2. The Standards for Educational & Psychological Testing
Developed jointly by: American Educational Research Association
(AERA) American Psychological Association (APA) National Council
on Measurement in Education (NCME) Sets out obligations of test
developers & test givers.
Test Developers Should:
• define what test measures & who it applies to
• accurately present characteristics & limitations of test review
questions for insensitive content & language.
Test Givers Should:
• Select test only after thorough review of all tests available have a
thorough knowledge of all test materials & manual
• Avoid using test for purposes not recommended by developers
• Provide test-takers, or their parents, with information about their
rights re obtaining copies of test, retake tests, tests rescored, how
long scores will be kept on file & to whom they will be released
• Explain results in language test-taker can understand.
3. ETHICAL STANDARDS IN TESTING
There are ethical standards in testing psychology due to the unique
involvement of observing and conducting research on human subjects.
When dealing with people and sensitive (and/or private) information, it is
mandated that specific procedures are implemented to ensure researchers
are not only protecting the integrity of the work, but are protecting the
participants involved.
• There are ethical codes for psychology, domestically and abroad, that
are predicated on testing standards specific to the codes of conduct.
• This brings value to ethical standards and the willingness for participants
to want to be involved in experiments. It is understood that any
psychological test conducted, the findings will not be disclosed to other
individuals and/or companies that are not involved in the process.
• Ethical codes are useful because it is important for researchers to be
clear on what they plan to do with the results.
4. • According to APA some of the Rights Of The Test Takers
are-
• Be treated with courtesy, respect, regardless of age, disability,
ethnicity, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or other
personal characteristics.
• Be tested with measures that meet professional standards and that
are appropriate.
• Receive a brief explanation prior to testing about the purpose(s) for
testing, the kind(s) of tests to be used.
• Individual’s freedom to decline, and freedom to withdraw, is
respected.
• Have test administered and your test results interpreted by trained
individuals who follow professional codes of ethics.
5. The major ethical standards or moral issues relating to psychological
testing can be described under these 9 headings-
COMPETENCE OF PSYCHOLOGISTS
INFORMED CONSENT
KNOWLEDGE OF RESULT
CONFIDENTIALITY
TEST SECURITY
DIVIDED LOYALTIES
INVASION OF PRIVACY
LABELING
DEHUMANIZATION
6. COMPETENCE OF PSYCHOLOGISTS.
The maintenance of high standards of professional competence is a responsibility
Shared by all mental health professionals.
1. Maintain their expertise by maintaining level of awareness of current scientific
and professional information in their field of activity.
2. Maintain their level of competence in the qualification standards and develop
and enhance their competence as test users.
3. Monitor the limits of their competence in psychometric testing.
4. Only offer services which lie within their competence and encourage others to
do the same.
5. Ensure that they have undertaken the mandatory training and that they have
the specific knowledge and skills required for each of the instruments they use.
6. Abide by local and national regulations and restrictions relating to the use of
psychological tests and the storage and use of test data.
7. INFORMED CONSENT
Psychologists obtain appropriate informed consent to testing or related
procedures, using language that is reasonably understandable to
participants. The content of informed consent generally implies that the
person
(1) has the capacity to consent.
(2) has been informed of significant information concerning the
procedure.
(3) has freely and without undue influence expressed consent, and
(4) consent has been appropriately documented.
When persons are legally incapable of giving informed consent,
psychologists obtain informed permission from a legally authorized
person.
8. The three elements of informed consent include disclosure, competency, and
voluntariness.
• The heart of disclosure is that the client receives sufficient information (e.g.
about risks, benefits, release of reports) to make a thoughtful decision about
continued participation in the testing.
• Competency refers to the mental capacity of the examinee to provide consent.
In cases of the examinee being a child, very elderly, or has mental disabilities a
guardian will have to provide legal consent.
• Finally the standard of voluntariness implies that the choice to undergo an
assessment battery is given freely and not based on subtle coercion. The
examiner uses mostly written informed consent forms.
9. KNOWLEDGE OF RESULT
Conveying test result with language that the test taker, parents, teachers,
clients or general public can understand.
When reporting group results, information needs to be supplemented
with background information that can help explain the result with
cautions about misinterpretations.
Must fully disclose the result and avoid technical terms and jargons.
Proper and effective feedback involves give-and-take dialogue in which
the clinician ascertains how the client has perceived the information and
seeks to correct potentially harmful interpretations
10. CONFIDENTIALITY
• Practitioners, have a primary obligation to safe-guard the
confidentiality of information, including test results that they obtain
from clients in the course of consultations.
• Information can be ethically released to others only after the client
or a legal representative gives unambiguous consent, usually in
written form.
• Release of results should only be made to another qualified
professional after client’s consent .
• In unusual circumstances in which the withholding of information
would present a clear danger to the client or suspected abuse in
children and vulnerable elderly persons then the health care
practitioners must report .
