1

Psychological assessment research M.S. in Personality and Behavior Noemí Pereda, [email protected] Judit Abad, [email protected]

OBJECTIVES Assessment is an essential skill for psychologists in clinical and research settings. The main objective of this course is to provide students with a theoretical and practical knowledge about psychological assessment and the basic principles of testing applied to research studies. We aim to develop the student's capacity to understand the use of psychological testing and measurement and to critically evaluate instruments for psychological testing. We will cover a variety of conceptual issues such as testing and assessment, basic psychometric principles, and the ethical issues involved in conducting assessments. The primary objectives of this course are as follows: 1. Provide you with a fundamental understanding of the core issues in psychological testing and measurement; 2. Understand the key techniques undergirding the selection of tests and measurement for a research study.

METHODOLOGY This course aims at reflecting on the main issues on psychological assessment research.

Class meetings will consist of a mix of lectures, discussion of the readings, and role- played demonstrations. Students are expected to complete all readings prior to the class meeting for which they are assigned and to participate actively in class discussions and demonstrations.

The course is divided in two parts. Part I discusses general knowledge on psychological testing including a discussion on ethics of using psychological tests. Part II presents and discusses the instruments chosen by the students in their first drafts’ research projects.

BASIC TEXT AND MATERIALS The texts for the course are listed below. Other readings include the test manuals for the instruments in the assessment battery and journal articles and book chapters included in the coursepack.

REQUIRED TEXT

American Psychological Association (2002). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. American Psychologist, 57, 1060-1073.

Andrés Trujillo, C. (2007). Building Internal Strength, Sustainable Self-Esteem, and Inner Motivation as a Researcher. Journal of Research Practice, 3(1), 1-9. 2

Fernández-Ballesteros, R. (1999). Psychological assessment: Future challenges and progresses. European Psychologist, 4(4), 248-262.

Meyer, G.J., Finn, S.E, Eyde, L.D., Kay, G.G., Moreland, K.L., Dies, R.R., Eisman, E.J., Kubiszyn, T.W., & Reed, G.M. (2001). Psychological testing and psychological assessment. A review of evidence and issues. American Psychologist, 56(2), 128-165.

Haynes, S.N., Nelson, K., & Blaine, D.D. (1999). Psychometric issues in assessment research. In P. C. Kendall, J. N. Butcher, G. H. Holmbeck (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in clinical psychology (2nd edition). New York: Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Weiner, I.B. (2003). The assessment process. In J.R. Graham & J.A. Naglieri (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Vol. X. Assessment psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

RECOMMENDED TEXTS

Åhlén, E. (2004). So you want to involve children in research? A toolkit supporting children’s meaningful and ethical participation in research relating to violence against children. Stockholm: Save the Children

Cronbach, L.J. & Meehl, P.E. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52, 281-302.

Embretson, S.E. (1996). The new rules of measurement. Psychological Assessment, 8, 341-349.

Groth-Marnat, G. (1997). Handbook of psychological assessment. (3rd Ed.). New York: Wiley.

McFall, R.M. (2005). Theory and utility -- Key themes in evidence-based assessment: Comment on the special section. Psychological Assessment, 17, 312-323.

McIntire, S.A., & Miller, L.A. (2007). Foundations of psychological testing: A practical approach (2n Ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.

Murphy, K.R., & Davidshofer, C.O. (2005). Psychological Testing: Principles and Applications (6th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Schmitt, N. (1996). Uses and abuses of coefficient alpha. Psychological Assessment, 8, 350-353.

PRE-REQUISITES

Even though this is not a statistics course, much of psychological testing and measurement involves the incorporation of statistical techniques and/or principles.

3

PROGRAM

Week 1 General introduction to the course. Gettting started: talking about the researcher in psychological assessment research. To hand in the first assignment about the article by Andres Trujillo (2007).

Week 2 The application of the psychological assessment process to research.

Week 3 Ethical and social considerations in testing. - access to the sample: enquiring about sensible topics - gathering sociodemographic information - assessment setting - ethical issues - assessing special groups - cultural issues:  similarities between the standardization sample and the research sample  translation and back-translation issues  adaptation: validity and realiability  other cultural issues.

Week 4 Other issues involving psychological assessment. - psychological testing vs. psychological assessment - individual assessment (personal interview, telephonic interview, self-report instruments, observational techniques, etc.) versus group assessment. - assessing: individuals/groups, interactions or contexts, programs or interventions - prospective and retrospective assessment. - paper and pencil assessment, computerized assessment, assessment based in new technologies. - multiinformant assessment and multi-technique assessment. - screening and in-depth instruments, short vs. full version instruments.

Week 5 Main instruments applied in cognitive, personality, and psychopathology research areas.

Week 6 Students’ presentations: presenting and discussing assessment tools in different research projects.

Week 7 Students’ presentations: presenting and discussing assessment tools in different research projects.

Week 8 Students’ presentations: presenting and discussing assessment tools in different research projects.

4

Week 9 Students’ presentations: presenting and discussing assessment tools in different research projects.

Week 10 Study week and individual consultations. Working on the second assignment.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Grades will be based on class participation (including active participation in discussion, obvious familiarity with the readings, and completion of any homework), and two written assignments. The assignments should be concise, succinct, typed and double- spaced (preferably adhering to APA style (6th Edition of Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association). Students will be expected to be honest and avoid cheating and plagiarism.

Every week you will be assigned short exercises due the next week. Most of these exercises will be about reading an article or your classmates’ presentations. Evaluation skills are learned primarily by critiquing strong and weak point of other students’ instruments.

Grades will be assigned as follows: Class discussions and first written assignment: 50% Final assignment: 50%