ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION • Instead, the TAT was presented as an instrument for evaluating human personality
• The Role of Testing and Assessment in Education characteristics.
o How well have students learned and mastered the subject matter they were taught? • Indeed, TAT is one of the most, important techniques used in personality research (Kaplan
o To what extent are students able to apply what they have learned to novel and Sacuzzo, 2005). TAT is based on Murray’s (1938) theory, which distinguishes 28 human
circumstances and situations? needs. Including the needs for sex, affiliation, achievement, and dominance. Many of these
o Which students have demonstrated the ability or skills necessary to move on to the needs have been extensively researched through the use of the TAT.
next level of learning? • The stimulus materials consisted, as they do today, of 31 cards, one of which is blank. The
o Which students have demonstrated the ability or skills necessary for independent 30 picture cards, all black-and-white, contain a variety of scenes designed to present the test
living? taker with “certain classical human situations” (Murray, 1943)
o What are the challenges or obstacles that are preventing an individual student from • Some of the pictures contain a lone individual, some contain a group of people, and some
meeting educational objectives, and how can those obstacles best be overcome? contain no people. Some of the pictures appear to be as real as a photo; others are
o How effective are teachers in assisting students to master specific curriculum goals? surrealistic drawings.
o Do passing test scores on a curriculum-specific test genuinely reflect the fact that the • Test takers are introduced to the examination with the cover story that it is a test of
test takers have mastered the curriculum? imagination in which it is their task to tell what events led up to the scene in the picture,
o Do failing test scores on a curriculum-specific test really reflect the fact that the test what is happening at that moment, and what the outcome will be.
takers have not mastered the content of the curriculum • It is noteworthy that the noun apperception is derived from the verb apperceive, which may
• Important functions of standardized tools of assessment in education settings: be defined as to perceive in terms of past perceptions.
o Are used for screening purposes. ➢ TAT is more structured and less ambiguous than the Rorschach.
o Diagnostic data may be used to identify area of weakness that require remediation ➢ TAT contains 30 pictures and 1 blank card.
or other educational intervention and/or where do students excel as well. ➢ Specific cards are designed for males, others for female. Few of the cards are appropriate
o Indispensable for purposes of comparison. for all subjects (older people and young ones).
• Dynamic Assessment — an evaluation method used to identify an individual's skills as well ➢ Most examiners typically state something like: “I am going to show you some pictures. I want
as their learning potential. you to tell me a story about each picture. Tell me what led up to the story, what is happening,
what the characteristics are thinking, and feeling, and what the outcome will be.”
ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY (PART 2)
Non-Pictorial Projective Procedures
Objective Methods
• Typically associated with paper-and-pencil and computer-administered personality tests, • Word Association Test – The psychologist says a word and you say the first word that comes
objective methods of personality assessment characteristically contain short answer items to your mind. For example: the first word is hat. You reply coat.
for which the assessee’s task is to select one response from the two or more provided. ➢ The purpose of word association test is to tap possible disturbances and areas of conflict
• The scoring is done according to set procedures involving little, if any, judgment on the part from an individual’s response on a specific word.
of the scorer. o The use of word association test dates back to Galton (1879) and was first used on a
• As with tests of ability, objective methods of personality assessment may include items clinical basis by Carl Jung (1910) and Rosanoff (1910)
written in a multiple-choice, true–false, or matching format o Rosanoff developed a list of 100 standard words and presented them to a sample of
• For example, on a personality test where a true response is deemed indicative of the 1000 normal adults who were partially stratified by geographic location, education,
occupation, age, and intelligence. An objective scoring system was developed.
presence of a particular trait, a number of true responses to true–false items will be
interpreted with reference to the presumed strength of that trait in the test taker. However, Word Association Test, enjoyed moderate popularity in the 1920’s and
1930’s
• Objective personality tests share many advantages with objective tests of ability. The items
can be answered quickly, allowing the administration of many items covering varied aspects • Sentence Completion Tests — refers to a task in which the assessee is asked to finish an
of the trait or traits the test is designed to assess. incomplete sentence or phrase.
➢ a semi structured projective technique of personality assessment that involves the
• Objective items can usually be scored quickly and reliably by varied means, from hand
presentation of a list of words that begin a sentence and the assessee’s task is to
scoring (usually with the aid of a template held over the test form) to computer scoring
respond by finishing each sentence with whatever word or words come to mind (e.g:
• Analysis and interpretation of such tests may be almost as fast as scoring, especially if
I like to __________)
conducted by computer and custom software.