11. TEST SECURITY
Psychologists make reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity and security of
tests and other assessment techniques consistent with law, contractual
obligations, and in a manner that permits compliance with the requirements of the
Ethical Code.
• Test materials must be kept securely.
• Test items are not revealed except in training programs and when mandated
by law, to protect test integrity .
• Test items are private property.
12. DIVIDED LOYALTIES
Divided loyalties is today a major dilemma for psychologists who use the
test in different fields such as industry, schools, clinics, government,
military, and so on.
A psychologist has to face a conflict, which arises when the individual’s
welfare is put at odds on the one hand and that of the institution that
employs the psychologists the other.
--Conflicting commitments of the psychologist who uses tests-
--Who is the client? – the individual or the institution that ordered the
test?
--Psychologist must maintain test security and not violate the client’s
right to know the basis for an adverse decision.
--Psychologists must tell clients or subjects in advance how tests are to
be used and describe the limits of confidentiality
--The person’s right to know the basis of an adverse decision may
13. For example, suppose a psychologist working for an industrial firm to
identify individuals who are accident prone, has the responsibility towards
the institution to identify such persons as well as the responsibility to
protect the rights and welfare of the person seeking the employment.
Here, the psychologists loyalty stands divided.
Likewise, a psychologist has to maintain test security at any cost but also
he must not violate the person’s right to know the basis of adverse
decision. However, if this basis is explained to one person, this
information may go to other persons with the same problem, who would
rightly then decide to outsmart the test, which would again trap the
psychologist with two opposing principles.
14. The conflict is currently being resolved as follows.
• Ethically, psychologists must inform all concerned where their
loyalty lies. They must tell clients or subjects in advance how tests
are to be used and describe the limits of confidentiality.
• To the institution, they provide only the minimum information
needed, such as “This subject has a low probability of breaking
down under stress, and the probability that this conclusion is
accurate is 68/100.”
15. Invasion of privacy
The right of privacy is the right to be left alone to be free of inspection
and
scrutiny of others.
Invasion of privacy is the intrusion into one’s private affairs and/or
exposure of one’s paper to the view of others and if it causes one
emotional distress, it is actionable.
While libel and slander involve false or malicious statement aimed at
damaging the victim’s reputation, invasion of privacy usually arises
from truthful but damaging publications.
16. • One area of biggest threat of privacy which has been entertained
against counsellors is the issue of use of personality tests in counselling.
• Personality tests probe deeply into feelings and attitudes which the
individual
normally conceals.
Ex-A test could assess whether an adolescence boy resents authority or
whether
a mother loves her child or be asked to indicate the strength of sexual
needs.
• Person’s privacy is invaded when such information is used inappropriately
• Psychologists must inform subjects of the limits of confidentiality-
• Subjects must cooperate in order to be tested-
• People have the right to know the limits of confidentiality and to know that
17. LABELING
In standard medical practice, a person’s disease or disorder is first
identified (diagnosed). Once diagnosed, the disease can be labeled
and standard medical intervention procedures implemented.
However, labeling people with certain medical diseases, such as
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and psychiatric
disorders can be extremely damaging. The public has little
understanding of the label schizophrenia, for example. Therefore,
those who receive this label are often stigmatized, perhaps for life.
Labels may also affect one’s access to help.
18. -Labeling people with certain medical diseases can be extremely
damaging-
-Theoretical issue – labeling may imply that a person is ill or
diseased
-Individuals who feel they have a sense of control feel less
stress/frustration-
Labels that imply a person is not responsible may increase the risk
that the person so labeled will feel passive.
Thus, the labeling process may not only stigmatize the person but
also lower tolerance for stress and make treatment more difficult. In
view of the potentially negative effects of labels, a person should
have the right not to be labeled.
19. DEHUMANIZATION
One social issue in the testing field concerns the dehumanizing tendencies
that lurk in the testing process. Some forms of testing remove any human
element from decision-making process.
With high-speed computers and centralized data banks, the risk that machines
will someday make important decisions about our lives is always increasing.
Thus, society must weigh the risks against the benefits of the growing
application of modern technology to the testing field.
As psychologists and the public allow test results to be stored and analyzed
by computers, it may become extremely difficult to reverse this trend.
20. CURRENT TRENDS
Higher standards, improved technology, and increasing objectivity has led to-
1. Better test construction and better use of tests.
2. Improved technology in testing – because of advances in computer
technology, statistical procedures such as factor analysis and item analysis
can be performed with great ease.
3. increasing objectivity in test interpretation.
4. continuing research interest reflects trend toward objectivity in the field.
more attacks on Rorschach and referenced fewer times in the Mental
Measurements Yearbook
more reliance on MMPI-2 and referenced more times in the Mental
Measurements Yearbook
4.Public awareness has lead to an increased demand for psychological
services, including testing services.
