What’s different about this book compared to other online and print materials about educational and psychological testing?

This ebook presents three chapters that describe foundational material essential to graduate courses in educational and psychological testing. While many texts assume students understand these basics, in my master’s and doctoral level courses many, if not most of the students, have had little or no exposure to basic testing concepts. In my courses we spend several weeks learning and reviewing basic concepts of reliability and validity, types of psychological measurements (e.g., self-reports, observational strategies, qualitative assessments) and test components (i.e., elements of test construction, administration, scoring, and interpretation).

This foundational material provides a basis for further learning related to educational and psychological testing. This elemental knowledge is a necessary prerequisite whether further study consists of (a) a review of specific test domains and tests (such as intelligence testing or vocational testing), which occurs in many masters level courses, or (b) examination of content related to the history, theory, development, and application of testing, often the foci of doctoral courses.

Finding information about contemporary psychological testing can be surprisingly difficult.  Different testing texts, for example, emphasize different concepts, tests, and purposes, leaving the student and instructor to locate material that best matches their particular professional domain.  This ebook provides a representative core of key concepts that overlap diverse domains of psychological testing; its secondary emphasis focuses on historical issues and clinical perspectives in testing. In additional, presenting this information as an ebook expands the online media students can employ to learn new material by supplementing text with hyperlinks to online references and explanations as well as teaching videos. Use of an ebook also presents certain efficiencies:  The Glossary presented at the start of the book, for example, also functions as an index.

Numerous authors have remarked on the lack of innovation in psychological testing. One of the explanations for the lack of substantial progress in the development of innovative tests is our inability to think beyond the paradigm of trait-based selection tests. This ebook provides a unique, if brief, introduction regarding the low power found in most contemporary tests to detect effects of interest. Central to that problem is the presence of method effects that may influence test scores more than the construct of interest. As a field, we also need a new generation of students better versed in testing, assessment, and measurement to demand and develop new types of educational and psychological tests.

I would appreciate receiving feedback, updates, or suggestions at the email below. In particular, I hope that instructors and students who locate useful videos will send links to me so that I can insert them into the master version of the ebook.

I should also note that some content and images are based on work in The Chronic Crisis in Psychological Measurement and Assessment (Meier, 1994) and Measuring Change in Counseling and Psychotherapy (Meier, 2008).

Finally, I want to thank Christopher Hollister and Stacy Snyder for the tremendous assistance you’ve provided regarding this ebook.  I really could not have done this without you.

Scott T. Meier, Ph.D.
stmeier@buffalo.edu
University at Buffalo
April, 2021