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Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. fifth edition Principles and Applications of Assessment IN Counseling Susan C. Whiston Indiana University Australia • Brazil • Mexico • Singapore • United Kingdom • United States Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. This is an electronic version of the print textbook. Due to electronic rights restrictions, some third party content may be suppressed. 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Brief Contents Preface ix Chapter 1 Assessment in Counseling Chapter 2 Basic Assessment Principles Chapter 3 Reliability Chapter 4 Validity and Item Analysis Chapter 5 Ethical and Legal Issues in Assessment Chapter 6 Issues Related to Assessment with Diverse Populations 96 Chapter 7  electing, Administering, Scoring, and Communicating S Assessment Results 119 Chapter 8 Initial Assessment in Counseling Chapter 9 Intelligence and General Ability Testing 168 Chapter 10  ssessing Achievement and Aptitude: Applications for A Counseling 193 Chapter 11 Assessment in Career Counseling Chapter 12 Appraisal of Personality 237 Chapter 13 Behavioral Assessment Chapter 14 Assessment in Marriage and Family Counseling Chapter 15 Diagnosis Chapter 16 Monitoring and Evaluating Counseling Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Glossary References Index 1 18 37 56 78 140 214 267 281 300 328 2014 ACA Code of Ethics Section E 342 Table of Areas Under the Normal Curve 347 Standards for Multicultural Assessment (4th Edition) 355 362 379 349 iv Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Contents Preface ix Chapter 1 Assessment in Counseling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 What Is Assessment? 2 Do Counselors Need to Know About Assessment? Assessment Is Integral to Counseling 4 3 Assessment Can Be Therapeutic 7 What Do Counselors Need to Know About Assessment? Types of Assessment Tools 9 History 11 Summary 17 8 Chapter 2 Basic Assessment Principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Measurement Scales 19 Norm-Referenced vs. Criterion-Referenced Instruments 20 Interpreting Norm-Referenced Instruments 21 Measures of Central Tendency 23 Measures of Variability 25 Normal Distributions 27 Standard Scores 30 Stanines 32 Evaluating the Norming Group 35 Summary 36 Chapter 3 Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Classical Test Theory 38 Correlation Coefficients 39 Types of Reliability Coefficients 43 Evaluating Reliability Coefficients 47 Standard Error of Measurement 48 Standard Error of Difference 51 Generalizability Theory 52 Item Response Theory 53 Summary 54 v Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. 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Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. vi Contents Chapter 4 Validity and Item Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Validity 56 Item Analysis 71 Summary 77 Chapter 5 Ethical and Legal Issues in Assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Ethics 79 ACA Code of Ethics 80 Client Rights and Responsibilities 85 Counselors Rights and Responsibilities 86 Legal Issues in Assessment 87 Summary 95 Chapter 6 Issues Related to Assessment with Diverse Populations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Culture and Assessment 98 Assessment of Individuals with Disabilities 109 Summary 117 Chapter 7 Selecting, Administering, Scoring, and Communicating Assessment Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Selection of Assessment Instruments or Strategies 120 Administering Assessment Instruments 126 Scoring 126 Communicating Results 129 Summary 138 Chapter 8 Initial Assessment in Counseling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Initial Intake Interview 141 Defining the Client’s Problem 144 Interviewing Skills and Techniques 145 Interviewing Children 146 Structured and Unstructured Initial Interviews 147 Strengths and Limitations of Interviewing 149 Other Strategies That Can Be Used in Initial Assessment 150 Assessing Specific Problems in the Initial Sessions 153 Mental Status Examination 164 Summary 166 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. 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Contents vii Chapter 9 Intelligence and General Ability Testing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Models of Intelligence 169 Individual Intelligence Testing 174 Group Intelligence Testing 184 Issues in Intelligence Testing 186 Summary 191 Chapter 10 Assessing Achievement and Aptitude: Applications for Counseling. . . . . . . 193 Assessment of Achievement 194 Aptitude Assessment 201 Test Preparation and Performance 211 Summary 212 C h a p t e r 11 Assessment in Career Counseling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Assessing Individual Differences 216 Career Process Measures 227 Qualitative Career Assessment 229 Issues and Trends in Career Assessment 231 Summary 235 Chapter 12 Appraisal of Personality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Informal Assessment Techniques 239 Structured Personality Inventories 241 Projective Techniques 260 Self-Concept Measures 265 Summary 266 Chapter 13 Behavioral Assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Observational Recording Methods 270 Self-Monitoring 275 Reactivity 276 Formal Behavioral Assessments 277 Error in Behavioral Assessment 278 Summary 279 Chapter 14 Assessment in Marriage and Family Counseling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Difficulties with Assessment of Couples and Families 283 Family Interviews 285 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. 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Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. viii Contents Mapping Techniques 286 Use of Instruments Designed for Individuals 291 Formalized Assessment Instruments Specific to Marriage and Family 292 Summary 298 Chapter 15 Diagnosis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 DSM-5’s Definition of a Mental Disorder 302 Organizational Structure 303 Cultural Issues 304 Nonaxial System 304 Other Specified and Unspecified Disorders 305 Subtypes and Specifiers 305 DSM-5 Emerging Measures 306 Diagnostic Criteria 307 Common Diagnoses 309 Implications for Counselors 324 Instruments Designed to Assist in Diagnosis 324 Summary 327 Chapter 16 Monitoring and Evaluating Counseling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 Treatment Monitoring 329 Evaluation in Counseling 333 Summary 340 Appendix A 2014 ACA Code of Ethics Section E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 Appendix B Table of Areas Under the Normal Curve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Appendix C Standards for Multicultural Assessment (4th Edition) . . . . . . . . . 349 Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Preface Consistent with previous editions of Principles and Applications of Assessment in Counseling, this edition is based on the premise that counselors functioning in almost all clinical or school settings must have a sound understanding of assessment. I will argue that assessment is an integral part of the counseling process and that all practitioners need refined assessment skills. In my opinion, selecting a treatment or determining the appropriate counseling theory should be based on a sound and comprehensive assessment of the client. Sound assessments are not used solely at the beginning of the counseling process; they are also used to monitor treatment and evaluate therapeutic services at the conclusion of counseling. Sound assessments occur when a counselor gathers accurate information and interprets and uses that information in an appropriate manner. The importance of sound assessment procedures applies to both formal and informal assessment techniques that are used throughout the counseling process. The goals of this book are, first, to provide a foundation in assessment so clinicians can select and use sound assessment techniques and, second, to expose counselors to a variety of assessment areas and issues. New to This Edition The field of assessment in counseling is continually changing and evolving; hence, this edition was initiated to reflect many of those changes. A significant influence on the field of assessment is the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, National Council on Measurement in Education, 2014), and a new edition of this resource was published since the last edition of this book. This resource, which is often referred to as the Standards, is frequently considered the guidebook in the