Patterson and colleagues (1995) reported that in order to reduce administration errors, test administrators should
a. be disciplined for mistakes.
b. practice administration about 10 times.
c. always have a supervisor observe them.
d. reinforce test takers.
A percentile rank is a measure of
a. actual performance.
b. relative performance.
c. absolute performance.
d. peak performance.
Which of the following is, according to the APA, characteristic of a good test manual?
a. A good manual should be brief and emphasize the importance of the examiner bringing their own style to the testing situation.
b. A good manual should be written using technical language, since doing so will reduce misunderstandings and misinterpretation.
c. A good manual should provide instructions that include the exact words to be used during testing administration.
d. A good manual should focus on what can go wrong during administration rather than providing rigid instructions.
Suppose there were 50 people in your class and you obtained the 20th highest score. Your percentile rank would be
a. 20.
b. 40.
c. 50.
d. 60.
Which of the following is true concerning the language of the test taker?
a. Language should not be of concern, since there are computer programs that will translate.
b. The use of interpreters is helpful and typically will not affect reliability or validity.
c. The test should be administered in the language of the majority, even if the test taker is not fluent.
d. It is important to ensure that the translated version of the test is comparable to the original version.
In order to calculate a percentile rank, you need to know
a. how many cases are below the score of interest.
b. whether the distribution is normal or skewed.
c. the standard deviation of the scores.
d. the nature of the underlying scale.
Donna wants to express empathy toward the individuals she is interviewing about very sensitive medical conditions. She nods in a warm and approving way each time they report a symptom. What might be expected?
a. Participants will talk with her longer about each symptom.
b. Participants will be more honest about their symptoms.
c. Participants will show long term improvements in their symptoms.
d. Participants will report significantly more symptoms.
In order to rank group members in relationship to the number of other members of groups of arbitrary size, you would use the
a. class interval.
b. simple rank.
c. percentile rank.
d. mean.
Which of the following is one explanation for the negative impact of test anxiety on performance?
a. It causes students to not study as hard.
b. The test taker is distracted by self-doubting thoughts.
c. The examiner may provide more negative feedback to test takers who appear anxious.
d. Anxious test takers tend to give up on tests sooner.
There are more people with incomes on the low end as compared to the high end. What kind of distribution does this illustrate?
a. Normal
b. Positively skewed
c. Negatively skewed
d. Bell curve