ABS_300 Week 2 Discussion, Reliability, Validity and Cultural Fairness

Abs300 Week 2 Discussion 1 Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read Chapters 5 and 6 in the textbook and the required articles for this week. Take the role of a psychological examiner administering a standardized test of intelligence to Johnny, an 8-year-old boy, as a part of a research project. Carefully review the ABS300: Week Two Assessment Scenario . (Links to an external site.) In your initial post, begin by describing your current understanding of the concept of intelligence. Based on your description of intelligence, evaluate Johnny's response in comparison to the responses identified as correct in the standardization manual. Decide whether or not to score Johnny’s answer as correct or incorrect. Explain your rationale. Specify how scoring Johnny’s responses exactly by the manual might impact his true score on the intelligence measure. Analyze the "four seasons of the year" test item in terms of each of the following psychological measurement concepts: reliability, predictive validity, content validity, and cultural fairness. Evaluate the standards in the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct that address testing bias and the strategies for multicultural assessments discussed in the article by Horin, Hernandez & Donoso (2012) in light of the current scenario. Conclude your post by explaining how you would interpret the assessment results to Johnny and his parents. When I hear the word intelligence I think about knowledge and having the ability to apply the knowledge we obtain to situations. Intelligence is the ability to solve problems, and understand ideas as well as communicate. I believe everyone communicates differently depending on their own cultures and environments. Johnny provided answers according to his cultural context. To answer the question if Johnny’s answer is correct or incorrect I would have to say based on what I feel intelligence is Johnny’s answer would be correct. Although Johnny’s answer may be unique to many of us I have no doubt it is a normal answer for his environment. Johnny may not be able to give his answers in the standard way that one may be expected to answer, but his answers are social norms that are from his community. It would be of great interest to test other children in the same environment to see if their answers would be similar. We all learn the seasons as spring, summer, fall and winter at young ages. Johnny new the animals based on the hunting season in comparison. It’s crucial to learn about the community Johnny lives in to understand that all schools in that county close the day of the deer hunting season in his area of living. That is why Johnny provided the response and it is correct by his cultural background. However, when comparing this to what the test expects Johnny’s response to be it would be incorrect. The test does not meet the needs to Johnny’s cultural environment, the manual for the standardized test, specifies the correct answers are, spring, summer, winter, fall. However, test takers from minority cultures usually score lower as a group than people from the group for whom the test was created (Cohen, Swerdlik & Sturman, 2018). This affected Johnny’s scores dramatically therefore providing a low score on his intelligence test based of his answers of seasonal animals. When evaluating the “four seasons of the year test that Johnny was assessed on, which proves reliability, predictive validity, and content validity, I would debate that the test fails to provide cultural fairness, because Johnny understands the four seasons in a different way due to his cultural background. As our textbook states it is essential that the Assessors be sensitive to any differences between the language or dialect familiar to assesses and the language in which the assessment is conducted (Cohen, Swerdlik & Sturman, 2018). I would explain to Johnny’s parents what his answers where and that based on his cultural background they were correct, however we do need to make sure he understands the four basic four seasons as well. 9.06 Interpreting Assessment Results explains when psychologists are interpreting assessment results, they need to take into account the purpose of the assessment as well as the various test factors, test-taking abilities, and other characteristics of the person being assessed, such as situational, personal, linguistic, and cultural differences, that might affect psychologists' judgments or reduce the accuracy of their interpretations. They indicate any significant limitations of their interpretations (American Psychological Association, 2010). I would also explain to the parents how Johnny understands the seasons due to his cultural experiences and that his answers would be correct based on his environment and learning abilities. References American Psychological Association. (2010). Standard 9: Assessment (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from Cohen, R. J., Swerdlik, M. E., & Sturman, E. D. (2018). Psychological testing and assessment: An introduction to tests and measurement (9th ed.). Retrieved from