area of assessment, and its content had a significant influence on many of the changes in my book. In particular, new information is infused into the first four chapters of this book. The infusion of new information, however, is consistent with the other editions of this book in terms of keeping the coverage of basic measurement concepts fairly simple and understandable. One of the major changes to this edition of the book is the organization of the chapters. Consistent with the older versions of the book, the first four chapters address basic measurement concepts that provide a foundation for the remainder of the book. New to this edition, the fifth chapter addresses ethics and legal issues in assessment. A few of my colleagues have suggested moving this chapter earlier in the book, and I have followed their advice in this fifth edition. This chapter on ethics and legal issues includes information from the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics (American Counseling Association, 2014). With this edition of the book, the chapter on ethics and legal issues is followed by a chapter related to assessment issues in working with diverse populations. Given the changing demographics in the United States and the need for assessment in counseling internationally, this is an important chapter. New to this edition of the book is an expansion of the chapter related to initial assessment. This chapter was primarily rewritten to correspond to the 2016 Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Standards. Another ix Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. x Preface change concerns the chapter that addresses the assessment of intelligence or general ­ability, which now includes information on the recently released Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fifth Edition (WISC-V). The chapter that covers assessing achievement and aptitude assessment focuses on new developments in the area of achievement testing and includes information on the new SAT. I have included an entirely new chapter to this edition, which addresses the topic of behavioral assessment. This addition was also in response to the 2016 CACREP Standards that require students to be competent in systematic behavioral observations. Diagnostic skills are important for all counselors, and Chapter 15 contains an overview of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—Fifth Edition (DSM-5). The DSM-5 is the most widely used diagnostic system of mental disorders in the United States, and this chapter introduces the reader to the DSM-5 and to the disorders most commonly diagnosed by counselors. Also new to this edition of the book is a chapter devoted exclusively to the monitoring and evaluation of counseling. There is compelling research that counselors who receive consistent feedback on client progress tend to have better outcomes as compared to counselors who do not receive feedback; therefore, monitoring client progress is important. In addition, in these days of accountability counselors need to be able to evaluate counseling services and assessment plays a critical role in the evaluation process, which is also addressed in this chapter. Overview of the Book In the first four chapters of this book, I focus on the underlying measurement principles of any type of psychological assessment. This section is designed so that clinicians have a foundation in basic measurement concepts and the fundamentals of reliability and ­validity. The goal is to provide fundamental information that can be used to ­evaluate many types of formal and informal assessment techniques. Although the intent of this book is not to turn readers into statisticians, there are a few formulas. Readers, ­however, are encouraged to focus more on concepts than on mathematical calculations. For example, in most instrument manuals, there will be standard deviation(s), and counselors will not need to calculate a standard deviation. They will, however, need to understand how the standard deviation is calculated and what it means. Chapter 1 introduces assessment terms and briefly describes some of the historical influences on assessment practices and procedures. To use many assessment instruments properly, counselors need an ­understanding of some basic statistics that describe individuals’ scores. ­Therefore, Chapter 2 includes a discussion of the two basic types of assessment instruments (i.e., norm-­referenced and criterion-referenced) and some fundamental information on ­measurement and scoring. Furthermore, counselors also need to understand the psychometric qualities of assessment instruments. In general, the psychometric qualities considered by experts in assessment to be of primary importance are reliability and validity. In counseling, these psychometric qualities are important as they help the clinician decide if and how an assessment technique should be used. Chapters 3 and 4 cover these two topics as well as how they are important in both evaluating instruments and determining the meaning of the assessment results. Because the professional responsibilities associated with assessments are substantial, any professional counselor must have comprehensive knowledge of ethical practices and professional standards related to counseling assessment. Chapter 5 of the book addresses the importance of ethical and legal practices in assessment. In particular, there is a focus on the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics that should guide every counselor’s practice. This chapter also Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Preface xi includes an overview of legislation and litigation cases that are pertinent to assessment. Competent assessment also requires knowledge about the influence of background and culture, particularly as it relates to race and ethnicity and other issues of diversity. Chapter 6 provides an overview of topics relevant to the assessment of diverse clients. Other responsibilities of counselors in the assessment process are the selection of an instrument, administering the instrument, scoring it, and communicating the results to a client. These activities are covered in Chapter 7. Chapter 8, which discusses initial assessment in counseling, focuses on topics related to the initial interview and to assessment methods that can be used during the first session with a client. This chapter addresses topics such as how to assess for possible suicidal ideation. Chapters 9 and 10 address the assessment of human cognitive abilities: Chapter 9, the measure of intelligence or general ability; and Chapter 10, achievement and aptitude assessment. Counselors are expected to be knowledgeable in these areas and to be able to interpret the results from instruments that measure them. Our society is changing rapidly, and these changes influence work and employment, resulting in many individuals seeking career counseling. Because assessment is often a part of career counseling, this area is addressed in Chapter 11. Chapter 12 discusses personality assessment and many of the methods used to assess personality. Chapter 13 is a new chapter, which encompasses the topic of behavioral assessment and particularly how to conduct systematic behavioral observations. There is also a chapter, Chapter 14, which focuses on assessing couples and families. An important primary step in the counseling process is often assessment and diagnosis. Accurate diagnosis of client issues and problems is central to the counseling process—if a counselor misdiagnoses or does not properly assess the client’s issues in the initial stages, then the chances of providing effective counseling services are diminished. In many mental health settings, counselors must have refined diagnostic skills. Therefore, Chapter 15 is designed as an introduction to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders— Fifth Edition (DSM-5), a commonly used diagnostic system. The book concludes with a discussion of the importance of monitoring client progress and how assessments are used in this monitoring process. Chapter 16 concludes with a summary of how to use assessments in the evaluation of the effectiveness of the counseling. Acknowledgments I wrote the first edition of this book while on sabbatical at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Although many people from Las Vegas contributed to the first edition of this book, one of my colleagues, Fred Kirschner, deserves a special note of gratitude. Fred’s guidance during the first edition of the book continued to influence my writing of this edition. In all editions of this book, I have attempted to write from a student perspective. I need to thank my students at Indiana University whom I continue to learn from and who influenced this edition of the book. The students at Indiana University are an outstanding group, and I am lucky to have the opportunity to work with these exemplary emerging professionals. I also want to thank Julie Martinez and Elizabeth Momb who were extremely supportive of a fifth edition of this book. In addition, a number of reviewers contributed valuable input and suggestions; among them were Nancy Leech, University of Colorado Denver; Mary Deacon, Liberty University; Regina Kakhnovets, Austin Peay State University; Joshua Gold, University of South Carolina; Edward Wahesh, Villanova University; Edward Keane, Housatonic Community College; and Stephanie Bailey, Loyola Marymount University. Their assistance is much appreciated. