MRCPsych Testing & Evaluation 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A researcher reports a Cohen's d of 0.8 for a new antidepressant versus placebo. How is this effect size classified?
- Small
- Medium
- Large (Correct answer)
- Very large
Correct answer: Large
Cohen's d of 0.8 is classified as a large effect size (small=0.2, medium=0.5, large=0.8).
Question 2: Which property of a psychometric test refers to the consistency of scores across different raters?
- Test-retest reliability
- Internal consistency
- Inter-rater reliability (Correct answer)
- Parallel forms reliability
Correct answer: Inter-rater reliability
Inter-rater reliability measures the degree of agreement between two or more independent raters applying the same instrument.
Question 3: The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) is best described as which type of measure?
- Clinician-administered diagnostic interview
- Observer-rated symptom scale
- Self-report symptom severity scale (Correct answer)
- Projective personality test
Correct answer: Self-report symptom severity scale
The BDI-II is a 21-item self-report questionnaire measuring depression severity, not a clinician-administered or projective tool.
Question 4: A test's sensitivity is 90% and specificity is 70%. A patient tests positive. Which concept best quantifies the probability the patient truly has the disorder?
- Negative predictive value
- Positive predictive value (Correct answer)
- Likelihood ratio negative
- Pre-test probability
Correct answer: Positive predictive value
Positive predictive value (PPV) is the proportion of positive test results that are true positives, incorporating sensitivity, specificity, and prevalence.
Question 5: Which neuropsychological test is specifically designed to assess frontal lobe executive function through a card-sorting paradigm?
- Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test
- Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Correct answer)
- Trail Making Test Part A
- Digit Span Forward
Correct answer: Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) requires flexible rule-shifting and is a classic measure of prefrontal executive function.
Question 6: In the context of diagnostic test evaluation, what does a likelihood ratio positive (LR+) greater than 10 indicate?
- The test has poor discriminative ability
- The test moderately shifts post-test probability
- The test provides large and often conclusive shifts in probability (Correct answer)
- The test is equivalent to chance
Correct answer: The test provides large and often conclusive shifts in probability
An LR+ >10 indicates the test greatly increases the probability of disease, providing strong diagnostic evidence.
Question 7: The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) differs from the PHQ-9 primarily in that the HAM-D is:
- Shorter and quicker to administer
- Completed entirely by the patient
- Administered and rated by a clinician (Correct answer)
- Validated only in inpatient settings
Correct answer: Administered and rated by a clinician
The HAM-D is a clinician-administered scale requiring clinical judgment, whereas the PHQ-9 is a self-report tool.
MRCPsych Testing & Evaluation 2
A researcher reports a Cohen's d of 0.8 for a new antidepressant versus placebo.
How is this effect size classified?