• In contrast to the scoring of, say, essay tests, the scoring of objective, multiple-choice tests
Human Figure Drawing Test
of ability left little room for emotion, bias, or favoritism on the part of the test scorer.
• Ultimately, the term objective as applied to most personality tests may be best thought of Another set of projective tests uses expressive techniques, in which a subject is asked to create
as a shorthand description for a test format. something, usually a drawing.
• Objective personality tests are objective in the sense that they employ a short answer • The Draw-Man-Test (developed by Florence Goodenough in 1926) — the first scientific
(typically multiple-choice) format, one that provides little, if any, room for discretion in terms human figure drawing test which was used to assess children’s level of intelligence.
of scoring o The Draw-a-Person Test (developed by Karen Machover in 1949) is the most heavily
used and popular form of human figure drawing. The subject is usually asked to draw
Projective Hypothesis a person, and asked what the person is doing.
• The House-Tree-Person Test (Buck, 1948) in which the subject draws a picture of a house-
➢ holds that an individual supplies structure to unstructured stimuli in a manner consistent
Tree-Person, and makes up a story about it.
with the individual’s own unique pattern of conscious and unconscious needs, fears, desires,
• The Kinetic Family Drawing Test (Buns and Kaufman, 1970, 1972), the subject draws a picture
impulses, conflicts, and ways of perceiving and responding.
of his or her family.
• Projective Method — a technique of personality assessment in which some judgment of the
• Projective drawing tests are scores on several dimensions, including absolute size, omissions,
assessee’s personality is made on the basis of performance on a task that involves supplying
and disproportions.
some sort of structure to unstructured or incomplete stimuli.
o For example, in drawing her family, a child may omit herself. Interpreters might then
• Numerous definitions have been created for the primary rationale underlying projective
assume that the child feels alienated from her family.
tests, known as projective hypothesis.
o In drawing a house-tree-person, the child might draw himself in the house looking
• Simply stated, this hypothesis proposes that when people attempt to understand an out, perhaps, reflecting a feeling of being isolated or trapped (Kaplan and Sacuzzo,
ambiguous or vague stimulus, the interpretation of that stimulus REFLECTS their needs, 2005)
feelings, experiences, prior conditioning, thought process, and so forth.
o When a frightened little boy looks into a dark room and sees a huge shadow that he
SUMMARY
interprets as monster, he is projecting his fear onto the shadow. In short, what the
child really sees is a reflection of the inner working of his mind. • According to projective hypothesis, interpretations of ambiguous or vague stimulus reflect
• The same response to the same stimulus may have several possible meanings, depending the subject’s own needs, feelings, experiences, prior conditioning, thought process, and so
on the characteristics of the people who make the response. forth.
• A possible problem with all projective tests is that many factors can influence one’s response • The Rorschach is the preeminent projective test. Five individuals played a dominant role in
to them. its development: Beck, Hertz, Klopfer, Piotrowski, Parapport.
o For example, a response may reflect a recent experience or any early experience one • Rorschach administration involves two phases: free association and inquiry.
has forgotten. It may reflect something that one witnessed (a bloody murder) or • The Rorschach is extremely controversial, it has been attacked for its lack of standardized
something one imagines rather than something one has actually experienced directly methods of administration, scoring, and interpretation.
(Kaplan & Sacuzzo, 2005) • The Holtzman Inkblot Test is an alternative to Rorschach but the value of its projective test
o It may reflect day to day problems, such as argument with someone. It is no wonder has not yet been determined.
that the validity of projective tests has been seriously questioned • The TAT stimuli consist of 30 pictures of various scenes, and one blank card.
• Arguably, the interpretation of projective tests required highly trained, experienced • Specific cards are suited for adults, children, men, and women. In administering the TAT, the
practitioners, but even an expert can easily draw the wrong conclusions (Kaplan & Sacuzzo, examiner asks the subject to make up a story.
2005) • Like the Rorschach, TAT has strong supporters but has also been attacked on variety of
scientific grounds.
The Rorschach Inkblot Test • Some similarities between Rorschach and TAT: both projective tests measuring human
• Hermann Rorschach — developed what he called a “form interpretation test” using inkblots functioning and personality characteristics. Poorly standardized for administration, scoring
as the forms to be interpreted. and interpretation, poor reliability.
