BCP Psychometric Concepts and Test Theory Questions and Answers 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In standardized testing, what does the 'basal rule' establish?
- The maximum number of items to administer
- The point at which testing is discontinued after consecutive failures
- The entry-level below which all preceding items are credited as correct (Correct answer)
- The minimum passing score for the assessment
Correct answer: The entry-level below which all preceding items are credited as correct
The basal rule establishes that all items below the basal level are assumed correct, ensuring the examinee is not tested on items far below their ability level.
Question 2: T-scores have a mean of ___ and a standard deviation of ___.
- 100 and 15
- 50 and 10 (Correct answer)
- 10 and 3
- 0 and 1
Correct answer: 50 and 10
T-scores are standardized to a mean of 50 and SD of 10, commonly used in personality assessment and many neuropsychological measures.
Question 3: Which correlation coefficient value indicates the strongest reliability?
- 0.40
- 0.60
- 0.75
- 0.92 (Correct answer)
Correct answer: 0.92
Reliability coefficients range from 0 to 1.0; a value of 0.92 is the closest to 1.0 and therefore indicates the highest degree of consistency.
Question 4: Age-equivalent scores are considered psychometrically problematic primarily because:
- They are difficult for untrained examiners to calculate
- They imply equal intervals between units that may not exist (Correct answer)
- They cannot be applied to examinees under age 5
- They require computerized scoring to be accurate
Correct answer: They imply equal intervals between units that may not exist
Age-equivalent scores falsely assume equal intervals, meaning a 1-year difference at age 6 is treated as equivalent to a 1-year difference at age 14, which is statistically unsound.
Question 5: Scaled scores, as used for WAIS-IV subtests, have a mean of ___ and standard deviation of ___.
- 100 and 15
- 50 and 10
- 10 and 3 (Correct answer)
- 0 and 1
Correct answer: 10 and 3
Subtest scaled scores on instruments like the WAIS-IV use a mean of 10 and standard deviation of 3, typically ranging from 1 to 19.
Question 6: 'Regression to the mean' in psychological testing refers to:
- Test scores declining with each repeated administration
- Extreme scores on first testing tending to be less extreme on retesting (Correct answer)
- The average score increasing over time across a population
- Scores from different tests converging to the same normative mean
Correct answer: Extreme scores on first testing tending to be less extreme on retesting
Regression to the mean describes the statistical tendency for very high or very low scores to move closer to the population mean upon retesting.
Question 7: Internal consistency reliability is most commonly assessed using which statistic?
- Pearson r correlation
- Cohen's kappa
- Cronbach's alpha (Correct answer)
- Standard error of the mean
Correct answer: Cronbach's alpha
Cronbach's alpha measures internal consistency by assessing how highly interrelated a set of items are within a single test administration.
BCP Psychometric Concepts and Test Theory Questions and Answers 2
In standardized testing, what does the 'basal rule' establish?