Читать книгу The Handy Psychology Answer Book - Lisa J. Cohen - Страница 242

There are many forms of psychological tests, all of which offer both advantages and disadvantages. Perhaps the most common form of test is a self-report questionnaire.

 A self-report questionnaire is a paper and pencil test on which the subject answers a series of questions about one or more psychological traits. These tests are quick and easy to develop, administer, and score, but they are limited by the possibility of inaccuracies in the subject’s self-report.

 Clinician-administered questionnaires are also paper and pencil tests but the clinician asks the subject the questions. These questionnaires allow the clinician to make the final scoring decision based on the subject’s responses to each question.

 Interviews, like questionnaires, involve a series of questions administered to the subject, but the interviewer has room to follow up each question with verbal probes to obtain more information or clarify responses. The interviewer has more leeway to modify the questions or add new questions than on paper and pencil questionnaires.

 Projective tests, like the thematic apperception test (TAT) or the Rorschach, ask the subject to complete a task (e.g., to tell a story based on a picture), which is intended to reveal characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. The subject, however, is unaware of the information being revealed.

 In cognitive tests, the subject completes various tasks that involve intellectual skills, like memorizing a list of words or arranging blocks to match a pattern.

 Sensory or motor tasks likewise measure sensory skills, such as sensitivity to touch, or motor skills such as visual-motor coordination.

Tests in these last three categories are often called objective tests because they involve the assessment of objective behavior.