Psychological Testing and Psychological Assessment: A Review of Evidence and Issues

This article summarizes evidence and issues associated with psychological assessment. Data from more than 125 meta-analyses on test validity and 800 samples examining multimethod assessment suggest 4 general conclusions: (a) Psychological test validity is strong and compelling, (b) psychological tes...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American psychologist 2001-02, Vol.56 (2), p.128-165
Main Authors: Meyer, Gregory J, Finn, Stephen E, Eyde, Lorraine D, Kay, Gary G, Moreland, Kevin L, Dies, Robert R, Eisman, Elena J, Kubiszyn, Tom W, Reed, Geoffrey M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clinical assessment
Clinical psychologists
Correlation
Diagnosis, Differential
Empirical research
Human
Humans
Meta Analysis
Meta-Analysis as Topic
Patients
Performance evaluation
Personality Assessment
Psychological Assessment
Psychological Testing
Psychological Tests
Psychologists
Psychology
Psychotherapy
Reproducibility of Results
Research Methodology
Samples
Test Validity
Testing
Variance
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article summarizes evidence and issues associated with psychological assessment. Data from more than 125 meta-analyses on test validity and 800 samples examining multimethod assessment suggest 4 general conclusions: (a) Psychological test validity is strong and compelling, (b) psychological test validity is comparable to medical test validity, (c) distinct assessment methods provide unique sources of information, and (d) clinicians who rely exclusively on interviews are prone to incomplete understandings. Following principles for optimal nomothetic research, the authors suggest that a multimethod assessment battery provides a structured means for skilled clinicians to maximize the validity of individualized assessments. Future investigations should move beyond an examination of test scales to focus more on the role of psychologists who use tests as helpful tools to furnish patients and referral sources with professional consultation.
ISSN:0003-066X
1935-990X
DOI:10.1037/0003-066X.56.2.128