• In 1921 he published his monograph on the technique, Psychodiagnostics. In the last section • The Rorschach are stimuli and TAT depict scenes.
of that monograph, Rorschach proposed applications of his test to personality assessment. • TAT finds extensive use in research as well as in clinical settings, the Rorschach is primarily a
• Despite its scientific inadequacies, the Rorschach has been called everything from a clinical tool.
psychological X-ray (Piotrowski, 1980), and “perhaps the most powerful psychometric
instrument ever envisioned” (Board of Professional Affairs, 1998). CLINICAL, COUNSELLING ASSESSMENT
• After experimenting with thousands of such inkblots, Rorschach selected 20. However, the Clinical psychology — the branch of psychology that has as its primary focus the prevention,
test publisher would only pay for 10. So, Rorschach selected 10. diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal behavior.
• Of 10 initially selected, five were black and gray, two contained black, gray, and red, and Clinical psychologists — receive training in psychological assessment and psychotherapy and are
three contained pastel colors or various shades. employed in hospitals, public and private mental health centers, independent practice, and
• PROBLEMS WITH RORSCHACH academia.
o In 1960’s, research began a long trend that has lasted to present and has revealed Counseling psychology — a branch of psychology that is concerned with the prevention, diagnosis,
that the Rorschach was less than miraculous. With the application of clinical methods and treatment of abnormal behavior.
of evaluation, there continue to be clear indications that even the elite Rorschach
did not possess the ability to divine true diagnosis. • Does this patient have a mental disorder? and If so, what is the diagnosis?
o Other problems found in Rorschach were: lack of norms, over pathologizing, • The use of assessment tools such as interviews, a test, and case history data
unreliable scoring, lack of relationship with psychological diagnosis. • What is this person’s current level of functioning? How does this level of functioning compare
o In sum, evaluating the Rorschach on psychometric properties such as with that of other people of the same age? – the case of individual suffering from Alzheimer’s
standardization, norms, reliability, ad validity has proven exceptionally difficult. disease.
o Kaplan and Sacuzzo (2005) suggested that other tests be used to evaluate brain • What type of treatment shall this patient be offered?
damage in this individual. • How can this person’s personality best be described?
The Thematic Apperception Test The Diagnosis of Mental Disorder
• TAT was introduced in 1935 by Christina Morgan and Henry Murray of Harvard University. DSM (referred to as DSM-5) — names and describes all mental disorders.
• The Role of Testing and Assessment in Education characteristics.
o How well have students learned and mastered the subject matter they were taught? • Indeed, TAT is one of the most, important techniques used in personality research (Kaplan
o To what extent are students able to apply what they have learned to novel and Sacuzzo, 2005). TAT is based on Murray’s (1938) theory, which distinguishes 28 human
circumstances and situations? needs. Including the needs for sex, affiliation, achievement, and dominance. Many of these
o Which students have demonstrated the ability or skills necessary to move on to the needs have been extensively researched through the use of the TAT.
next level of learning? • The stimulus materials consisted, as they do today, of 31 cards, one of which is blank. The
o Which students have demonstrated the ability or skills necessary for independent 30 picture cards, all black-and-white, contain a variety of scenes designed to present the test
living? taker with “certain classical human situations” (Murray, 1943)
o What are the challenges or obstacles that are preventing an individual student from • Some of the pictures contain a lone individual, some contain a group of people, and some
meeting educational objectives, and how can those obstacles best be overcome? contain no people. Some of the pictures appear to be as real as a photo; others are
o How effective are teachers in assisting students to master specific curriculum goals? surrealistic drawings.
o Do passing test scores on a curriculum-specific test genuinely reflect the fact that the • Test takers are introduced to the examination with the cover story that it is a test of
test takers have mastered the curriculum? imagination in which it is their task to tell what events led up to the scene in the picture,
o Do failing test scores on a curriculum-specific test really reflect the fact that the test what is happening at that moment, and what the outcome will be.
takers have not mastered the content of the curriculum • It is noteworthy that the noun apperception is derived from the verb apperceive, which may
• Important functions of standardized tools of assessment in education settings: be defined as to perceive in terms of past perceptions.
o Are used for screening purposes. ➢ TAT is more structured and less ambiguous than the Rorschach.
o Diagnostic data may be used to identify area of weakness that require remediation ➢ TAT contains 30 pictures and 1 blank card.
or other educational intervention and/or where do students excel as well. ➢ Specific cards are designed for males, others for female. Few of the cards are appropriate
o Indispensable for purposes of comparison. for all subjects (older people and young ones).
