There are basically two types of ethical issues in Psychological testing.
1. Issues in test administration: Ethics, bias, cultural fairness
2. Factors influencing test performance- Examiner, situational variables and test-takers perspective
Contents
Issues in Test Administration: Ethics
- Qualification of the test user.
- If the test owner is selling the test to any institution , should be ensured about the qualification of the test users from institute.
- Personal training should be given to test administration of projective tests like Rorshach.
- Publisher of the test should be responsible for standardization of the test as well as if all the material is provided or not.
- Security issues related to the test should be well maintained.
- Consent of the subject is important, especially for situational test.
- Confidentially should be well maintained for the test.
- Single administration is preferred in test administration.
- Issue of Xeroxing should be carefully handled.
- Test taker should get rough nature of the test.
- Scoring of the test should be done as per the manual.
Issues in Test Administration: Bias
Test administrator or taker should not be biased about
- Gender
- Religion,
- Race,
- Nationality,
- Class,
- Caste
- Socio-cultural factors.
- Appearance
Cultural factors –
Genuine differences could be there but biases should not be there.
Construct bias- construct has different meaning in different groups.
Predictive bias-
Administrative Bias
Scorer/ Interpreter Bias
Issues in Test Administration: Fairness
Comparison of two cultural groups .
Try to avoid cultural differences
To cover most cultures .
Minimum use of language .
Use of a tools that will be applicable /accessible in most cultures.
Ex. SPM, Woodeno & Harris Test, Cattell Culture Fair Intelligence test (CFIT),etc.
Factors influencing Test performance
1.Examiner
Age ,gender, ethnicity, training- are imp .
2.Situational variables
Characteristics of test ,relax, non-threatening situation except test which demands stress .
3.Test-taker’s perspective
Stress, Anxiety, mental disordered person
READINGS:-
Anastasi, A. & Urbina, S. (2009). Psychological testing. N.D.: Pearson Education.
Asch, S. E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193, 31- 35.
Kaplan R.M.& Saccuzzo D.P.(2005) Psychological Testing,Principles ,Applications and Issues.Sixth Ed. Cengage Learning India, Pvt Ltd.