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. xii Preface This edition of the book is dedicated to my children, Jen, Michael, and Matt, who are all maturing into wonderful people in spite of their mother. I have continued to assess them since they were babies and I always have been happy with the results. I would also like to thank Kevin, who served as a resource on content and who was extremely supportive during the writing of this edition of the book. Susan C. Whiston Indiana University Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. CHAPTER 1 Assessment in Counseling Learning Objectives L01 Define the term assessment L02 Debate whether assessment is an integral part of counseling L03 Understand the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs’ (CACREP) standards for assessment L04 Distinguish among the different types of assessment tools L05 Comprehend major historical influences on today’s practices in assessment By their very nature, humans are complex, and the more pieces of the human puzzle clinicians can access, the more likely it is that they will have a more complete picture. As with a jigsaw puzzle, if counselors have only a few pieces of the puzzle, they will have a hard time determining what the whole picture is. Formal and informal assessment techniques can assist counselors in gathering “puzzle pieces,” thus facilitating a more comprehensive view of clients. Counselors with numerous methods for accessing client information have more material to use in a therapeutic manner than do those who have limited assessment skills. As a counselor, you will regularly assess clients. This assessment may address what the client’s issues are, the magnitude of his or her problems, the client’s strengths and level of motivation, or whether counseling can be beneficial. Assessing people is probably not entirely new to you. Chances are you have been doing assessment on an informal basis for many years. When you walk into a class for the first time, you may begin to casually assess your fellow classmates. You may have also assessed personalities or interests of people at a social gathering. Assessing other individuals is part of everyday life; it is also part of the counseling process. In the 1930s and 1940s, many people viewed the terms counseling and assessment as being synonymous and most of the public thought counseling always involved the use of tests (Hood & Johnson, 2007). The majority of clinicians currently do not see counseling and assessment as synonymous; however, client assessment does continue to play a crucial role in the counseling process. 1 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 2 Section I Principles of Assessment L01 What Is Assessment? Before further pursuing the topic of assessment in counseling, it is important to discuss the precise meaning of assessment. A term closely associated with assessment is psychological test, which Anastasi and Urbina (1997) defined as an objective and standardized measure of a sample of behavior. Cronbach’s (1990) definition is similar, with a test being a systematic procedure for observing behavior and describing it with the aid of numerical scales or fixed categories. As these two similar definitions suggest, many of the definitions of assessment have some commonalities. They all discuss getting a measure or using some type of measurement. In assessment, counselors often want an indication of quantity (e.g., How depressed is the client? Are the test scores high enough to get into an Ivy League school?). In simple terms, in assessment we are often attempting to determine whether there is a lot of “something” or just a little. The issue of quantity leads to the next topic: the something that is being measured. In counseling, practitioners are often interested in human constructs such as emotions, career interests, personality factors, abilities, and aptitudes. These constructs, however, are difficult to measure directly. For example, individuals cannot give a pint of emotions in the same way they can a pint of blood. Humans, for the most part, indicate their emotions by their behaviors, their statements, or even the answers they give on a questionnaire. It is important to remember that speaking and responding to a questionnaire are behaviors. Even when people take a test or an assessment, their answers are just a sample of behaviors in that area. Thus, for most of the areas in which counselors want to gather information, all that they can truly gather are samples of behavior (although in very rare instances, a clinician may use a physiological measure, such as pulse rate as a measure of anxiety). In addition, when assessing clients, counselors observe a sample of behavior and then infer certain meanings from those behaviors. Hence, when first beginning to observe or assess a client, counselors should consider their observations as a sample of behavior and then reflect on two important questions: First, is the sample of behavior indicative of how the person usually behaves, and second, are the inferences being made about this sample of behavior correct? If the intent is to obtain a sample of behaviors and make some inferences or clinical decisions, then it makes sense for counselors to be careful about the manner in which they obtain the behavior samples. Being careful during the assessment process is particularly important when the intent of the assessment process is to compare individuals and make decisions (e.g., to determine who gets a scholarship or whether a client has a substance abuse problem). This care is related to the third common point in the definitions of assessment—an objective or systematic measure of behavior. For example, if a counselor wants to assess clients’ level of motivation, then she would need to gather samples of behaviors that reflect each client’s level of motivation. The counselor might decide that a direct approach is good, so she would ask each client about the level of motivation. To the first client, she might ask, “Are you motivated to try some different things in counseling?” To the second client, she might ask, “Are you motivated?” With the third client, she might say, “You do not seem very motivated. Are you?” This counselor’s way of gathering samples of behavior will probably affect the behaviors of the clients, so their answers may be quite different depending on the way she asks the question. This illustrates how important it is that, in assessment, the manner of gathering behavior samples be objective, standardized, and systematic. Although this book’s focus is on assessment and appraisal in counseling, it does adhere to the traditional definition of psychological assessment. To be fair to all clients, assessments need to be systematic and objective. With assessment in counseling, clinicians are, in essence, gathering samples of client behaviors and making inferences based on those Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Chapter 1 Assessment in Counseling 3 behaviors. Therefore, when considering assessment strategies, clinicians should focus on the methods or procedures used for gathering the samples of behavior. For example, a counselor interviewing a client should consider what behaviors are being sampled and whether these behaviors are typical of that client. The counselor also needs to consider the inferences he makes about the client and the evidence (or validity) of those inferences. The final aspect of assessment is measurement. When assessing a client, a counselor is attempting to measure some aspect of the client. Even if the question is whether or not the client has some particular attribute, the assessment involves measurement. For instance, determining