A clear introduction to the basics of psychological testing, psychometrics and relevant statistical tools and their application in everyday educational, clinical and organizational settings. Written in response to a growing need for a textbook on psychological testing conducive to student learning, Psychological Testing: A Practical Approach provides readers with a clear and accessible introduction to the field. This book gives students an understanding of the basic concepts, issues and tools used in psychological testing and also illustrates how these are relevant in day-to-day educational organizational and clinical environments. The primary objective of this text is to focus on the testing process and the core psychometric concepts required to gain an appreciation of how to use and interpret tests properly.Salient Features:A clear and simple writing style in a conversational tone to make understanding enjoyableSection previews and concept maps provide students with written and graphic overviews of the content and help instructors set the context of the proceeding chaptersFor Your Information boxes throughout chapters supplement the material with relevant and interesting information about a particular topicInterim Summaries throughout each chapter summarize important information discussed in the chapter to help students focus on key pointsEnd-of-chapter Learning Activities for groups and individuals provide exercises that promote hands-on understanding of the conceptsIn the News and On the Web feature stories on testing from print news media and related resources on test–stimuli availability and security on the webTable of Contents:PrefaceI: Overview of Psychological TestingWhat Are Psychological Tests?Why Is Psychological Testing Important?Is There a Right or Wrong Way to Use Psychological Tests?How Does Computerized Testing Work?II: Psychometric PrinciplesHow Do Test Users Interpret Test Scores?What Is Test Reliability?How Do We Gather Evidence of Validity Based on the Content of a Test?How Do We Gather Evidence of Validity Based on a Test's Relation to External Criteria?How Do We Gather Evidence of Validity Based on a Test's Relation to Constructs?III: Developing and Piloting Surveys and Psychological TestsHow Do We Construct, Administer and Use Survey Data?How Do We Develop a Test?How Do We Assess the Psychometric Quality of a Test?IV: Using tests in Different SettingsHow Are Tests Used in Educational Settings?How Are Tests Used in Clinical and Counseling Settings?How Are Tests Used in Organizational Settings?Appendix A: Test SpotlightsAppendix B: Guidelines for Critiquing a Psychological TestAppendix C: Code of Fair Testing Practices in EducationAppendix D: Table of Critical Values for Pearson Product - Moment Correlation CoefficientsGlossaryReferencesPhoto CreditsIndex
Leslie A. Miller, Ph.D., PHR has broad experience in consulting, teaching and researching in the area of organizational and educational assessment, measurement and development. Currently the owner of her own consulting business, LanneM TM LLC, she provides her clients with pragmatic and affordable talent management solutions - solutions to help them acquire, develop and retain the talent they need to achieve desired business results today and in the future. Her expertise includes designing performance improvement/management tools and knowledge tests, customizing and facilitating leadership training programs, providing assessment-based executive coaching and designing and implementing business impact evaluation and return on value studies.She also spends a significant amount of her time teaching graduate business organizational behavior/leadership and human resource courses at Rollins College and for the School of Advanced Studies at the University of Phoenix as well as mentoring doctoral learners through the dissertation process. Previously the vice president of leadership development/human resources at the Central Florida YMCA, she was responsible for contributing to the strategic plans of the organization by leading the association's talent management initiatives - recruiting, developing and retaining the association's talent. Prior to joining the YMCA, she was employed by Wilson Learning Corporation (WLC), a performance improvement company,where she served as the director of business solutions, a senior project manager and a business solutions consultant. In these roles, she was responsible for conceptualizing, designing, managing and implementing traditional and technology-based assessment,measurement and training performance improvement solutions for client organizations. Prior to joining WLC, she served as the assistant dean of admissions at Rollins College, where she was also a faculty member of the psychology organizational behavior and human resources programs. Before joining Rollins College, she was a senior research psychologist for the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, in Washington, D.C. At the Bureau, she designed, researched and analyzed the results of some of our nation's most important surveys. In her current and previous roles, she has worked with various leading organizations in the high-tech, financial, pharmaceutical and transportation industries. With a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Maryland, she has an extensive list of publications.Robert L. Lovler, Ph.D., has over 30 years of experience working both as an internal and external consultant to Fortune 500 companies in the areas of employee assessment and selection organizational development, strategic human resource consulting and training design and delivery. His career began at CBS Inc. where he served in a several roles including Director of Training for their retail consumer electronics unit, then moving up to Vice- President of two different units within the CBS Publishing Group. He is currently is Vice-President of Human Resources and Practice Leader for Selection and Assessment at Wilson Learning Corporation, a consulting firm which focuses on human performance improvement. During his career, he has had the opportunity to design and implement a wide range of organizational interventions both domestically and internationally, working in Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, England and Italy. In the U.S., he supervised the development and implementation of the assessment center used to select candidates for entry into the Environmental Protection Agency's Senior Executive Service Development Program, presenting the results in Washington D.C. to Governor Christie Todd Whitman, the EPA Administrator. He also developed the selection system used to help select commercial airline pilots for a major U.S. airline and worked with former Senator Warren Rudman to develop and implement a nationwide survey of sales practices in the rent-to-own industry. He has served as a testing consultant to the California Bar Association, the state of Pennsylvania and oversaw the development of the licensure examinations for medical physicists in the state of Texas. He has been on the adjunct faculty of the State University of New York at Farmingdale, Hofstra University and the University of Central Florida. He holds master's and Ph.D. degrees from Hofstra University and is a member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Sandra A.McIntire, Ph.D., received her bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology and her doctor of philosophy degree in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of South Florida. She began her career in the human resources department of the city of Clearwater, Florida and moved into consulting with Wilson Learning Corporation (WLC) as a senior project manager. At WLC, she developed the first retail video selection test, the Teller Selection Program (TAP). She also consulted with Fortune 500 companies such as Citibank NA, United Technologies, IBM and General Motors. In 1991, she accepted a tenure track professorship in the department of psychology at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.In addition to teaching social science statistics, research methods and tests and measurements, she served as director of the psychology program for nontraditional students in Rollins's Hamilton Holt School. She has collaborated on three books: The Job Analysis Kit organization Development: Strategies for a Changing Environment and Foundations of Psychological Testing (first and second editions). In addition, she has served as a book reviewer for Personnel Psychology. She has collaborated on peer-reviewed research and made numerous presentations to national organizations such as the American Society for Training and Development, the American Psychological Association and the Southeastern Conference on Teaching of Psychology. Dr. McIntire is now retired from Rollins College.
