Quality criteria of psychodiagnostic procedures

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Every scientific measurement method must meet certain quality criteria (in the sense of quality criteria). Objectivity and reliability are requirements for almost all measurements. In a narrower sense, these criteria have been refined for psychological tests or more general psychodiagnostic procedures - they are specifications of generally valid quality criteria for scientific knowledge methods.

Major and minor quality criteria

A distinction is made between main and secondary quality criteria.

The main quality criteria apply (each subsequent stage can only be achieved after the previous one has been fulfilled):

  • Objectivity : Did the results come about regardless of the influences of the examiner or the examination situation during implementation, evaluation and interpretation?
  • Reliability : Is the feature measured reliably or is the measurement subject to measurement errors to a great extent?
  • Validity : Does the procedure actually measure the desired characteristic? Is the method usable for a diagnostic decision? In psychological diagnostics , the individual measurement methods are assessed with regard to their validity in two relationships:
    • Does the method measure the desired trait (e.g. does it actually measure intelligence or concentration or extraversion)?
    • Can a diagnostic decision with the appropriate quality be made using this feature (e.g. can an admission decision for a course of study be made based on the measured test value or can one infer aspects of fitness to drive based on the concentration value)?

Ancillary quality criteria are among others

  • Utility : Is the procedure useful or suitable for answering a specific question? This is sometimes referred to as external validity (the measure used to make a decision).
  • Acceptance : the extent to which subjective opinions, evaluations or socio-political convictions are presented against a test .
  • Test fairness : Are groups of people z. B. by age, gender, regions, etc. a. treated equally, do they have the same chances of a corresponding test result?
  • Test economy : Is the effort involved in applying the method in relation to the benefits of the method, is the information about the method really needed for the diagnostic decision?
  • Transparency: does the procedure contain understandable instructions? Can the candidate familiarize himself sufficiently with the procedure beforehand (if necessary even through exercise items)? Is there any adequate feedback afterwards?
  • Integrity : Is the procedure designed in such a way that the candidate cannot control or falsify his results as specifically as possible?
  • Reasonability : Does the procedure not place undue stress on the candidate in terms of time, psychological and physical aspects?
  • Normalization : The normalization of a test provides the reference system for classifying the individual test results in comparison to those of a reference population . Standards must be sufficiently current and representative for the reference population.
  • Comparability : There should be parallel forms or tests with the same scope.

Example: school grades as an application in another area

  • Objectivity: Are the grades free from arbitrariness, e.g. B. through different evaluation standards?
  • Reliability / reliability: Are the same achievements in a piece of work assessed equally and are differences in performance of people adequately expressed in grade differences?
  • Validity / Validity: Is a subject grade meaningful for a corresponding level of knowledge for a certain subject?
  • Fairness: Are there disadvantages for certain groups of people?

See also

literature

  • Gustav A. Lienert , Ulrich Raatz: Test setup and test analysis. 6th edition. BeltzPVU, Weinheim 1998, ISBN 3-621-27424-3 (“classic” in this area).
  • M. Amelang, L. Schmidt-Atzert: Psychological diagnostics and intervention. 4th edition. Springer, 2006.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nicola Döring, Jürgen Bortz: Research methods and evaluation in the social and human sciences . Springer, 2015, ISBN 978-3-642-41089-5 , pp. 449 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Lukesch, Helmut: Introduction to educational-psychological diagnostics. Roderer, Regensburg, 1998, ISBN 978-3-89073-232-9 , pp. 700 .
  3. ↑ Markus Bühner : Introduction to the test and questionnaire construction . Pearson Deutschland GmbH, 2011, ISBN 978-3-86894-033-6 , p. 76 ( limited preview in Google Book search).