• Dynamic Assessment — an evaluation method used to identify an individual's skills as well ➢ Most examiners typically state something like: “I am going to show you some pictures. I want
as their learning potential. you to tell me a story about each picture. Tell me what led up to the story, what is happening,
what the characteristics are thinking, and feeling, and what the outcome will be.”
ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY (PART 2)
Non-Pictorial Projective Procedures
Objective Methods
• Typically associated with paper-and-pencil and computer-administered personality tests, • Word Association Test – The psychologist says a word and you say the first word that comes
objective methods of personality assessment characteristically contain short answer items to your mind. For example: the first word is hat. You reply coat.
for which the assessee’s task is to select one response from the two or more provided. ➢ The purpose of word association test is to tap possible disturbances and areas of conflict
• The scoring is done according to set procedures involving little, if any, judgment on the part from an individual’s response on a specific word.
of the scorer. o The use of word association test dates back to Galton (1879) and was first used on a
• As with tests of ability, objective methods of personality assessment may include items clinical basis by Carl Jung (1910) and Rosanoff (1910)
written in a multiple-choice, true–false, or matching format o Rosanoff developed a list of 100 standard words and presented them to a sample of
• For example, on a personality test where a true response is deemed indicative of the 1000 normal adults who were partially stratified by geographic location, education,
occupation, age, and intelligence. An objective scoring system was developed.
presence of a particular trait, a number of true responses to true–false items will be
interpreted with reference to the presumed strength of that trait in the test taker. However, Word Association Test, enjoyed moderate popularity in the 1920’s and
1930’s
• Objective personality tests share many advantages with objective tests of ability. The items
can be answered quickly, allowing the administration of many items covering varied aspects • Sentence Completion Tests — refers to a task in which the assessee is asked to finish an
of the trait or traits the test is designed to assess. incomplete sentence or phrase.
➢ a semi structured projective technique of personality assessment that involves the
• Objective items can usually be scored quickly and reliably by varied means, from hand
presentation of a list of words that begin a sentence and the assessee’s task is to
scoring (usually with the aid of a template held over the test form) to computer scoring
respond by finishing each sentence with whatever word or words come to mind (e.g:
• Analysis and interpretation of such tests may be almost as fast as scoring, especially if
I like to __________)
conducted by computer and custom software.
• In contrast to the scoring of, say, essay tests, the scoring of objective, multiple-choice tests
Human Figure Drawing Test
of ability left little room for emotion, bias, or favoritism on the part of the test scorer.
• Ultimately, the term objective as applied to most personality tests may be best thought of Another set of projective tests uses expressive techniques, in which a subject is asked to create
as a shorthand description for a test format. something, usually a drawing.
• Objective personality tests are objective in the sense that they employ a short answer • The Draw-Man-Test (developed by Florence Goodenough in 1926) — the first scientific
(typically multiple-choice) format, one that provides little, if any, room for discretion in terms human figure drawing test which was used to assess children’s level of intelligence.
of scoring o The Draw-a-Person Test (developed by Karen Machover in 1949) is the most heavily
used and popular form of human figure drawing. The subject is usually asked to draw
Projective Hypothesis a person, and asked what the person is doing.
• The House-Tree-Person Test (Buck, 1948) in which the subject draws a picture of a house-
➢ holds that an individual supplies structure to unstructured stimuli in a manner consistent
Tree-Person, and makes up a story about it.
with the individual’s own unique pattern of conscious and unconscious needs, fears, desires,
• The Kinetic Family Drawing Test (Buns and Kaufman, 1970, 1972), the subject draws a picture
impulses, conflicts, and ways of perceiving and responding.
of his or her family.
• Projective Method — a technique of personality assessment in which some judgment of the
• Projective drawing tests are scores on several dimensions, including absolute size, omissions,
assessee’s personality is made on the basis of performance on a task that involves supplying
and disproportions.
some sort of structure to unstructured or incomplete stimuli.
o For example, in drawing her family, a child may omit herself. Interpreters might then
• Numerous definitions have been created for the primary rationale underlying projective
assume that the child feels alienated from her family.
tests, known as projective hypothesis.
o In drawing a house-tree-person, the child might draw himself in the house looking
• Simply stated, this hypothesis proposes that when people attempt to understand an out, perhaps, reflecting a feeling of being isolated or trapped (Kaplan and Sacuzzo,
ambiguous or vague stimulus, the interpretation of that stimulus REFLECTS their needs, 2005)
feelings, experiences, prior conditioning, thought process, and so forth.
o When a frightened little boy looks into a dark room and sees a huge shadow that he
SUMMARY
interprets as monster, he is projecting his fear onto the shadow. In short, what the
child really sees is a reflection of the inner working of his mind. • According to projective hypothesis, interpretations of ambiguous or vague stimulus reflect
• The same response to the same stimulus may have several possible meanings, depending the subject’s own needs, feelings, experiences, prior conditioning, thought process, and so
on the characteristics of the people who make the response. forth.
