Deck 1: The World of Testing

Question 1

Which is NOT one of the major categories of tests used by the textbook to organize the field of psychological testing?

A) achievement
B) neuropsychological
C) medical
D) mental ability

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Within the major category of personality tests, two major subdivisions of tests are ___.

A) objective and subjective
B) objective and projective
C) valid and reliable
D) valid and invalid

Answer 2

B

Question 3

In the term "objective personality test," the word "objective" refers mainly to how the test is ___.

A) scored
B) interpreted
C) constructed
D) administered

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Neuropsychological tests are designed primarily to yield information about functioning of the ___.

A) peripheral nervous system
B) central nervous system
C) physiological systems
D) midbrain

Question 5

The textbook contrasts "paper-and-pencil" tests with ________ tests.

A) computer
B) power
C) hands-on
D) performance

Question 6

The textbook contrasts "speed" tests with ________ tests.

A) power
B) performance
C) maximum
D) norm-referenced

Question 7

The textbook contrasts "norm-referenced" tests with ________ tests.

A) individual
B) group-referenced
C) criterion-referenced
D) un-normed

Question 8

A power test usually will have ___.

A) a very generous time limit
B) many items
C) machine scoring
D) at least some essays

Question 9

Some test interpretation compares performance to an external standard rather than to a set of norms. This type of interpretation is called ________ interpretation.

A) non-normative
B) criterion-referenced
C) test-referenced
D) non-test-based

Question 10

Which is NOT one of the major categories of test usage identified in the text?

A) research
B) clinical
C) commercial
D) personnel

Question 11

The text identifies two major uses of tests in educational settings. One is to measure achievement. The other is to -

A) predict success in academic work
B) identify problem children
C) reduce teachers' paperwork
D) evaluate school administrators

Question 12

According to the textbook, the primary users of tests for purposes of personnel selection are ___.

A) colleges and universities
B) businesses and the military
C) non-profit agencies
D) government offices

Question 13

Which is one of the crucial assumptions we make in the field of testing?

A) Traits are quite unstable.
B) There are relatively few traits.
C) There are a nearly infinite number of traits.
D) Traits are reasonably stable.

Question 14

Which is one of the crucial assumptions we make in the field of testing?

A) It is very difficult to quantify human traits.
B) We can quantify human traits.
C) Qualitative analysis of human traits is the best approach.
D) Qualitative analysis of human traits often conflicts with quantitative analysis.

Question 15

What technical term do we use to refer to the stability of test performance?

A) validity
B) norms
C) development
D) reliability

Question 16

What technical term do we use to refer to whether a test measures what it purports to measure?

A) validity
B) norms
C) development
D) reliability

Question 17

We interpret someone's performance on a test in terms of how other people have performed on the test. Other people's performance is the basis for the test's ____.

A) reliability
B) norms
C) validity
D) items

Question 18

In many areas of psychology, we seek to establish general laws about behavior. Another approach is to study how people vary. This second approach is called the ________ perspective.

A) non-general
B) differential
C) standard deviation
D) average

Question 19

The dominant interest regarding human behavior of such writers as Aristotle and Plato was ___.

A) how humans differed
B) personality traits
C) what was common to humans
D) spiritual matters

Question 20

Very early (e.g., around 200 BC) versions of civil service examinations have been found in what culture?

A) American
B) African
C) British
D) Chinese

Question 21

Who was primarily responsible for the transmission of Darwinian ideas of evolution into the emerging field of psychology?

A) Cattell
B) Wundt
C) Binet
D) Galton

Question 22

Darwin's theory of evolution was important to early work on testing primarily because the theory got people thinking about -

A) development of species
B) differences between individuals
C) long term trends
D) personality traits

Question 23

Experimental psychology's emergence in the late 1800s influenced the development of testing primarily by emphasizing the need for -

A) the use of calculus
B) standardized conditions
C) the use of animals in research
D) qualitative analysis

Question 24

Wundt's laboratory at Leipzig, Germany was very influential because -

A) so many people went there for training
B) Wundt had a very powerful personality
C) it had an ideal geographic location
D) wars destroyed most other laboratories

Question 25

Which set of schools established in the 1500s had strict guidelines for administration of exams?

A) Benedictine
B) European
C) Jesuit
D) American

Question 26

The central interest in Galton's work was the study of -

A) psychopathology
B) mental retardation
C) hereditary genius
D) interaction of personality and intelligence

Question 27

Who is credited with inventing the bivariate distribution?

A) Cattell
B) Binet
C) Wundt
D) Galton

Question 28

Which of these persons was a key American contributor to establishing the field of testing?

A) Ebbinghaus
B) Binet
C) Cattell
D) Spearman

Question 29

What term did Cattell coin in an 1890 article to describe the field of testing?

A) psychometrics
B) mental test
C) psychoquantification
D) diagnostic procedures

Question 30

Who is credited with creating the first intelligence test for practical use?

