Cultural, Ethical and Legal Considerations in Psychological Testing
Cultural, Ethical and Legal Considerations in Psychological Testing
Cultural Considerations in Psychological Testing
Culture differs in every part of the world and in these differences; psychology addresses the people who take part in the idea of culture and its practices. In psychological testing, many issues are raised regarding how such tests are appropriate for different groups of people, underlying their traditions, races, and sex. It has always been a challenge for testing and assessment to consider culture and how one cannot apply certain knowledge of psychology to the whole world because of diversity; that is why cultural considerations play a big role in psychological testing.
Generally, many cases had been filed to Western courts regarding how apt the existing tests are to different groups of people. According to Armour-Thomas and Gopaul-McNicol (1998), tests are not culturally biased because of at least three categories or assumptions: tests are culturally fair and items do not favor a particular cultural group; the tasks assess the cognitive abilities underlying intellectual behavior for all groups; and the tests accurately predict performance for all groups. But there are counter propositions that these ideas differ from. Aiken (1971) states that there are three points to be considered, test fairness, race norming, and differential prediction. The use of tests with groups other than those on which they were standardized raises the issue of test fairness. Basically, there are different forms of biases that should be considered to have test fairness; these are bias in construct validity, content validity, item selection, and predictive or criterion-related validity (Whiting-Ford, 2003). Aiken (1917) explains that Race norming is comparing applicants’ test scores only with those of their own ethnic group. Most of the time, test interpreters do not consider this; that is why statistical results vary greatly between different ethnic groups. Lastly,
Cultural Considerations in Psychological Testing
Culture differs in every part of the world and in these differences; psychology addresses the people who take part in the idea of culture and its practices. In psychological testing, many issues are raised regarding how such tests are appropriate for different groups of people, underlying their traditions, races, and sex. It has always been a challenge for testing and assessment to consider culture and how one cannot apply certain knowledge of psychology to the whole world because of diversity; that is why cultural considerations play a big role in psychological testing.
Generally, many cases had been filed to Western courts regarding how apt the existing tests are to different groups of people. According to Armour-Thomas and Gopaul-McNicol (1998), tests are not culturally biased because of at least three categories or assumptions: tests are culturally fair and items do not favor a particular cultural group; the tasks assess the cognitive abilities underlying intellectual behavior for all groups; and the tests accurately predict performance for all groups. But there are counter propositions that these ideas differ from. Aiken (1971) states that there are three points to be considered, test fairness, race norming, and differential prediction. The use of tests with groups other than those on which they were standardized raises the issue of test fairness. Basically, there are different forms of biases that should be considered to have test fairness; these are bias in construct validity, content validity, item selection, and predictive or criterion-related validity (Whiting-Ford, 2003). Aiken (1917) explains that Race norming is comparing applicants’ test scores only with those of their own ethnic group. Most of the time, test interpreters do not consider this; that is why statistical results vary greatly between different ethnic groups. Lastly,
References: Bersoff, D.N. (1981). Testing and the Law. American Psychologist, 36, 1047-1056. Graham, J.R. (1984). Psychological Testing. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall Inc.