ABSTRACT
Psychometric assessments are designed to be reliable and unbiased measures of psychological constructs that describe thinking, emotional and behavioural processes. This chapter outlines best practice when using and reporting the outcomes and interpretations of psychometric tests. Psychometric tests are one of many methods available in the collation of information during the assessment process. The aim of an assessment is always to gain as broad an understanding as possible of the day-to-day as well as past behaviour. Assessments of characteristics that can change will have a 'shelf-life' and the findings of 'dated' tests may no longer be relevant. Some forensic assessments have screening measures such as the International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE) and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Martin Fisher discusses the issues surrounding ethics in forensic context psychometric testing at length, in terms of the potential power imbalances between test taker and test administrator, the validity of consent and how the outcomes of testing are managed and disclosed.