whether a client is suicidal involves measuring the degree to which suicidal indicators are present. One of the challenges in assessment is finding methods for obtaining meaningful measures of many psychological constructs. For example, we cannot say a client has one liter of anxiety. A distinction is sometimes made among the words assessment, appraisal, and testing. The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Educational Research Association [AERA], American Psychological Association [APA], & National Council on Measurement in Education [NCME], 2014), which is one of the primary authoritative sources related to assessment, distinguishes between the terms test and assessment. It defines assessment as “a broader term than test, commonly referring to a process that integrates test information with information from other sources (e.g., information from other tests, inventories, and interviews; or the individual’s social educational, employment, health or psychological history)” (p. 2). In this book, the terms assessment and appraisal are used interchangeably, based on the opinion that they both include the use of formal and informal techniques, not just standardized tests. Assessment and appraisal are not just formal psychological evaluations; in this book, they are defined as procedures for gathering client information that is then used to facilitate clinical decisions and provide information to clients. A distinction, however, does need to be made between tests and instruments. The term test is often reserved for an individual instrument in which the focus is on evaluation, such as a test that is graded in a class. Many instruments that counselors use, such as scales, checklists, and inventories, are designed to provide information and are not evaluative. In this book, the term instrument includes tests, scales, checklists, and inventories. As you read this book, there may be terms with which you are unfamiliar; in such a case, the glossary at the end of the book may be helpful. Do Counselors Need to Know About Assessment? Counselors should know about assessment because the American Counseling Association’s (ACA) (2014) Code of Ethics devoted an entire section (Section E) to evaluation, assessment, and interpretation. Furthermore, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP, 2009) stipulated that eight common core areas are required of all students in accredited counseling programs, one of which is assessment. Furthermore, assessment is one of the major topics on the National Counselor Examination (National Board for Certified Counselors, 2014). Hence, there are professional expectations that all counselors have training and knowledge in assessment and in the appropriate use of assessment instruments and techniques. Numerous research studies indicate that counselors in a variety of settings (e.g., schools, community agencies, mental health facilities) view formal assessment strategies as a significant aspect of their work. Ekstrom, Elmore, Schafer, Trotter, and Webster (2004) surveyed school counselors. Ninety-one percent indicated they interpreted scores from tests/ assessments and used the information in counseling. These researchers also found that Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 4 Section I Principles of Assessment 81% communicated and interpreted test/assessment information to parents and 80% had communicated and interpreted test/assessment information to teachers, school administrators, and other professionals. With the advent of school reform, school counselors are even more involved in the administration and interpretation of tests. With a sample of national certified counselors, Peterson, Lomas, Neukrug, and Bonner (2014) found that the most commonly used instruments were the Beck Depression Inventory, the Myers– Briggs Type Indicators, the Strong Interest Inventory, the ACT, the SAT/PSAT, and the Self-Directed Search. Refined assessment skills can often assist counselors in providing treatment more quickly and efficiently. Meyer et al. (2001) compared the empirical evidence concerning psychological assessments and medical testing and found that psychological assessments are comparable to medical tests in terms of accuracy. In addition, the public expects that counselors understand assessment and are able to interpret assessment results. Both mental health and school counselors work with other professionals in multidisciplinary teams where other team members (e.g., psychologists) will quickly lose respect for a counselor who has limited knowledge of psychometric principles and common assessment instruments. Moreover, for some clients, formal assessment strategies have an influence above and beyond a counselor’s verbal comments. For these clients, assessment results either presented on a computer screen or printed on paper have greater credibility than what they know themselves or what the counselors may be telling them. For example, I have worked with career counseling clients who could articulate career preferences but who did not see those interests as being legitimate until the results of an interest inventory confirmed their preferences. In addition, a counselor can quickly tarnish her reputation by not being adequately prepared in assessment. As an example, a school counselor can quickly lose credibility with a student’s parents by not being able to interpret the results from an achievement test. L02 Assessment Is Integral to Counseling Some counseling students may view assessment as using only formal instruments and see it as an activity distinct from the counseling process. Consider for a moment the counseling process and the essential steps included in it. Although the counseling process is quite complex, it encompasses the following four broad steps: 1. Assessing the client problem(s) 2. Conceptualizing and defining the client problem(s) 3. Selecting and implementing effective treatment(s) 4. Evaluating the counseling The following is a discussion of how assessment is an integral part of the counseling process. Sometimes clinicians think of assessment only as formal tests that are expensive and time consuming. I have a broader view of assessment that is focused on gathering information holistically and using different assessment tools throughout the counseling process. Assessing the Client Problem(s) In the initial stage of counseling, a counselor needs to assess the client problem because there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to the therapeutic process. It is important that counselors skillfully assess the client’s problem, for if the assessment process is incomplete or inaccurate, the entire counseling process can be negatively affected. Furthermore, if counselors have limited assessment skills, they may miss or underestimate important client issues. If problems are delineated in an efficient manner, treatment can be initiated sooner. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Chapter 1 Assessment in Counseling 5 Also, in mental health settings, unlike other counseling settings such as schools, counselors need to diagnose the client’s problem in order for third-party payers (e.g., government, commercial insurers, managed care organizations) to pay for the mental health services (Gersten, 2013). More information on diagnosis will be provided in Chapter 15. Epperson, Bushway, and Warman (1983) found that clients are more likely to continue in counseling if they and the counselor agree on the nature of the problem. Hood and Johnson (2007) recommended combining different types of assessment data (e.g., formal and informal) to maximize the strengths and minimize the limitations of different strategies. Meyer et al. (2001) found substantial empirical support for the practice of using multimethod assessment batteries and concluded that clinicians who use interviewing exclusively often have incomplete client information. Assessment skills, however, are not needed solely in this first stage of counseling; they are important throughout the entire therapeutic process. Conceptualizing and Defining the Client Problem(s) A counselor may be extraordinarily skilled at initial assessment, but if she refrains from gathering additional information, then the process will be hampered. During conceptualizing, the second stage of the process, counselors need to continually assess a client to ensure that they maintain an adequate understanding of the client’s needs and problems. Distinguishing between simple and complex problems is critical in the selection of treatment and the effectiveness of the