Deck 5: Assessment: Overview

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT a purpose of psychological assessment?

A) Evaluating cognitive abilities
B) Determining the extent of emotional impairment
C) Using tone of voice to determine mental disorder
D) Evaluating level of functioning based on the report of patient or other informants

Answer 1

Using tone of voice to determine mental disorder

Question 2

Screening may occur at which of the following sites?

A) Clinic
B) School
C) Employment setting
D) All of the above

Answer 2

All of the above

Question 3

What is one type of technical skill required to conduct a psychological assessment?

A) Effective use of the assessment methods
B) Responsive communication of findings and recommendation
C) Case conceptualization
D) All of the above

Answer 3

All of the above

Question 4

What of the following is a TRUE statement?

A) All clinical psychologists are highly skilled researchers.
B) All clinical psychologists are licensed to perform treatment.
C) All clinical psychologists are trained to conduct assessments.
D) All clinical psychologists are skilled at automatic decision making.

Question 5

Which of the following is TRUE about child custody evaluations?

A) All divorcing parents have to go through child custody evaluations.
B) A small minority of parents order child custody evaluations when they going through a divorce.
C) Occasionally judges will pursue child custody evaluations when parents are unable to reach an agreement.
D) None of the above

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT part of the core competencies in psychological assessment?

A) Empathetic
B) Scientific
C) Theoretical
D) Contextual

Question 7

Which of the following tasks are conducted during psychological assessment?

A)Data collection
B) Develop hypotheses
C) Address inconsistencies
D) All of the above

Question 8

Which of following best defines the term prognosis?

A) Intervention to improve the person's functioning, with the assessment data being used in support of this service.
B) Using assessment data, in combination with relevant empirical literature, to make predictions about the future course of a patient's psychological functioning
C) Using interview and testing data to render a comprehensive representation of the patient's psychological functioning
D) A form of DSM-IV Diagnosis

Question 9

Which of the following is TRUE about psychologists that perform child custody evaluations?

A) Expertise in child development
B) Expertise in psychological assessment
C) Informed opinions about optimal parenting plans
D) All of the above

Question 10

Which of the following is the BEST example of psychological assessment as a stand-alone service?

A) Psychoanalysis
B) Child custody evaluations
C) Intervention focused
D) Psychosocial

Question 11

What term is more commonly used today, replacing the term psychodiagnosis?

A) Case formulation
B) Screening
C) Conceptualization
D) Diagnosis

Question 12

Which of the following procedures is used to assess individuals that may have problems of a clinical magnitude?

A) Diagnosis
B) Screening
C) Case formulation
D) Prognosis

Question 13

What does base-rate refer to in terms of psychological diagnoses?

A) The frequency with which the diagnosis occurs in the population
B) The prediction of non-events
C) That routine treatment monitoring can substantially affect treatment outcome
D) None of the above

Question 14

Which of the following is NOT true about psychological assessment?

A) It is the primary clinical service
B) It is a central part of the role of a clinical psychologist
C) It is only done in the initial stages of meeting with a client
D) It can be used to evaluate memory impairment

Question 15

What is inevitable in terms of psychological prognoses?

A) Large cost to the a client's health insurance
B) Prediction errors
C) Many hours of the client's time
D) Reduced time for intervention

Question 16

It is important when conducting a clinical assessment to be aware of which of the following?

A) Religious Beliefs
B) Cognitive level of the client
C) Ethnicity
D) All of the above

Question 17

At which stage of clinical predications can errors occur?

A) Screening
B) Diagnosis
C) Case formulation
D) All of the above

Question 18

In the past, the term psychodiagnosis referred to

A) intervening to improve the person's functioning, with the assessment data being used in support of this service.
B) the use of assessment data, in combination with relevant empirical literature, to make predictions about the future course of a patient's psychological functioning
C) the process in which the psychologist used interview and testing data to render a comprehensive representation of the patient's psychological functioning
D) None of the above

Question 19

Knowing the diagnosis for an individual helps clinician:

A) obtain information on the types of treatment options that have been effective in clinical trials.
B) communicate with other health professionals about etiology and prognosis.
C) search the scientific literature for associated features.
D) All of the above

Question 20

Who can make a request for a psychological assessment?

