Personality Testing And Competency Analysis

Personality Testing and Competency
Amy Wilhelm
Kaplan University
PS505: Testing, Measurement and Assessment Dr. Raymond Brogan
January 13, 2015

Personality Testing and Competency In the field of psychology, testing and assessment is key in giving clients the proper diagnoses followed by the correct and most appropriate form of intervention required. One area that is well known to many is that of personality tests. There are numerous forms of personality tests available including those used when choosing the right employee for a job, or determining how well a person will fit with a certain group. On a more intricate level, clinicians and researchers use personality tests in order to diagnose patients and clients with

These tests have been administered in several ways, including those which are deemed to be objective or projective. Meyer and Kurtz (2006) state that objective tests are those that can be answered simply, such as with a yes or no response or, by a reply of true or false (p. 223). Projective tests, according to Meyer and Kurtz (2006) are those that a stimulus presented in the form of an activity or specific task that the test taker is to complete, and that response is recorded and decoded (p. 223).
The term objective can be deceiving by the nature of the word itself, and from our history of seeing the word and the positive connotation that is associated with it. Upon seeing the word, many interpret it as having a positive undertone, which can cause the test taker, the administrator and scorer to interpret the test and results with bias. When the testing instrument is not labeled with such a reinforcing description, those who are involved with it may have a less positive view and again, show bias, and

Utilization of self-reports, questionnaires, parent reports and inventories. Although these are sufficient forms of testing, it needs to be emphasized that not all forms of inventory and questionnaires are the same. Close attention must be paid to whether the instrument is being used by the client themselves or by an outside party such as a parent, doctor, teacher or other person whom that client has close contact with. Another way to increase the understanding and reliability of what is being tested is for the assessment to clearly state what exactly is being measured and how it is to be measured. For example, a test that is being taken by the patient themselves would have a different rating scale than the that of one being taken by a parent in referencing to their child. It must be known what the exact tests is looking to measure, whether it be a behavioral task, a free response measures, or performance based tasks to name a few. When a test is being referred to, it is best to state what the test is assessing for or to give the actual name of the test in order to rule out bias and preconceived