A) Pearson
B) Galton
C) Terman
D) Binet

Question 31

Who is credited with creating the first modern theory of intelligence?

A) Galton
B) Spearman
C) Ebbinghaus
D) Cattell

Question 32

Binet's early work on measuring intelligence was undertaken in connection with the needs of -

A) Paris' public schools
B) the steel industry
C) the German government
D) local asylums

Question 33

One of the forces leading to the establishment of the field of testing in the early 1900s was the interest in making education more ________.

A) profitable
B) scientific
C) enjoyable
D) affordable

Question 34

A principal concern of authors creating the "new-type" achievement tests was to make tests that were -

A) less expensive
B) machine-scorable
C) more reliable
D) less dependent on reading

Question 35

Binet's test became available in America around what time?

A) 1860
B) 1895
C) 1915
D) 1960

Question 36

Who worked on converting the Binet-type test into a group administered test as part of his doctoral studies?

A) Otis
B) Cattell
C) Galton
D) Spearman

Question 37

What event provided the context for the first large-scale application of a group administered mental ability test?

A) the Vietnam conflict
B) the first World's Fair
C) World War I
D) the opening of Harvard University

Question 38

The first truly national standardized achievement battery was the ___.

A) Iowa
B) Metropolitan
C) New York
D) Stanford

Question 39

Which was a prototype of today's objective personality tests that was used to help screen recruits into the U. S. military for World War I?

A) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
B) Rorschach Inkblot Test
C) Stanford-Binet Personality Form
D) Woodworth Personal Data Sheet

Question 40

What period of time does the textbook identify as "the flowering," during which many of the tests widely used today first appeared?

A) 1840-1880
B) 1880-1915
C) 1915-1940
D) 1940-1965

Question 41

A period of judicial and legal activism, that is, the treatment of tests in court cases and legislation, emerged during what period in the history of testing?

A) 1920s
B) 1940s
C) 1960s
D) 1980s

Question 42

Which was NOT one of the issues in the emergence of the period of judicial and legal activism affecting testing?

A) the accountability movement in education
B) the civil rights movement
C) concern for the handicapped/disabled
D) concern for gifted students

Question 43

We know that making tests amenable to machine scoring was NOT a factor in the early development of multiple-choice tests because -

A) machines to score tests did not become available until later
B) the machines to score tests were much too expensive
C) the machines were not reliable
D) scoring machines were available as early as 1800 but were not used

Question 44

Which is NOT one of the major trends the textbook identifies for the period "And Now: 2000-Present"?

A) a great increase in the number of tests
B) influence of managed care
C) online administration and reporting of tests
D) changing definitions of what a test is

Question 45

Which law has led to a great increase in the number of statewide assessment programs for schools?

A) Americans with Disabilities Act
B) Civil Rights Act
C) Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
D) No Child Left Behind Act

Question 46

One of the influences of managed care on psychological testing is use of ___.

A) longer, more comprehensive tests
B) shorter, more focused tests
C) more tests in non-English languages
D) more un-timed tests

Question 47

Emphasizing a careful link between diagnosis and treatment is one of the demands of ___

A) educational accountability
B) test reliability
C) managed care
D) judicial activism

Question 48

Among the most recent trends in psychological testing, the textbook mentions the development of computer programs that ___

A) correct for guessing on multiple-choice tests
B) simulate human judgment
C) convert raw scores to normed scores
D) provide test items in multiple languages

Question 49

Computer programs that try to simulate human judgment in scoring responses to test items, such as essays, are technically known as _____

A) Automated scoring
B) Simulators
C) Human substitutes
D) Computer judging

Question 50

The text notes that "whatever the psychologist does in practice should be based on sound evidence." This notion is encapsulated in the term _________

A) Always evidence
B) Evidence-based practice
C) Psycho-evidence
D) Practice-preach

Question 51

The textbook identifies several major influences on the development of testing as we know it today. Which is NOT one of those forces?

A) the rise of clinical psychology
B) computers
C) concern for the individual
D) the environmental movement

Question 52

Which statistical technique was developed partly in connection with ongoing debates about the nature of intelligence?

A) factor analysis
B) analysis of variance
C) the standard deviation
D) the semi-interquartile range

Question 53

Which of these specialties within psychology has been most important in the development of the field of testing?

A) developmental psychology
B) social psychology
C) physiological psychology
D) clinical psychology

Question 54

When we refer to "machine-scored answer sheets" for tests, what device do we actually put the answer sheets into?

A) scanner
B) personal computer
C) mainframe computer
D) fax

Question 55

Which is NOT one of the areas identified as an influence of computers on testing?

A) score reporting
B) test administration
C) cost of testing
D) statistical processing

Question 56

In computer-adaptive testing, items are selected for presentation to an examinee based on -

A) random sequencing of items
B) correct/incorrect responses to previous items
C) amount of time needed for responding
D) length of item stems for each item

Question 57

The technical, theoretical side of the field of testing is known as -

A) psychometrics
B) intellective mechanics
C) quantum cognition
D) edu-measures