• A possible problem with all projective tests is that many factors can influence one’s response • The Rorschach is the preeminent projective test. Five individuals played a dominant role in
to them. its development: Beck, Hertz, Klopfer, Piotrowski, Parapport.
o For example, a response may reflect a recent experience or any early experience one • Rorschach administration involves two phases: free association and inquiry.
has forgotten. It may reflect something that one witnessed (a bloody murder) or • The Rorschach is extremely controversial, it has been attacked for its lack of standardized
something one imagines rather than something one has actually experienced directly methods of administration, scoring, and interpretation.
(Kaplan & Sacuzzo, 2005) • The Holtzman Inkblot Test is an alternative to Rorschach but the value of its projective test
o It may reflect day to day problems, such as argument with someone. It is no wonder has not yet been determined.
that the validity of projective tests has been seriously questioned • The TAT stimuli consist of 30 pictures of various scenes, and one blank card.
• Arguably, the interpretation of projective tests required highly trained, experienced • Specific cards are suited for adults, children, men, and women. In administering the TAT, the
practitioners, but even an expert can easily draw the wrong conclusions (Kaplan & Sacuzzo, examiner asks the subject to make up a story.
2005) • Like the Rorschach, TAT has strong supporters but has also been attacked on variety of
scientific grounds.
The Rorschach Inkblot Test • Some similarities between Rorschach and TAT: both projective tests measuring human
• Hermann Rorschach — developed what he called a “form interpretation test” using inkblots functioning and personality characteristics. Poorly standardized for administration, scoring
as the forms to be interpreted. and interpretation, poor reliability.
• In 1921 he published his monograph on the technique, Psychodiagnostics. In the last section • The Rorschach are stimuli and TAT depict scenes.
of that monograph, Rorschach proposed applications of his test to personality assessment. • TAT finds extensive use in research as well as in clinical settings, the Rorschach is primarily a
• Despite its scientific inadequacies, the Rorschach has been called everything from a clinical tool.
psychological X-ray (Piotrowski, 1980), and “perhaps the most powerful psychometric
instrument ever envisioned” (Board of Professional Affairs, 1998). CLINICAL, COUNSELLING ASSESSMENT
• After experimenting with thousands of such inkblots, Rorschach selected 20. However, the Clinical psychology — the branch of psychology that has as its primary focus the prevention,
test publisher would only pay for 10. So, Rorschach selected 10. diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal behavior.
• Of 10 initially selected, five were black and gray, two contained black, gray, and red, and Clinical psychologists — receive training in psychological assessment and psychotherapy and are
three contained pastel colors or various shades. employed in hospitals, public and private mental health centers, independent practice, and
• PROBLEMS WITH RORSCHACH academia.
o In 1960’s, research began a long trend that has lasted to present and has revealed Counseling psychology — a branch of psychology that is concerned with the prevention, diagnosis,
that the Rorschach was less than miraculous. With the application of clinical methods and treatment of abnormal behavior.
of evaluation, there continue to be clear indications that even the elite Rorschach
did not possess the ability to divine true diagnosis. • Does this patient have a mental disorder? and If so, what is the diagnosis?
o Other problems found in Rorschach were: lack of norms, over pathologizing, • The use of assessment tools such as interviews, a test, and case history data
unreliable scoring, lack of relationship with psychological diagnosis. • What is this person’s current level of functioning? How does this level of functioning compare
o In sum, evaluating the Rorschach on psychometric properties such as with that of other people of the same age? – the case of individual suffering from Alzheimer’s
standardization, norms, reliability, ad validity has proven exceptionally difficult. disease.
o Kaplan and Sacuzzo (2005) suggested that other tests be used to evaluate brain • What type of treatment shall this patient be offered?
damage in this individual. • How can this person’s personality best be described?
The Thematic Apperception Test The Diagnosis of Mental Disorder
• TAT was introduced in 1935 by Christina Morgan and Henry Murray of Harvard University. DSM (referred to as DSM-5) — names and describes all mental disorders.
