Theme 3 [Application of Assessment in Different Contexts]:
Chapter 8 (Section 8.3.1 and 8.3.3), 9 (Figures 9.2, 9.3 and 9.4),
13 (Section 13.2), 15 (Section 15.2, 15.3 and 15.4), 16 (Section
16.4) and 17 (Section 17.2)
Chapter 8: The Practice of Psychological Assessment:
Controlling the use of measures, competing values and ethical
practice standards:
Fair and Ethical Assessment Practices:
What constitutes fair and ethical assessment practices?
Based on: International Test Commission’s International Guidelines for Test Use – defined fair
assessment practices as those that involve:
➢ Appropriate, fair, professional, and ethical use of assessment measures and
assessment results
➢ Taking into account: needs and rights – those involved in assessment
➢ Ensuring: assessment conducted closely matches the purpose to which the
assessment results will be put
➢ Taking into account: broader social, cultural, and political context in which
assessment is used and the way in which such factors might affect assessment results,
their interpretation and the use to which they’re put
To achieve the far assessment practices outlined above, assessment practitioners need to:
➢ Have adequate knowledge and understanding of psychometrics, testing, and
assessment which informs and underpins the process of testing
➢ Be familiar with professional and ethical standards of good assessment practices that
affect the way in which the process of assessment is carried out and the way –
assessment practitioners treat others involved in the assessment process
➢ Have appropriate knowledge and skills regarding the specific measures they use
➢ Have appropriate contextual knowledge and skills, which include knowledge of how
social, cultural, and educational factors impinge on test scores and how the influence
of such factors can be minimized; knowledge regarding appropriate selection of
measures in specific contexts; knowledge about policies regarding use of assessment
and assessment results
➢ Have appropriate interpersonal skills to establish rapport with test-takers and put
them at ease, maintain the interest and cooperation of the test-takers during the test
administration and to provide feedback of assessment results in a meaningful,
understandable way
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, ➢ Have oral and written communication skills that’ll enable them to provide the test
instructions clearly, write meaningful reports, and interact with relevant others (e.g. a
selection panel) as regards the outcome of the assessment.
Professional practices that assessment practitioners should follow:
The good assessment practices that assessment practitioners should follow in every
assessment context include:
➢ Informing test-takers about their rights and the use assessment information will be
put
➢ Obtaining consent of test-takers to assess them, use the results for selection,
placement or training decisions and report results to relevant 3rd parties. Where a
minor child assessed, consent obtained from parent/legal guardian
➢ Treating test-takers courteously, respectfully and in an impartial manner, regardless
of culture, language, gender, age, disability etc.
➢ Being thoroughly prepared for assessment session
➢ Maintaining confidentiality to extent that it’s appropriate for fair assessment practices
➢ Establishing what language appropriate and fair to use during the assessment, and
making use of bilingual assessments where appropriate
➢ Only using measures that they’ve been trained to use
➢ Administering measures properly
➢ Scoring measures correctly and using appropriate norms/cut-points/comparative
profiles
➢ Taking background factors into account when interpreting test performance and
when forming overall picture of test-takers performance (profile)
➢ Communicating assessment results clearly to appropriate parties
➢ Acknowledging subjective nature of assessment process by realizing that final
decision that they reach, while based at times on quantitative test information,
reflects their ‘best-guess estimate’
➢ Using test information in a fair, unbiased manner and ensuring that anyone else who
has access to this information also does so
➢ Researching the appropriateness of the measures that they use and refining, adapting
or replacing them where is necessary
➢ Securely storing and controlling access to assessment materials so that the integrity
of the measures can’t be threatened in anyway
Some of the above have been captured in a contract. Contracts between assessment
practitioners and test-takers – often implicit. It’s NB that contracts should be more explicitly
stated in writing and test-takers should be thoroughly familiarized with roles/responsibilities
of assessment practitioners and responsibilities clear, the possibility of misunderstandings
and costly litigation will be minimized.
