Home
About Tests and Testing

What the Consumer Needs to Know About Testing

Psychological testing has an impact upon all our lives whether through our employment, schools, or health care systems. The right tools and procedures in the hands of the right people can be a valuable part of our life experience.

The following overview provides you with information on how to make informed judgements regarding psychological testing and protect your welfare in the face of a confusing array of services. It will be beneficial to both the users of tests as well as those who have been or will be tested.

The Five Critical Questions

1. What is the testing intended to achieve?
2. What types of tests are being used?
3. What are the qualifications of the people applying and interpreting the tests?
4. How is the individual's welfare protected?
5. What are the limitations of the tests being used?

1. The Value of Testing

The proper administration, interpretation and application of psychological tests provides an invaluable means of promoting human welfare. When used properly, psychological tests provide objective measurement in situations where judgements are required regarding a person's interests, aptitudes, skills or, personality. There are many needs for objective analysis that testing can meet:

"A sales manager had applied for the vacant marketing position but wanted to be sure that the job was a good fit to her own preferences and work style. The company was keen on increasing the likelihood that the next person to fill the job was the best suited among the candidates."

"The Human Resources Manager at ABC Corporation needs to hire successful sales people. He has many applicants to interview and he needs another method to help him make decisions about who to hire. He would like to use testing but is not sure which tests or methods would be best to use in assessing sales potential."

"The VP of Human Resources wishes to use testing to help in developing an assessment-based succession planning program. She wants to select the very best methods available to assess management competence and potential."

2. Type of Tests

  
Cognitive ability and Intelligence: Measures of learning capacity, scholastic aptitude, verbal reasoning ability, comprehension, memory, and reasoning style.
Achievement Tests: Measures of knowledge within academic subjects, scholastic skills (like reading and writing).
Special Aptitudes and Abilities: Measures of current performance or potential in special skill areas like mechanical aptitude, musical and artistic ability, and spatial abilities, for example.
Vocational Interest Tests: Measures of interest in the activities, skill development and environments associated with various occupations.
Personality Tests: Measures of character 'traits' or personality patterns using either 'diagnostic' tests for measuring non-typical behaviour to define treatment, or 'development' tests measuring typical behaviour for making development plans or decisions.
Interviews: An interview is also considered a test, given that judgments are rendered, often scores obtained, based upon an individual's performance in an interview "testing" situation.
Job Simulations: A job simulation is a representation of some aspect of work that an individual would be expected to perform. A typing test is an example of a job simulation that might be used to assess an applicant for an administrative position.

3. Test and User Qualifications
Level A Tests: These are tests which can be adequately administered, scored and interpreted simply with the aid of a test manual plus general knowledge as to the intended use of the test results. This would include vocational or trade proficiency tests.
Level B Tests: These tests are more complex than Level A and require specific training and understanding of measurement principles and limitations. The consumer should seek knowledge of the test administrator's training for the particular tests, including supervised experience in administering, scoring and interpreting tests. Examples of tests in this area include screen inventories, educational achievement tests, personnel tests and interest inventories.

Level C Tests:

 These are tests that require advanced training and experience in administration, scoring and interpretation. The administrator should have graduate education and supervision in a professional field to which the tests apply (e.g., education, counselling, school psychology, industrial psychology). The administrator should be knowledgeable in measurement theory and psychometric principles and know the validation research on every test that he or she is administering. Tests in this category include all personality measures, clinical diagnostic tests, and tests of cognitive ability or intelligence.

4. Protecting the Individual's Welfare

For any individual seeking career guidance, or for an employee seeking a job, you should clarify the exact objectives of the testing:

•Exactly how will the test results be used?
•What kind of decisions are the results expected to influence?

Confidentiality: The issue of confidentiality and privacy are often of central importance in any testing situation:

•Who has access to the test results?
•Who will interpret the test results and are they qualified to do so?
•When and how will the feedback be provided to the participant?
•What procedures are in place to protect the confidentiality of the results?

Informed Consent: After you have clarified the situation as above, you might request a release of information form which states in writing what the purpose is and where the information will be going, which the individual may sign.

Feedback: You should request feedback and ask how that feedback will be conveyed. Test score numbers will be of little meaning in comparison to the overall interpretation, but how will the interpretation be communicated to the person?


5. Limitations of Testing

Test Application: Few tests should be applied in isolation from other testing or other information gathering procedures, particularly amongst the Level C tests noted above. You should be cautious with any assessment procedure that uses only one test if there are to be decisions made on that information alone. An exception might be if the test results provide an answer to a very particular question that the test is specifically designed to answer.

Test Reliability and Validity: Are the tests measuring what they are supposed to measure and do they do so with consistency? Since most people will not have the training to answer this question, you must depend on the qualifications of the test administrator. Most people, however, are in a position to ask how the use of the test or tests relates to the decision being made. For example, has a certain test result been shown to relate to success at a particular job?

Test Limitations: There are very few psychological tests that will, with absolute certainty, measure reality. For tests to qualify for broad application they must, with a high degree of probability, be able to measure reality quite closely. The test administrator must be able to point out the limitations of each testing instrument? Ask.


Psychological tests are powerful tools, but not all tests are created equally nor are all people equally qualified to use them. If you have been relying on tests and have concerns about the judgments made about people based upon the testing, ask questions, ask for clarification. Results must be understood within the context of the purpose of the testing and your background and history.

If you are someone considering the purchase of a test or testing program for employee assessment, educate yourself about testing by reading such books as Psychological Testing by Anne Anastasi. Ask the test publisher to provide a technical manual so that you can read about how the test was developed and investigate the test's reliability and validity. Ask about whether the test is culturally fair and ask what norms are available for the test and whether these norms would be appropriate for use in your organization. Be an informed test purchaser.