A) A health management organization
B) An insurance company
C) A judge
D) All of the above

Question 21

What standards does a psychological test have to demonstrate?

A) Must be comprehensive in every way possible
B) Reliable
C) Must require long term training to administer
D) All of the above

Question 22

Which of the following reduces variability in psychological testing situations?

A) Detailed instruction regarding stimuli
B) Time limits
C) Verbal probes permissible to the client's questions
D) All of the above

Question 23

What best describes treatment monitoring?

A) It enables the psychologist to change the treatment plan based upon the patient's response to treatment
B) Using assessment data, in combination with relevant empirical literature, to make predictions about the future course of a patient's psychological functioning
C) Using interview and testing data to render a comprehensive representation of the patient's psychological functioning
D) The process by which information about the client are used in combination with the scientific literature on psychotherapy to develop a proposed course of action to address the client's needs.

Question 24

What is NOT true about standardization?

A) Refers to consistency across clinicians and testing occasions in the procedure used to administer and score the test.
B) Without it a clinician could not replicate the information gathered in an assessment.
C) Without it the data would not be able to be generalized to testing by another psychologist
D) Standardization is not necessary when researchers are working with a minority group with a relatively small population.

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT true about treatment evaluation?

A) It is used to document the extent to which psychological services such as psychotherapy are effective in achieving stated goals.
B) Outcome data is too subjective and therefore is ineffective at measuring improvement in any part of psychological services.
C) One study showed that there is no significant correlation between the mental health professional's perception of client improvement and data from self-report measures completed by client.
D) None of the above.

Question 26

Which of the following correctly describes inter-rater or inter-scorer reliability?

A) All aspects of a test contribute in a meaningful way to the data obtained.
B) Similar results would be obtained if the person was retested at some point after the initial test.
C) Similar results would be obtained if the test was conducted and/or scored by another evaluator.
D) None of the above

Question 27

Which of the following correctly describes specificity in terms of accuracy and errors?

A) It refers to the number of times an event is predicted, across cases, compared with the total number of times that the event actually occurs.
B) It refers to the number of times a non-event is predicted across cases compared with the total number of times that non-event occurred.
C) It refers to the number of times a non-event is predicted, across cases, compared with the total number of times an event occurred.
D) It refers to the number of times a event is predicted, across cases, compared with the total number of times a non-event occurred.

Question 28

What best describes Ogles et al. (2002) data monitoring system?

A) This is a system that uses a graph depicting typical client progress and using it for comparison at which the progress of a specific client can be charted.
B) This is a system that uses assessment to provide information to clinicians so they can then provide accurate estimates to clients and any third party payers about the likely benefits, duration, and costs of treatment.
C) This is a system that uses comparisons of various assessments to lead to quality assurance strategies for improvements in areas of suboptimal service delivery.
D) None of the above

Question 29

What does false positive refer to?

A) The psychologist diagnosis a child with ADHD, but the child does not have the disorder.
B) The prediction that a suicide attempt would not occur was accurate.
C) The diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder was warranted.
D) The psychologist fails to diagnose someone with a personality disorder.

Question 30

Which of the following correctly describes test-retest reliability?

A) All aspects of a test contribute in a meaningful way to the data obtained.
B) Similar results would be obtained if the person was retested at some point after the initial test.
C) Similar results would be obtained if the test was conducted and/or scored by another evaluator.
D) None of the above

Question 31

Which of the following correctly describes internal consistency?

A) All aspects of a test contribute in a meaningful way to the data obtained.
B) Similar results would be obtained if the person was retested at some point after the initial test.
C) Similar results would be obtained if the test was conducted and/or scored by another evaluator.
D) None of the above

Question 32

Which of the following is not TRUE about psychological testing on the internet?

A) On-line testing is a great substitute for assessment.
B) Many psychological tests in questionnaire format can be adapted for on-line administration.
C) On-line completion of tests allows for accurate scoring and rapid feedback
D) All of the above

Question 33

What does true positive refer to?

A) The psychologist diagnosis a child with ADHD, but the child does not have the disorder.
B) The prediction that a suicide attempt would not occur was accurate.
C) The diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder was warranted.
D) The psychologist fails to diagnose someone with a personality disorder.

