Bai Syrah Laila Yazen Sangid March 15, 2019

MS Psych Ma. Isabel S. Lemen, MBA, MS Psych, RPsy

1. What are the similarities between assessment in the industrial, clinical, and educational
settings? What are their differences?
Psychological assessment across different settings all utilise not only one, but a series of
approaches in order to generate a comprehensive and credible psychological report. Assessing
observations, projective techniques, case studies, and other specialised measurement
procedures. Generally, an assessment begins with a referral for assessment from another party
such as a counselor, a human resources officer, a teacher, or even authorities like a judge (Cohen-
Swerdlik, 2009). Even though the results gathered may differ in purposes, the primary reason for
administering certain psychological tests is to evaluate individual differences in various contexts
(Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009). Having that said, the industrial, educational, clinical, and even
research/experimental uses of assessment must follow the same basic principles in reliability,
validity, utility, as well as scoring. Moreover, the tests used across settings usually tap the
cognitive, behavioural, and emotional aspects of a person because those are the major domains.
Strict implementations of professionalism and ethics in assessment are also observed regardless
of which setting it is serving for. The matters of who has access to the related tools, who is trained
to administer, and who is qualified to write a report are of great importance and should be
standardised (Cohen-Swerdlik, 2009). Additionally, for some circumstances, assessments can be
done both individually and as a group. Above all, assessment is not intended to label someone
for his or her deficiencies, but rather to assist him or her in maximising his or her strengths. A
useful assessment should be able to provide detailed information on an individual’s practical
skills and limitations (NADA, 2013), which are all applicable within the three settings mentioned.

On the other hand, conducting an assessment in these three different settings

significantly vary in their objectives, theoretical grounds, manners of administration, and mostly
the tests used. While clinical assessment focuses on personality functioning, psychopathological
symptoms, neuropsychological processes, and interpersonal behaviour in order to come up with
an intervention, assessment in the industrial world is mainly concerned about how a person will
perform in an organisation. Moreover, industrial assessment, more often than not, uses tests
that are predictive in nature. Whereas the educational application of assessment is mainly
designed to evaluate the abilities of a student and predict how well he or she will do at school
(Cohen-Swerdlik, 2009). Moreover, tests for ability and aptitude are incorporated to a more
futuristic, career-oriented assumptions.
To help clarify the referral question as well as develop a relevant psychological evaluation,
clinicians should become familiar with the types of environments in which they will be working.
The most frequent environments are the psychiatric setting, the general medical setting, the legal
context, the educational context, and the psychological clinic.
2. What is the standard battery of tests you would give in order to prepare a comprehensive
psychological report for the following populations? What steps do you need to take for each
population? Rationalize your choice of tests.
a. Children from 1-5
Cohen-Swerdlik (2009) cited two rating scales – the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist
and the Connors Rating Scales-Revised; two psychological tests – the Wechsler Preschool and
Primary Scale of Intelligence-III and the Stanford Binet-5; as well as other instruments such as
drawing techniques, measure temperament, language skills, the family environment in general,
and specific aspects of parenting and caregiving. Those cited tests are essential in profiling a child.
Checklists are known to be the most commonly used for assessing children as they are
economical, easy to administer, yet still able to cover a wide array of information. The CBCL
particularly has 8 scales that evaluates emotional and behavioural problems at a young age.
Meanwhile, tests that measure intelligence might also be needed, especially in cases where a
child’s intellectual ability appears to call for more attention. Personally, on top of the checklists
and tests, I would likely ask a child client to engage in more friendly procedures such as drawing
techniques and role-plays. However, it is a crucial point that these clients are still under the
custody of their parents or caregivers, therefore, conducting an assessment, which also involves
interviewing, observation, and role-plays is done rigorously.

b. Adolescents
Since it is important to cover the 3 major domains, it is imperative to give a battery of
tests that involve intelligence, emotions, and personality. For intelligence test, Raven’s Standard
Progressive Matrices is preferably used as it measures nonverbal intelligence which is designed
to be free from cultural bias. In addition to further evaluate the cognitive functioning of an
adolescent, Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test–II is also usually part of the battery. As for the
assessment of emotions, scales such Emotional Profile Index and DASS-21 are helpful in getting
a glimpse of reported emotional disturbances of the client. To evaluate the aspect of personality,
MBTI tops the lists as it gives an overview of the individual’s traits, preference, and approach to
life in general. BPI and MMPI-2 may also be used if there is suspected or evident pathological
concerns. Projective techniques, like the Rorschach Inkblots and Thematic Apperception Test suit
best to those who appear to be defensive during the sessions.

c. Young adults
Almost similar with the batteries for adolescents, except the Ravens’ Advanced
Progressive Matrices should be administered in lieu of SPM.
d. Older adults (85 and older)
Considering their age, it is not advisable to give tests that are lengthy despite the
information they could yield (e.g. Stanford Binet, WAIS, BPI, etc.). Although, Groth-Marnat (2003)
mentioned that BNI Screen for Higher Cerebral Functions is a screening tool to detect whether a
patient is still capable of taking other neuropsychological tests, there is no guarantee an aged
client can perform well, especially in written tests. In cases of possible dementia, it is advised to
use the batteries like CERAD Battery or the Dementia Assessment Battery. I believe methods
aside from as are more appropriate for this population.

