Psychological Testing and Measurements

Psychological testing can be viewed as the process of administering various forms of tests; visual, written, verbal or computerized to an individual in order to assess his or her personality strength and weaknesses. These tests are designed to give different outcomes and are administered to different audiences depending on the predetermined result. For example, a child may take an intelligence test to determine his or her learning ability, giftedness in a given area, assess intellectual development or in career counseling. On the other hand, adults may take personality tests during a job interview to assess their prowess in a specified profession line, to evaluate their personality, capacity and aptitude to determine their performance level.

This paper will define the term ‘test’, the major categories of tests, their major uses and users of these tests. It will further review as well as discuss the major assumptions and the fundamental questions associated with psychological testing. Finally, it will compare and contrast the notion of validity and reliability in psychological testing.