abbreviated Scale of
Intelligence
WCST-64. See Wisconsin
Card Sorting Test-64
Card Version
Wechsler Abbreviated Scale
of Intelligence (WASI),
331
Wechsler Adult Intelligence
Scale
(WAIS), 40, 271, 281,
305–306 current version of,
322–324 fourth edition of,
321–325 heritage of, 321–
322 psychometric
soundness of, 324–325
standardization and norms
of, 324 subtests of, 322–
324, 329
Wechsler-Bellevue
Intelligence Scale,
43–44, 291
Wechsler, David
deterioration quotient of,
525 on intelligence, 40,
280–281, 286, 290,
291, 300, 319,
322, 324 on short
forms, 330
Wechsler Individual
Achievement
Test-Second Edition (WIAT-
II), 352
Wechsler Intelligence Scale
for
Children (WISC), 47,
272 background of, 325
changes to, 325–326 CHC
model and, 325–326
fourth edition of, 325–327
Stanford-Binet
Intelligence Scale v.,
327 – 328
subtests of,
329
Wechsler intelligence tests.
See also specifi c tests
changes in, 319
commonalities among,
321 developers of, 331
items used in, 320–321
short forms of, 330–331 Woodcock Reading Mastery
Stanford-Binet TestsRevised (WRMT-
Intelligence Scale v., R), 366–367
315 , 327–328 subtests Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-
of, 329 verbal- III), 286,
performance dichotomy 371–373
in, Woodworth Psychoneurotic
280–281, 291, 319 Inventory,
Wechsler Memory Scale 41, 401
(WMS-IV), Woodworth, Robert S., 40–
271, 536–537 41 word association: A type
Wechsler Preschool and of task that may be used in
Primary Scale of personality assessment in
Intelligence (WPPSI) which an assessee verbalizes
changes in, 328–329 the fi rst word that comes to
interest in, 327–328 mind in response to a
standardization stimulus word, 4 40–442,
edition of, 330 441n5, 533 Word
structure of, 329–330 Association Test, 441 words,
subtests of, 328–329 as projective stimuli sentence
Weigl’s Test. See Color- completion tests, 442–443
Form Sorting Test word-association tests, 440–
Welsh code: A shorthand 442
summary of a testtaker’s Work Preference Inventory
scores on the MMPI (WPI), 576
clinical and validity World War I, 1, 40, 54, 178–
scales, 410, 412 180, 336,
Wepman Auditory 401 World War II, 1–2,
Discrimination Test, 530 394 worldview: The unique
Werner, Heinz, 515 way people interpret and
Wertheimer, Max, 530 make sense of their
What I Like to Do Interest perceptions in light of their
Inventory, learning experiences, cultural
376 background, and related
WIAT-II. See Wechsler variables, 422
Individual WPI. See Work Preference
Achievement Test- Inventory
Second Edition Wide Range WPPSI. See Wechsler
Achievement Test-4, 352 Preschool and Primary
WISC. See Wechsler Scale of Intelligence
Intelligence Scale for WRMT-R. See Woodcock
Children Reading Mastery Tests-
Wisconsin Card Sorting Revised
Test-64 Card Version Wundt, Wilhelm Max, 37
(WCST-64), 526 Witmer, WWI. See World
Lightner, 38 War I WWII. See
WJ-III. See Woodcock- World War II
Johnson III WMS-IV. See
z score: A standard score
Wechsler Memory Scale
derived by calculating the
Wonderlic Personnel Test,
difference between a
548 particular raw score and
 the mean and then
dividing by the standard
deviation; a z score
expresses a score in terms
of the number of standard
deviation units that the
raw score is below or
above the mean of the
distribution,
96–97, 100, 115
Zillmer, Eric A., 392