counseling. Mohr (1995) found that one of the most robust predictors of negative outcomes in counseling and psychotherapy is the clinician underestimating the severity of the client’s problems. Dawes (1994) presented some compelling evidence that counselors are not always objective in their perceptions and analyses of client issues. There is research supporting the notion that counselors do have a tendency toward confirmatory bias (Spengler, Strohmer, Dixon, & Shivy, 1995), which entails the tendency to seek evidence that confirms an individual’s preferred hypothesis. For example, if a counselor believes that substance abuse is rampant in our society, that clinician may have a tendency to perceive many clients’ issues as being related to their abuse of substances. Ægisdóttir et al. (2006) conducted a meta-analysis of studies that compared the predictions of mental health professionals with statistical methods and found that statistical methods were slightly more effective in making clinical decisions than mental health clinicians. Fredman and Sherman (1987) proposed that clients often benefit from formal assessments because they can provide counselors with a different avenue for reaching the client. They contended that counselors should occasionally get away from relying completely on auditory experience and add visual, kinesthetic, and tactile dimensions to their sessions. They suggested that testing can provide a visual experience that often inspires more confidence in the information than do spoken words. In addition, this visual experience often motivates clients to take action about a conflict or problem. Thus, I assert that assessment skills are necessary for adequately conceptualizing the client’s concerns, identifying contextual factors that may be contributing to the problems, and ascertaining factors that may be helpful in the treatment phase of counseling. Selecting and Implementing Effective Treatment(s) The third step in counseling involves selecting and implementing treatment that is based on the previous assessments; however, assessment does not stop once clinical treatment begins. Rather, the assessment process continues throughout the treatment phase of counseling. This is the stage of counseling where a counselor might use either informal or formal assessment to answer a therapeutic question or monitor progress. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 6 Section I Principles of Assessment Clients often come to counseling for assistance in answering questions such as: Should I drop out of school? Should I get a divorce? Should I change careers? Increasing the amount of information a client can use in decision making usually enhances his or her decision-making process. Selecting instruments that generate information about occupational choices, career interests, and family dynamics can often assist clients in making major decisions. Using assessment information to aid clients in decision making, however, does not always necessitate administering additional tests. Counselors can often use assessment instruments that clients have taken during previous educational experiences or in other situations. As an example, one client, who had taken the American College Testing (ACT) exam two years earlier, made his decision to pursue a new job after reviewing his scores from that test. Campbell (2000) argued that tests in counseling should provide new information and that counselors can use assessment results to encourage client learning and insight. Sometimes clinicians believe that assessment is used only to identify problems or pathologies. This seems somewhat inconsistent with counseling’s developmental and preventative foundation. Rather than using tests to diagnose pathologies or identify limitations, counselors can use an instrument’s assessment to reveal strengths. Lopez, Snyder, and Rasmussen (2003) argued that clinicians must strike a vital balance between assessing strengths and limitations. Drawing from the substantial research supporting positive psychology, these authors contended that psychological assessment is currently slanted toward identifying limitations, even though there is compelling empirical evidence that constructs such as hope, resiliency, learned optimism, and courage are intimately tied with well-being and performance. Hence, if practitioners want to build on positive processes, outcomes, and environments, they should also assess the degree to which these positive factors are present. Wright and Lopez (2002) suggested a four-pronged approach to positive psychological assessment. In this approach, counselors should identify (1) undermining characteristics of the client, (2) client strengths and assets, (3) missing and destructive aspects of the client’s environment, and (4) resources and opportunities within the environment. Counselors can also use positive psychological assessment to chart changes during the counseling process and to measure the development of client strengths. In addition, during the third step in counseling, counselors need to continually monitor whether they have comprehensively understood the client and the client’s situation. Furthermore, practitioners need to scrutinize whether progress is being made and adjust the counseling process if the client is not making progress toward the therapeutic goals. Research indicates that better client outcome is associated with therapists systematically and consistently monitoring client progress throughout the entire counseling process (Lambert, 2010). Evaluating the Counseling Finally, once the treatment phase is completed, counselors need to assess or evaluate whether it was effective. Once again, just as counselors need effective communication skills to help clients, they also need effective assessment skills related to evaluation. Outcome assessment can provide clinicians information about their own effectiveness and, if gathered by all clients, can provide information to administrators, appropriate boards (e.g., a school board), and other relevant organizations (e.g., a governmental organization that controls grant funding). In the counseling profession, clinicians are frequently more interested in helping individuals than in showing that the services they provide are effective. This approach, however, puts many clinicians at risk, because there are increasing demands from legislators, administrators, foundations, managed-care providers, clients, and parents for tangible Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Chapter 1 Assessment in Counseling 7 documentation showing that counseling is both helpful and cost-effective. In these times of budgetary constraints, when school counseling positions could be cut, school counselors need to have accountability information readily available to document their usefulness (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2012). Watson and Flamez (2015) documented the necessity for community agencies and health care organizations to have well-designed accountability systems. Not only do counselors need knowledge of assessment to meet the accountability demands but outcome information can also be used in the counseling process. Some clients finding it very empowering to view assessment results that indicate they have made positive changes (e.g., feel less depressed). Assessment Can Be Therapeutic The view that assessment can be used in a therapeutic manner is sometimes contrary to how professionals think of testing and assessment. Counselors can, however, use assessment results to stimulate clients’ self-awareness and exploration. Finn (2007) suggested a model in which the assessment itself is considered to be a therapeutic intervention. This therapeutic assessment model is compared with the traditional information-gathering model, in which assessment is viewed as a way to collect information that will guide subsequent treatment. The intent of therapeutic assessment is to promote positive changes in clients through the use of assessment instruments. As will be discussed in Chapter 5, ethical guidelines state that clients have the right to assessment results; thus, therapeutic assessment recommends that the results be provided in a collaborative and therapeutic manner. In a meta-analysis of studies of therapeutic assessment, Poston and Hanson (2010) found that those who received a therapeutic style of assessment results had much better outcomes than those who received no assessments or a traditional model of providing assessment results. Michel (2002) provided some examples of using assessments therapeutically with clients who have eating disorders. She argued that for these clients, assessments can provide self-verifying information, which can be very therapeutic. In addition, she indicated that “joining” or aligning with the clients’ families can be facilitated by providing assessment information that acknowledges the difficulties of their situation. She recommended the following assessment strategies: 1. Continue to nurture and maintain the therapeutic alliance throughout the evaluation. 