Determining Credibility of Psychlogy Tools

Test Development

The WAIS-IV was developed to offer the most advanced measure of cognitive ability when addressing the ever-changing clinical landscape (Valentine et al., 2020). It is considered the “gold standard” in cognitive assessment—the WAIS-IV measures the cognitive ability of adults and older adolescents. The test aids in examining the relationship between intellectual functioning and memory. The WAIS-IV is a revision of WAIS-III, and its revision was necessitated by the cultural and demographic changes that have taken place in our population. The WAIS-III was developed in 1997, and since then, there have been considerable changes in population age and improvements in our standard of living. Society has become more diverse, making it necessary to revise the test. There has been an increase in caseloads involving older adults, and the WAIS-IV is designed to be developmentally appropriate for older adults (Drozdick et al., 2018).

Reliability and Validity of the WAIS-IV

The WAIS-IV reliability is well established, and the test has a high consistency. During the development of the test, the developers yielded a large number of reliable and valid scores. The test-retest reliabilities of the WAIS-IV ranged from 0.70 to 0.90 over a two-to-twelve-week period (Valentine et al., 2020). The inter-scorer coefficients for the WAIS-IV were all above 0.90. The central reliability figure demonstrated good internal consistency based on the standardization sample for Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) was 0.98. Reliability is consistency with the test results, which can be checked using other forms of the test. The WAIS-IV correlates highly with the Stanford-Binet IV test, establishing the validity of the test. Numerous researchers have explored the structure of the four-factor and five-factor WAIS-IV models and concluded they offered a good fit. Based on these results, we can confirm the validity of the test.

Ethical Considerations

To ensure no alterations in the test scores, the WAIS-IV has a practical scoring assistant and report writer software that can be used to generate concise score reports. Using the given tools, the test administrator can remain ethical and honest when administering and scoring the test. It is vital to ensure that test scores are not compromised, a fair testing process, and cheating is avoided when administering the test. Therefore, the developers have offered tools that can be used to safeguard the test scores for each participant. The examiner enters the raw scores using the scoring assistant, and the software generates concise reports. Also, the test has been shortened to reduce the time taken to administer the test. The developers realized there was a need to reduce the administration time due to increased caseloads for clinicians.

Normed Reference Group

The WAIS-IV was standardized on a normative sample of 2,200 participants ranging in age from 16 to 90 years (Valentine et al., 2020). All the study participants were residents of the United States. The study sample was modeled to match the United States population based on age, sex, geographic location, education level, and race/ethnicity. The sample comprised 200 examinees for each age band for the ages of 16-69 and 100 for each age band for the ages 70-90. There was co-norming with the Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition (WMS-IV), as was the case with the previous editions. However, co-norming occurred when the research programs overlapped during the standardization stages. The revision of the test was done to ensure it meets the changing demographics of our population, considering the diversity we currently have when we look at national census data. The age range was widened because we now have people living longer than was the case in the past, and we should include them in the test. There has been a reduction in the number of subtests from 13 to 10 due to the limited time available to administer the assessments.

Useful Information

The WAIS-IV evaluates the intellectual performance of an individual as a multidimensional construct. There are numerous scales contained in tests assessing different types of intellectual functioning. The WAIS-IV not only provides the IQ scores of an individual but the test also provides vital information regarding the examinee’s strengths and areas of difficulty (Drozdick et al., 2018). There are ten core subtests offered by the WAIS-IV and five additional optional subtests (Abdelhamid et al., 2021). All these are summed up into four indexes: Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI), Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), Working Memory Index (WMI), and Processing Speed Index (PSI). The WAIS-IV gives two broad scores that can be used to summarize general intellectual ability. The two broad scores are Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ) and General Ability Index (GAI). The FSIQ is derived from the total combined performance of the four indexes, and GAI is derived from the six subtests of VCI and PRI.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2)

Test Development

The MMPI-2 was developed to aid adult patients’ routine psychiatric case work to determine their conditions’ severity. Before the development of the test, adult patients had to provide a self-report personality inventory that was viewed as too transparent and could be manipulated by the test taker. The self-report could not be used to determine the severity of the condition because the test taker could lie or manipulate the answers (Giromini et al., 2019). The test had widespread use, and revision was necessary to make it representative of the United States population. This desire to change the test gave rise to the MMPI-2. Some outdated or offensive items based on sexual and religious content also needed to be changed. The MMPI-2 measures the psychological and behavioral dysfunction caused by a mental illness. There are different uses for the test. Mental health professionals and psychologists use it to assist in developing treatment plans, answering legal questions (forensic psychology), helping with differential diagnoses, screening job candidates, or as part of a therapeutic assessment procedure.

Reliability and Validity

To demonstrate the reliability and validity of the MMPI-2, the test has been given to thousands of people across different settings, with different genders, ethnicities, and mental health symptoms (Giromini et al., 2019). The MMPI-2 is standardized and consistent over time, meaning that a patient will produce the same results if they take the same test at a later date. The validity of the test is confirmed in that it measures what it purports to measure. The test has multiple indicators regarding how an examinee approached the test. The common validity measures used by the test are L (lie), K (Correction), and F Infrequency). Using these scales, we can determine if the examinee was honest, overrepresenting, or underreporting in their responses. Using the validity scales gives credence to the test by demonstrating its reliability and validity. Therefore, we can be sure that the test scores are genuine; when they are not, we can always determine how the examinee is lying. Test-retest reliability has been confirmed by numerous researchers who have administered the test to different individuals (Sellbom, 2019).

Ethical Considerations

The test can only be administered to people above 18 years of age. However, there is a test for use with patients who have not attained the age of 18 years called MMPI-A. The ethics of the test is ensured in that it can only be interpreted by a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist. While the test can be administered by a trained secretary, technician, or clerk, these individuals should never be allowed to interpret the results. The test has requirements on the qualification of the person who can interpret the test results. These requirements ensure that only qualified individuals can determine the patient’s mental illness. Other requirements focus on the examinee and their cognitive ability. The examinee must have a 6th-grade reading level, they should be able to follow standard instructions, and can speak the official language of the test versions (Sellbom, 2019). To ensure there are no compromises made during the administration and interpretation of the test, the developers have indicated that before the test is administered, rapport must be built, the test is administered under supervision, the standard instructions are followed, test administrator should avoid defining words, and time should be between 60-90 minutes.

Normed Reference Group

The MMPI-2 normed group comprises a nationwide community sample of 2,600 adult men and females. The sample had 1,138 men and 1,462 females aged between 18 and 80. The developers ensured they got a sample representative of the United States population by selecting people from several regions and diverse communities. The MMPI-2 comprises 567 items that an examinee answers true or false (Sellbom, 2019). The revision was done so that the test could be more representative of the changing United States population and eliminate some of the offensive questions.