Chapter 9: Administering Psychological Assessment Measure
Preparation Prior to the Assessment Session:
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,Selecting Measures to include in a Test Battery:
Various factors influence the measures that the assessment practitioner chooses to include in
a test battery. These are:
➢ Purpose of assessment, competencies/constructs that need to be assessed and types
of decisions that need to be made based on outcome
➢ Demographic characteristics of test-taker
➢ Whether test-taker has a mental disability – must fit their mental age range
➢ Whether test-taker is differently-abled – needs to be adapted/tailored
➢ Amount of time available to perform assessment
➢ Psychometric properties of measures and suitability of such measures for the
particular test-taker or purposes assessment being conducted
➢ Whether assessment practitioner has necessary competencies to administer selected
measure and whether he/she permitted to use these measures
Checking Assessment Materials and Equipment:
Advisable: make a list of the number of booklets, pencils, answer sheets, and other materials
required – so it’ll be easy to check beforehand correct quantities/materials available. The
assessment booklets & answer sheets – checked for any mistakes and for pencil marks that
might’ve been made by previous test-takers – erased. Assessment practitioner should consult
with expertise for any person with disability. For computer-based and internet-delivered test
administration – check/confirm to required specifications and check that once test is loaded,
it functions correctly
Becoming Familiar with Assessment Measures and Instructions
Assessment practitioner should know all aspects of the material used. Should know which
different forms of assessment measure will be used, how materials should be distributed,
where instructions for each subtest of measure in assessment battery located in manual and
the sequence of the subtests or measures that comprise the assessment battery.
Checking that Assessment Conditions will be satisfactory:
Should ensure physical conditions in assessment venue and surroundings – appropriate. In
administering individual or group assessment measure, special provisions may have to be
made for physically challenged or physically different (e.g. left-handed) test-takers
➢ Assessment rooms: should comply with basic requirements. Room well light and
properly ventilated, available seating, size of room – test-taker can hear without
difficulty
➢ Minimizing cheating during group assessment and using assessment assistants:
seating arrangements; preparing multiple forms of the assessment measure and
distributing different forms of adjacent test-takers and using multiple answer sheets.
Personal Circumstances of the test-taker and the timing of Assessment:
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, Activities test-takers engaged in preceding the assessment situation – clinical impact on their
performance during assessment. A person’s physical well-being at the time of assessment is
NB for example, if a child is suffering from an allergy, she’ll find it difficult to concentrate.
Where person has an emotional, behavioral or neurological condition or disorder, the timing
of assessment is critical if valid assessment data is to be obtained. When assessment is being
performed in a multicultural context, you have to acquire knowledge of the test-taker in
relation to his/her cultural, family, linguistic, educational and socio-economic background
and heritage
Planning the sequence of assessment measures and the length of assessment
sessions
Care taken to sequence the measures in an appropriate way. A measure that’s relatively easy
and non-threatening administrated 1st – this will help test-takers to settle in and not feel
overwhelmed. Measures that require intense concentration, complex reasoning, and
problem-solving placed in the middle. The final measure should also be relatively easy, non-
threatening measure – to end on a positive note. The length depends on level of
development and mental and physical status of test-takers
Planning how to address linguistic factors:
SA is a multilingual country. Every test-taker has a right to be assessed in their home (1st)
language. Various complications arise trying to put this ideal into practice in SA:
➢ Majority of measures in English/Afrikaans as it’ll take a number of years to adapt and
translate measures into the different African languages
➢ Many SA have been or are being educated in their 2nd or 3rd language – may be fairer
to assess them in the language medium they were or are being educated, instead of
in their 1st language or perform bilingual assessment
➢ Measure only administered by assessment practitioner who possess sufficient level of
proficiency in language being administered
➢ If measure is administered in a test-taker’s’2nd or 3rd language, the assessment
process should be designed in such a way that threats to the reliability/validity –
minimized
Planning how to Address Test Sophistication:
Effects of test sophistication (test-wiseness) – relevant. The implication is that if a test-taker
possesses test sophistication, and especially if assessment measure contains susceptible
items, the combination of these two factors can result in an improved score; in contrast, a
test-taker low in test sophistication will tend to be penalized every time he/she takes a test
that include test-wise components. People lacking exposure to specific test materials or test
formats – disadvantage. Short orientation and practice sessions quite effective in equalizing
test sophistication
Informed Consent
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