2. Present all findings in a helpful context, emphasizing that the results reflect the patient’s communication. 3. Recognize that defensive protocols are useful, and attempt to discern the reasons for such responding. 4. Encourage and allow the patient to respond affectively, and give/modify examples of findings. 5. Tie the findings to the adaptive functions of the eating disorder. 6. Use examples from the assessment process and test findings to provide education about eating disorders to help normalize the patient’s feelings. 7. Use psychological test results in the same manner with family members to enlist family involvement. (p. 476) In counseling, assessment results can also be used in a therapeutic manner by helping clients make effective decisions. Counselors can use information gained from assessment to help clients weigh the pros and cons of a decision and examine the probabilities of expected outcomes. This manner of using assessment information, which is common in career counseling, can also be used with assessment results related to other issues. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 8 Section I Principles of Assessment L03 What Do Counselors Need to Know About Assessment? Because assessment is an integral part of counseling, it is crucial that practitioners become competent in this area. CACREP (2009) accredits many counseling programs and has published standards, which include specific standards related to assessment. The following are the standards for assessment and a brief explanation of where the content related to these standards is addressed in this book: ASSESSMENT—studies that provide an understanding of individual and group approaches to assessment and evaluation in a multicultural society, including all of the following: A. historical perspectives concerning the nature and meaning of assessment; A historical overview of assessment is provided later in this chapter. Although some readers may find a history of assessment a little tedious, it is important to know about the evolution of assessment and learn from some of the past mistakes that have occurred in this field. B. basic concepts of standardized and nonstandardized testing and other assessment techniques, including norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessment, environmental assessment, performance assessment, individual and group test and inventory methods, psychological testing, and behavioral observations; Basic concepts regarding assessment techniques start in Chapter 2, which addresses the differences between norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessments for both standardized and nonstandardized testing. Although this book focuses more on individual and group assessments of clients, it also includes some information on environmental assessments. In particular in Chapter 14, I talk about assessing the family environment, which is an important environmental influence for many individuals. Throughout the book, however, I stress that it is important to consider environmental influences on the individual when conducting any type of assessment. The definition of performance assessment is included in the next section of this book, and trends in this area are discussed particularly as related to achievement testing and assessment of intelligence. Furthermore, the middle section of this book is devoted to individual and group inventories, which includes psychological testing and behavioral observations. C. statistical concepts, including scales of measurement, measures of central tendency, in- dices of variability, shapes and types of distributions, and correlations; An overview of statistical concepts relevant to assessment begins in Chapter 2 and is continued in Chapters 3 and 4. The thrust of this discussion is not to make the reader a statistical wizard, but to focus on statistical concepts that are necessary and useful in assessing clients and in interpreting results. For the math phobic reader, please focus on the statistical concepts as compared to the calculations. Many of the calculations, however, are quite simple and ­designed to help the reader understand the statistical concepts. Scales of measurement, measures of central tendency, indices of variability, and shapes and types of distributions are all covered in Chapter 2. Correlation is introduced in Chapter 3 and discussed again in Chapter 4. D. reliability (i.e., theory of measurement error, models of reliability, and the use of reli- ability information); Reliability is an important concept in assessment and it is addressed in detail in Chapter 3. Included in Chapter 3 is a discussion of classical test theory or theory of measurement error. Also covered are models of reliability and different methods for calculating estimates of reliability. In addition, I discuss how to use reliability information in both evaluating instruments and interpreting results to clients. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Chapter 1 Assessment in Counseling 9 E. validity (i.e., evidence of validity, types of validity, and the relationship between reliability and validity); Validation evidence informs the clinician on how the instrument can be used and what the results mean; therefore, it is a critical aspect of assessment. Chapter 4 of this book includes information on the relationship between reliability and validity and the different types of validation evidence typically provided. When using formal assessments, counselors should focus on the reliability and validity evidence provided in the instrument’s manual. When using informal assessments, counselors should also consider reliability and validity while using these instruments as reliability and validity evidence is not just applicable to formal instruments. F. social and cultural factors related to the assessment and evaluation of individuals, groups, and specific populations; As the demographics of the United States are rapidly changing, it is important for counselors to consider relevant social and cultural factors. This is particularly important in the area of assessment where instruments may have been developed for appropriate use with only select clients. Therefore, counselors must be aware of social and cultural factors in assessment as interpretation may need to be more tentative with a client with a specific racial or ethnic background. Multicultural issues in assessment are frequently addressed in this book; however, these issues are specifically discussed in Chapter 6. G. ethical strategies for selecting, administering, and interpreting assessment and evalua- tion instruments and techniques in counseling. Ethics are standards that guide the behaviors of professionals. In the ACA Code of Ethics (2014), an entire section is devoted to the area of evaluation, assessment, and interpretation (i.e., Section E). This topic is so important that this entire section of the Code of Ethics has been reproduced in Appendix A of this book. L04 Types of Assessment Tools In order to begin to understand the use of assessment in counseling, a practitioner needs to understand some of the basic types of assessment instruments. Assessment and testing are topics that often arise when counselors consult with other professionals (e.g., psychologists, social workers, and teachers). The field of mental health is moving toward a multidisciplinary team approach to treatment; hence, if counselors want to continue to be a part of this multidisciplinary team, they need to understand the nomenclature of assessment. Although there are many different ways to classify assessment instruments, the following information provides an overview of some commonly used categories and terms. Standardized vs. Nonstandardized For an assessment device to be considered a standardized instrument, there must be fixed instructions for administering and scoring the instrument. In addition, the content needs to remain constant and to have been developed in accordance with professional standards. If the instrument is comparing an individual’s performance with that of other individuals, the instrument must be administered to an appropriate and representative sample. A nonstandardized instrument has not met these guidelines and may not provide the systematic measure of behavior that standardized instruments provide. