Week 1:

INTRODUCTION TO
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING AND
MEASUREMENT

PENGENALAN KEPADA
UJIAN DAN PENGUKURAN
PSIKOLOGI

Prof Vincent Pang 1

Prof Vincent Pang 2
IMPORTANCE OF TESTS
(Spiller, 2007)
 to make different types of important
decisions
◦ – What grade to assign a student
◦ – Whether to hire a job candidate
◦ – What merit increase an employee will
receive
◦ – What coaching advice to offer a business
leader
◦ Individual or Institutional Decisions
◦ Comparative or Absolute Decisions

Prof Vincent Pang 3

 Individual decisions - decisions made by the
person who takes the test
◦ Whether to drop a course?
◦ Which college to apply for?
◦ What to major in?
◦ What career to pursue?
 Institutional Decisions - decisions made by those
other than the test taker
◦ Whether to admit you?
◦ Whether you will receive a scholarship?
◦ Whether you will be hired?
◦ What treatment plan to use?

Prof Vincent Pang 4

 Institutional Decisions - Made using a
Comparative method or Absolute
method
◦ – Comparative - comparing tests scores to
see who has the best score
◦ – Absolute - seeing who has the minimum
score needed to qualify

Prof Vincent Pang 5

DEFINITIONS -
 Test
◦ Any means used to elicit responses to which
human behaviour in other contexts can be
related (APA, 2016)
◦ Standardised procedure for sampling behavior
and describing it with categories/scores
(Gregory, 2004)
 Testing
◦ the administration of tests
◦ process

Prof Vincent Pang 6

 A psychological test is "an objective and
standardized measure of a sample of
behavior (Anastasi, & Urbina, 1997)
 Psychological testing = the administration
of psychological tests.
 Psychometrics = development and
evaluation of education/psychological
tests
 Psychometrician = specialists in
psychometrics
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FEATURES OF TESTS
(GREGORY, 2004)
 Standardised procedures
 Behavior sample
 Scores or categories
 Norms or standards
 Prediction of nontest behaviour

Prof Vincent Pang 8

DISTINCTIONS IN TESTING
(Pang & Lajium, 2014)
 Norm-referenced test
◦ Individual performance is compared against
the norm/standard
 Criterion-referenced test
◦ Individual performance is compared against a
predetermined standard

Prof Vincent Pang 9

 Assessment
◦ The process of obtaining score/category/
status/rank/grade based on combination of
tests and/or other measurement results
◦ Can be quantitative and qualitative

Prof Vincent Pang 10

TYPES OF TESTS (Gregory, 2004)
 Intelligence test
◦ Verbal comprehension, perceptual
organisation, reasoning
◦ Help to determine potential for scholastic
work, occupation…
 Aptitude test
◦ specific tasks/skill
◦ Narrow form of ability testing

Prof Vincent Pang 11

 Achievement test
◦ Degree of learning/success in subject/task
 Creativity tests
◦ Novel, original thinking, unusual solutions
 Personality tests
◦ Traits/ qualities/behaviour that determines
individuality
 Interest inventories
◦ Preference for activities/topics,
◦ Occupational choice
Prof Vincent Pang 12
 Behavioural procedures
◦ Describe and count the frequency of a
behaviour
◦ Identify the antecedents and consequences of
the behaviour
 Neuropsychological tests
◦ Cognitive, sensory, perceptual, and motor
performance
◦ To determine the extent, locus, and
behavioural consequences of brain damage

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THE USE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL
TESTS (Gregory, 2004)
 Classification
 Placement
 Screening
 Certification
 Diagnosis and treatment planning
◦ Strengths
◦ Weaknesses
◦ Etiology (causes/origins)
◦ Best choices for remediation/treatment

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 Self-knowledge
◦ Education
 Students programs to enrol, decide on the number of
credits to take
 Teacher to improve teaching and learning
◦ Career path
 Career change
 Vertical and horizontal movement
◦ Social health management
 Dealing with difficult people
◦ Personal management
 Anger management
 Stress management

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 Program evaluation of education or social
programs
◦ Judgement
◦ Decision making
◦ Improvement
◦ Problem solving

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 Research
◦ Basic research
 new theories/models
◦ Applied research
 Decision making
 Improvement
 Problem solving
 Invention
 Innovation

Prof Vincent Pang 17