Question 34

In terms of research, what value of internal consistency have many authors suggested is the minimum required for clinical tests?

A) .30
B) .50
C) .70
D) .90

Question 35

Why does accurate psychological assessment of children and youth differ from adults?

A) Rapid cognitive development
B) Rapid physical development
C) Rapid emotional development
D) All of the above

Question 36

Michael Lambert et al. (2003) found after conducting a meta-analysis of three large-scale studies that treatment monitoring was:

A) effective in reducing client deterioration, but it did not enhance the positive effects of psychotherapy.
B) effective to reduce client deterioration and enhance the positive effects of psychotherapy.
C) ineffective in reducing client deterioration and enhancing the positive effects of psychotherapy.
D) ineffective in reducing client deterioration, but effective in enhancing the positive effects of psychotherapy.

Question 37

What best describes treatment planning?

A) It enables the psychologist to change the treatment plan based upon the patient's response to treatment
B) Using assessment data, in combination with relevant empirical literature, to make predictions about the future course of a patient's psychological functioning
C) Using interview and testing data to render a comprehensive representation of the patient's psychological functioning
D) The process by which information about the client are used in combination with the scientific literature on psychotherapy to develop a proposed course of action to address the client's needs.

Question 38

Which of the following correctly describes sensitivity in terms of accuracy and errors?

A) It refers to the number of times an event is predicted, across cases, compared with the total number of times that the event actually occurs.
B) It refers to the number of times a non-event is predicted across cases compared with the total number of times that non-event occurred.
C) It refers to the number of times a non-event is predicted, across cases, compared with the total number of times an event occurred.
D) It refers to the number of times a event is predicted, across cases, compared with the total number of times a non-event occurred.

Question 39

Treatment evaluation can improve upon an entire system of care in what way?

A) providing feedback to an individual psychologist.
B) making group comparisons.
C) training sessions to focus on improving the overall effectiveness of those working in the service setting.
D) All of the above

Question 40

A psychologist conducted assessments among inpatients in a patient care unit to predict who was at risk for future suicide attempts. In this example, what information does sensitivity provide?

A) How many times an assessment procedure will wrongly identify individuals who would not attempt suicide.
B) How well the assessment procedures were able to identify individuals who would not attempt suicide.
C) How well the assessment procedures were able to detect future suicide attempts.
D) None of the above.

Question 41

Which of the following assumptions about validity should not be made?

A) If a test has been shown valid for one purpose it can be assumed that it is valid for other purposes.
B) If a test have been shown valid for one ethnic group it can be assumed that it is valid for other ethnic groups.
C) It is a dichotomous variable
D) All of the above

Question 42

What type of validity ensures that the test provides data consistent with theoretical postulates associated with the phenomenon being assessed?

A) Content validity
B) Concurrent validity
C) Discriminate validity
D) Incremental validity

Question 43

What is a problem with using projective tests in clinical practice?

A) Not well focused on unconscious issues
B) Rely too heavily on self-report
C) Less likely to have acceptable levels of reliability and validity
D) All of the above

Question 44

According to a survey which of the following was NOT considered one of the top five tests rated as most important in assessment practices by clinicians?

A) Wechsler Intelligence Scales
B) Millon Inventories
C) Draw-A-Person Test
D) Thematic Apperception Test

Question 45

What type of validity ensures that the test actually includes items that are representative of all aspects of the underlying psychological construct the test is designed to measure?

A) Content validity
B) Concurrent validity
C) Discriminate validity
D) Incremental validity

Question 46

What type of validity ensures that the test provides a relatively pure measure of the construct that is minimally contaminated by other psychological constructs?

A) Content validity
B) Concurrent validity
C) Discriminate validity
D) Incremental validity

Question 47

What type of validity ensures that the measure adds to the prediction of a criterion above what can be predicted by other sources of data?

A) Content validity
B) Concurrent validity
C) Discriminate validity
D) Incremental validity

Question 48

Which of the following is NOT a main category of test norms?

A) Percentile ranks
B) Standard scores
C) Psychometrics
D) Developmental norms