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 10 Section I Principles of Assessment Individual vs. Group This distinction concerns the administration of the instrument. Some instruments can be given to groups, which is often a more convenient and less time-consuming method of administering an instrument as compared to administering it to one person at a time. With group administration, however, it is difficult to observe all the examinees and to note all of their behaviors while they take the instrument. A substantial amount of information can often be gained by administering an instrument individually and by observing a client’s nonverbal behaviors. Some well-known psychological instruments are administered only individually in order to gather relevant clinical information. Objective vs. Subjective This categorization reflects the methods used to score the assessment tool. Many instruments are scored objectively; that is, there are predetermined methods for scoring the assessment, and the individual doing the scoring is not required to make any judgments. Subjective instruments, on the other hand, require the individual to make professional judgments in scoring the assessment. For example, many multiple-choice tests are objective instruments, with the scoring completed by noting whether the test-taker’s response is correct or incorrect. Essay tests, however, are usually subjective instruments because the person grading these exams must make some judgments about the quality of the answers. Objectively scored instruments attempt to control for bias and inconsistencies in scoring. However, counselors are often interested in exploring clients’ issues, which are not easily assessed by using only objective methods. Verbal vs. Nonverbal In recent years, counselors have become increasingly aware of the influences of language and culture on assessment. Instruments that require examinees to use verbal skills can be problematic for individuals whose primary language is not English. Imagine that you are being tested and you read the following instructions: Da prodes test ti moras zavoriti ovu knjigu i zafpati. Many people would fail this test because they would not be able to read the Bosnian instructions that say, “In order to pass this test, you must close this book and take a nap.” (I know that some readers would be more than willing to oblige with these instructions now that they understand the translation.) Even when a test does not involve verbal skills, if the instructions are given orally or must be read, it is still considered a verbal instrument. Some people prefer the term nonlanguage instead of nonverbal to denote instruments that require no language on the part of either the examiner or the examinee. Another term related to this topic is performance tests, which require the manipulation of objects with minimal verbal influences (e.g., putting a puzzle together, arranging blocks in a certain design). Sometimes there is not a clear distinction between a verbal and a nonverbal test. It is difficult to design instruments that have no language or verbal components. Hence, with some clients, the counselor may need to determine the degree to which language and verbal skills influence the results. In multicultural assessment, the practitioner needs to consider the degree to which both culture and language influence the results. Speed vs. Power This classification concerns the difficulty level of the items in an assessment. In power tests, the items in the examination vary in difficulty, with more credit given for more difficult items. A speed test simply examines the number of items completed in a specified time period. The determination of whether an assessment is a speed or a power test depends on the purpose of the assessment. If the aim of an assessment is to determine how quickly people can do a specific task, then a speed test is appropriate. If determining the mathematical abilities of an individual is the goal, then a power test is needed. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Chapter 1 Assessment in Counseling 11 Cognitive vs. Affective Cognitive instruments are those that assess cognition: perceiving, processing, concrete and abstract thinking, and remembering. Three types of cognitive tests predominate: intelligence or general ability tests, achievement tests, and aptitude tests. Intelligence tests are sometime called general ability tests because the term general ability does not have the same connotation as intelligence. Intelligence/general ability instruments typically measure a person’s ability to think abstractly, solve problems, understand complex ideas, and learn new material—abilities involved in a wide spectrum of activities. Although intelligence is a complex phenomenon, it is essentially related to how “smart” the individual is (Sternberg, 1985). Achievement tests, which are measures of acquired knowledge or proficiency, measure the extent to which an individual has “achieved” in acquiring certain information or mastering certain skills. As an example, after individuals have gone through instruction or training, they are often assessed to determine how well they acquired the knowledge or skill. Classroom tests of a single academic subject are the most common form of achievement tests. Whereas achievement tests measure whether an individual has acquired some knowledge or skill, aptitude tests predict an individual’s performance in the future. Achievement tests and aptitude tests can be similar in content, but their purposes are different. Aptitude tests do not measure past experiences; rather, they assess an individual’s ability to perform in the future—to learn new material or skills. Affective instruments assess interest, attitudes, values, motives, temperaments, and the noncognitive aspects of personality. Both informal and formal techniques have a dominant role in affective assessment. In the area of formal instruments, practitioners most frequently use one of two types of personality tests: structured instruments and projective techniques. Structured personality instruments include the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), in which individuals respond to a set of established questions and select answers from the provided alternatives. With projective techniques, individuals respond to relatively ambiguous stimuli, such as inkblots, unfinished sentences, or pictures. The nonstructured nature of the projective techniques provides the examinee with more latitude in responding. It is theorized that these nonstructured responses are projections of the individual’s latent traits. Although projective techniques are often more difficult for the examinee to fake, the examiner needs to be extensively trained to use these instruments appropriately. This book does not provide the required information and supervision that are necessary for using projective techniques. L05 History To understand current assessment techniques and instruments, counselors need information about the history of assessment. The goal of this brief excursion into the development of assessment is to provide a context for understanding the current state of the field. Through knowledge of relevant issues and with an understanding of why and how some instruments were developed, counselors can begin the process of becoming informed, competent users of assessments. Early Testing Assessment is not a new phenomenon; testing has been around for many centuries (Anastasi, 1993; Bowman, 1989). There is some evidence that the Greeks might have used testing approximately 2,500 years ago. The Chinese used a civil services examination 2,000 years ago, and even then, there were discussions of the effects of social class, cheating, and examiner bias (Bowman, 1989). In general, however, the English biologist Francis Galton is credited with launching the testing movement. Galton did not set out to initiate testing, but in his study of human heredity during the late 1800s and early 1900s, he wanted a way to measure human characteristics of biologically related and unrelated individuals. Galton believed that Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 12 Section I Principles of Assessment he could use sensory discrimination tests to measure individual intelligence. He based this opinion on the premise that all information is conveyed through the senses, and thus, the more perceptive a person is, the greater the amount of information that is accessible for intelligent judgments and actions. Galton’s book Hereditary Genius was published in 1869. Galton also made a significant contribution in the area of statistics. The commonly used statistical technique of correlation came from his work in heredity and “co-relations.” Another psychologist who influenced early assessment was Wilhelm Wundt. Wundt, the man credited with founding the science of psychology, was also interested in measuring psychological constructs. Wundt’s purpose was somewhat different from Galton’s in that Wundt and his colleagues were more interested in identifying factors of intelligence that were common or innate to all human beings. Another prominent figure in the early testing movement was the American psychologist James McKeen Cattell. Cattell was Wundt’s student. Drawing from the work of both Galton and Wundt, Cattell expanded testing to include memory and other simple mental processes. Cattell was the first to use the term mental test, although his mental tests were quite simple in that they were not strongly related to estimates of school achievement or to other criteria now considered indicative of intelligence (Anastasi, 1993). 