3. How would you explain reliability, validity, and utility to a layperson? Why are these
important in assessment?
I would explain it in a way I actually had a grasp on it since then. Reliability refers to how
consistent a test is in terms of the items included in it. Are the items related to one another? Are
they relevant to the purpose of the test in the first place? Having a reliable scale means its
components are intact and are measuring the same thing (Howitt & Cramer, 2011). The concept
of validity, on the hand, is almost similar to reliability, but on a bigger and more outward sense.
Does the test question what is supposed to be answered? Is it in line with the context (particularly
the population) it states to support? A valid scale should be characterised by being reasonable
and acceptable (Cohen-Swerdlik, 2009). The essence of utility can be simplified as “is the test
useful?”
These three aspects are crucially important to any test ever created. Test
conceptualisation, construction, pilot-testing, item analysis, and revisions all revolve around
answering the concerns of reliability, validity, and utility. Before (or even after) a test gets
published, critiques focus on these three issues of psychometric soundness. These three
characteristics of an assessment would determine the integrity and credibility of a psychological
report derived from it.

4. What are the dimensions of neuropsychological functioning? Name at least 4, what happens
when an individual experiences damage in the brain, and describe tests one might use to assess
the 4 dimensions mentioned earlier. Rationalize the use of the tests.
Neuropsychological functioning includes domains of Speech and language, Attention,
Memory, Motor, Visuoconstructive abilities, Emotions, and Executive Functioning. Damage in
certain regions of the brain may result to impairments of the following domains. For example, a
person with affected visuoconstructive abilities is likely to fail in recognising objects, lose the
sense of direction and distance, misidentify colours, and inability to make sense of visual
structures. One test that has been basically widely used assess this domain is the Bender-Gestalt,
as it was developed to measure visual maturity and other visual-motor integration. Figure
drawing tests are also used here (Groth-Marnat, 2003).
Another instance of brain damage effects is the disturbance in attention. This particular
mental activity is sensitive to the effects of CNS complications. From a bottom-up perspective,
attention (along with perception) plays the frontline role among the other cognitive process.
When this area is suffering, it affects a person’s ability in filtering, selecting, shifting, and focusing
on information or any stimuli around. Disturbance in attention is very evident in the way an
individual will be behaving. Tasks that measure simple reaction time are the type of assessment
mainly used for this domain. The Trail Making Test focuses on the speed of visual search and
visuospatial sequencing, while it also detects the early stages of dementia as well as track the
progressive decline in abilities during the course of dementia. In some sections of the WAIS,
specifically Digit Span, Arithmetic, Digit Symbol-Coding, Symbol Search, Letter-Number
Sequencing, are also utilised to measure attentional abilities (Groth-Marnat, 2003).
Impairment in memory will manifest in the person’s retention of information,
forgetfulness, distractibility, generalised or specific deficit, and stability or fluctuation (Walsh,
1994, as cited in Groth-Marnat, 2003). The test batteries commonly used for memory are
Wechsler Memory Scale-III; Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test; Memory Assessment Scales;
Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning; and Denman Neuropsychology Memory Scale.
Additionally, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test is a good measure for short-term memory as
it proceeds with tasks that involve auditory-verbal memory, rate of learning, learning strategies,
and retroactive and proactive interference.
Lastly, verbal or speech impairment is apparent in the manner of how a person
communicates. Difficulties in this areas may be characterised by one or more of the following:
Poor articulation, loss of verbal fluency, Word-finding difficulty, poor repetition of words or
sentences, loss of grammar and syntax, paraphasia, poor auditory comprehension, reading
difficulties, and impaired writing. Tests that measure vocabulary, information, comprehension,
similarities, and even arithmetic are to be administered for such case. A widely known test for
verbal ability is the Controlled Oral Word Association test, wherein the client says as many words
as possible beginning with a certain letter and within a certain time limit (Groth-Marnat, 2003).

5. How does the measurement of personality differ through the life span? Does it differ through
the life span?
Personality, as defined by many authors, is pattern of relatively permanent traits and
unique characteristics that describe the consistency and individuality to a person’s behaviour.
The key words there are “relatively permanent” and “unique”. These traits and characteristics
may change over the time, but, ironically, a person remains almost the same. That is what makes
personality a “pattern”. Hence, measuring personality throughout a lifetime may produce
varying, but not significant or drastic results. However, if we would compare a young age bracket
with the older age bracket, there could possibly be extremities in the descriptions due to the
huge gap and life events that take place in a person’s life. As ethics dictate too, any psychological
test results are only valid up to 6 months. Beyond that timeframe, a person is subjected to retake
the tests (if needed) to gather information that maintains reliability and validity, as well as the
credibility of the clinician. Also, measuring personality could only be different –greatly different
– if pathological traits and impairment in the personality functioning come into play. Then that
would no longer be a mere measurement of personality, but rather already an assessment of
possible personality disorder.
Reference:
Cohen-Swerdlik. (2009). Psychological Testing and Assessment: AnIntroduction to Tests and
Measurement (7th ed.). USA: McGraw-Hill Primis.
Cramer, D., & Howitt, D. (2009). Introduction to Statistics in Psychology (5th ed.). Essex, England:
Pearson.

Groth-Marnat, G. (2003). Handbook of Psychological Assessment (4th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Kaplan, R.M. & Saccuzzo, D.P. (2009). Psychological Testing: Principles, Applications, and Issues
(7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
NADA Network of Alcohol and Drug Agencies. (2013, August 01). About Us. Retrieved from
https://www.complexneedscapable.org.au/about.html