ABSTRACT

Winner of the British Psychological Society's Textbook Award 2019.

Psychological tests are everywhere. They are widely used by practitioners, researchers, clinicians, and educators -anyone, in fact, who needs to measure various aspects of personality, cognitive abilities, mood and suchlike. Psychometrics is the science of psychological assessment. It covers the construction, use and interpretation of psychological tests of all kinds – from simple questionnaires measuring personality, moods and attitudes, through to specialised tests measuring IQ and other mental abilities.

Psychological Testing: Theory and Practice provides test users, test developers, practitioners and researchers in the social sciences, education and health with an evaluative guide to choosing, using, interpreting and developing tests. Its aim is to give readers a thorough grasp of the principles (and limitations) of testing, together with the necessary methodological detail. Unusually for an introductory text, it includes coverage of several cutting-edge techniques. If you find mathematics frightening and statistics dull, this engaging text will help you to understand the fundamental principles of psychometrics, that underpin the measurement of any human characteristic using any psychological test.

The book is accompanied by additional resources, including a set of spreadsheets which use simulated data and other techniques to illustrate important issues, and allow users to understand various statistical procedures work, without getting bogged down in mathematical detail. These are fully integrated into the text.

This is an essential introduction for all students of psychology and related disiplines, as well as a useful resource for practitioners and those seeking accreditation in psychological testing.

chapter 1|20 pages

Introduction to psychometrics

chapter 2|22 pages

Tests, scales and testing

chapter 3|28 pages

Scoring tests and scales

chapter 4|20 pages

Interpreting scores

chapter 5|19 pages

Correlations

chapter 7|22 pages

Validity

chapter 8|18 pages

Introduction to factor analysis

chapter 10|20 pages

Alternative factor analysis designs

chapter 11|20 pages

Developments in factor analysis

chapter 12|25 pages

Item response theory

chapter 13|27 pages

Constructing a scale

chapter 14|14 pages

Problems with test scores

chapter 15|5 pages

Psychometrics in context