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Evaluation of Test Materials and Procedures

Evaluation of Test Materials and Procedures

Psychological issues in the society have increased drastically in the recent times and there is a need to take critical measures and to take these measures with urgency to reduce the impacts of these issues. Personality tests are critical in evaluation of the mental conditions of individuals as well as their personalities. The tests help psychologists to determine the problems associated with their clients, giving them the ability to treat and advise them appropriately. The personality tools examined in this paper are the NEO personality inventory test, the HEXACO model of personality structure and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). These three tests are crucial in determining the living standards of these people affected by psychological problems and they help the people and the psychologists to live a decent life that can be defined as positive (Morgeson, 2007).

Test Items and Format

These personality tests make use of well-structured questions to analyze the personality of a person as well as their psychological conditions, examining what issues they are likely to be facing. The NEO personality inventory test makes use of 240 questions to measure the five big personality traits and it is completed within a period of fifteen to thirty minutes. The HEXACO model of personality structure summarize the human personality characteristics based on yes-no questions. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) makes use of 567 true or false questions, which take approximately 60 minutes to 90 minutes to complete. These questions are made in audio or written form for ease of examination.

The tests identify scores based on the Honesty-Humanity (H), Emotionally (E), Extraversion (X), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C) and openness to experience (O) for HEXACO test and openness, consciousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism for the NEO personality inventory test and MMPI test (Costa Jr, 2008). The questions used in the tests are authentic and very friendly to the patient. They are also on point and they reflect the exact condition of the person from a psychological perspective. The questions, being of the yes-no format and true-false format are very easy to answer. The questions are however, quite many in all the tests and it is likely that the patients may get to tire up before finishing up the test. The tests are very effective and they are important in the psychology field.

Fair and Appropriate Materials

The use of audio test, administered by the psychologist make these tests very effective. The psychologists are always friendly and they create an environment where the patient feels comfortable, since they are able to communicate effectively without any form of tension. The arrangement of the questions is done in a way that creates a good environment for examination. The questions feature every aspect of psychology but in an indirect manner that cannot create an offensive reaction from the patient (Butcher, 2006). The only aspect that is negative about these tests is the quantity of the administered questions. Some psychological disorders create impatience in the patient and hence, they may not effectively answer the final questions.

The tests do not allow modification or accommodations. This is because the psychological aspects which are measured by these psychological tests are almost similar and the questions used cover all the aspects of the psychological aspects, hence, there is no need for modifications. These personality tests comply with AERA standards. One standard complied with in this case is the validity standards. This is positively implied since the results obtained have been found to comply with the set standards for psychological tests, including the used questions and the modes of application (Duran, 2006).

Use of Technology

These personality tests have made use of technology to advance the tests. This has been done with the automation of the tests where the results of the test, from the patients are automatically analyzed by the use of a computer to give accurate results in accordance with the programmed system (Ashton, 2008). Technology has been utilized in designing of the questions used. Research is done from time to time to determine the changes in human psychology, since the area is changing with time. As a result, the question formats and the content also change in order to make sure that the tests give perfect results about the conditions of the affected persons, without making much reference to the old modes.

Synthesis of Findings

With these tests, I found two major strengths. One is the type of questions used. The use of friendly questions which are not offensive to the clients. Some clients take offense on issues which seem to touch directly on their personality. The questions used here are very friendly and they do not touch on the client’s personal issues which he or she may not react positively on and may end up giving false information. The alternate use of questionnaires and voice make it easy for the client since he or she chooses what they prefer. The weakness associated with these personality tests is the applicability on some clients. Some personality and psychological issues may not allow a client to answer to questions effectively, making it hard to determine their psychological issues.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The NEO personality inventory test, the HEXACO model of personality and the MMPI personality tests are effective in determining the psychological status of a person. They make proper use of formatted questions and time to examine the client and they are very friendly. Their use may however be hard for people with serious issues and are not able to answer the questions effectively. These personality tests can be improved by making the process shorter by improving the validity of the test, making use of imperial validity. They may also be improved by designing the questions in a way that they can be effective for all categories by working on their precision (Duran, 2006). To improve the quality of the tests, it is also important to work on the number of questions and adjust them depending with the client’s condition.

References

Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2007). Empirical, theoretical, and practical advantages of the HEXACO model of personality structure. Personality and social psychology review, 11(2), 150-166.

Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2008). The HEXACO model of personality structure and the importance of the H factor. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(5), 1952-1962.

Butcher, J. N. (2006). MMPI-2: A practitioner's guide. American Psychological Association.

Costa Jr, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (2008). The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R).

Duran, R. P., Eisenhart, M. A., Erickson, F. D., Grant, C. A., Green, J. L., Hedges, L. V., & Schneider, B. L. (2006). Standards for reporting on empirical social science research in AERA publications: American Educational Research Association. Educational Researcher, 35(6), 33-40.

Maples, J. L., Guan, L., Carter, N. T., & Miller, J. D. (2014). A test of the International Personality Item Pool representation of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory and development of a 120-item IPIP-based measure of the five-factor model. Psychological Assessment, 26(4), 1070.

Morgeson, F. P., Campion, M. A., Dipboye, R. L., Hollenbeck, J. R., Murphy, K., & Schmitt, N. (2007). Reconsidering the use of personality tests in personnel selection contexts. Personnel psychology, 60(3), 683-729.