1900–1920 Just prior to the turn of the century, Binet and Henri published an article criticizing most available intelligence tests as being too sensory oriented. Binet was given the opportunity to develop his ideas when the French Minister of Public Instruction appointed him to a commission studying “educationally retarded” children. The result was the first version of the Binet–Simon scale, published in 1905. The instrument, which was individually administered, was a simple instrument with only 30 items and a norming group of 50. The Binet–Simon scale was different from previous measures of intelligence in that it focused on assessing judgment, comprehension, and reasoning. The instrument was revised in 1908 to incorporate a ratio of mental age level to chronological age level. This was labeled the intelligence quotient (IQ). This method of calculating IQ was used for many years, although, as will be discussed in later chapters, there are some problems associated with it. Binet’s instrument was translated and adapted in several countries, including an adaptation by L. M. Terman at Stanford University. The revised test became known as the Stanford–Binet scale; however, the official title of Terman’s 1916 publication is The Measurement of Intelligence: An Explanation of and a Complete Guide for the Use of the Stanford Revision and Extension of the Binet–Simon Intelligence Scale. Although other translations of the Binet– Simon scale were available at that time, Terman’s normative sample and his methodical approach were credited with the success of the Stanford–Binet (Becker, 2003). While individually administered intelligence tests were being developed, there was also some interest in group testing, particularly by military leaders in the United States during World War I. In 1917, the army contacted Robert Yerkes, then president of the American Psychological Association, to have psychologists assist in developing a group intelligence test. The army hired psychologists and a group-administered intelligence assessment was developed for use in selection and classification of personnel. The army used a multiple-choice format, which had only recently been introduced by Arthur Otis. These first group-administered intelligence tests were known as Army Alpha, which was used for routine testing, and Army Beta, which was a nonlanguage instrument designed for use with illiterate or non-English-speaking recruits (Figure 1.1). Although these instruments were never really used in World War I, shortly after the end of the war, the army released these two instruments for public use. Another influential person of this time was Frank Parsons, who is often cited as being the father of guidance. Although Parsons did not develop any assessment, he did devise one of the first approaches to career counseling. In his three-step career counseling Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Chapter 1 FIGURE 1.1 Answers: 1) Mouth; 2) Eye; 3) Nose; 4) Hand; 5) Chimney; 6) Ear; 7) ­Filament; 8) Return address; 9) Strings; 10) Corkscrew 11) Trigger; 12) Tail; 13) Claw; 14) Shadow; 15) Ball; 16) Net; 17) Arm; 18) Speaker; 19) Arm in mirror; 20) Diamond Retrieved from http:// official-asvab.com /armysamples_res.htm 1 2 3 5 6 7 Assessment in Counseling 13 4 8 To 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 16 18 19 20 model, a counselor would (1) understand the person, (2) understand the world of work, and (3) match the person to the appropriate occupation in the world of work. Some career counselors have accomplished this first step of gaining an understanding of the person by incorporating some of the career assessments that have been developed since Parsons’ time. 1920s and 1930s Interestingly, the first intelligence tests were developed without a theoretical foundation, but in the 1920s and 1930s there was considerable theoretical attention to defining and explaining the construct of intelligence (Erford, Moore-Thomas, & Linde, 2007). Spearman (1927) proposed that intelligence consisted of two types of factors—one that pertained to general tasks and another that pertained to specific tasks. Thurstone (1938), on the other hand, proposed that there is no one general factor of intelligence; rather, there are seven primary mental abilities. This debate about whether intelligence is one general factor (g) or multiple factors continues, and even today, theoreticians have differing views of intelligence. During this time, there also was increased activity related to developing measures of intelligence. Terman and Merrill revised the 1916 version and the test was published using its current name, the Stanford–Binet. In 1939, another significant test, the Wechsler– Bellevue Intelligence Scale, was published. The primary author was David Wechsler, who continued to make significant contributions to intelligence testing until his death in 1981. Interest in assessment was not restricted to intelligence testing alone. At the end of World War I, there was also an interest in identifying men who were not emotionally capable of serving in the armed forces. The army once again developed the prototype, but this time the group test, called the Woodworth’s Personal Data Sheet, focused on personality assessment. Consistent with the Army Alpha and Army Beta, this self-report inventory was released for civilian use, where it spurred the development of other self-report personality inventories. In 1921, Rorschach described the technique of using inkblots as a tool for diagnostic investigation of the personality. Although his methods did not have a significant impact immediately, his writings had a major influence on clinical assessment later. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 14 Section I Principles of Assessment Another projective test of personality (i.e., Thematic Apperception Test) was published in 1935. In this assessment, Murray and Morgan presented individuals with pictures and the examinees told stories about the pictures. The examiner would then evaluate the text in order to identify themes. A more detailed discussion of both of these projective assessments is included in Chapter 12. As private industries began to see that tests could be used for selecting and classifying industrial personnel, special aptitude tests were developed, primarily for use in clerical and mechanical areas. There was also the development of vocational counseling instruments, such as the publication in 1927 of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank by E. K. Strong. Another individual active in the development of interest inventories for vocational counseling was G. Frederic Kuder, who first published the Kuder Preference Record—Vocational in 1932. In 1923, the first standardized achievement battery, the Stanford Achievement Test, was published. This instrument was designed to provide measures of performance in different school subjects as opposed to testing in only a single subject. These achievement batteries also allowed educators to compare students’ performances to other students from various parts of the country. In the mid-1800s, there was a move from oral achievement examinations to written essay testing. By the 1930s, there was considerable evidence concerning the difficulties of written essay examinations, particularly due to the lack of agreement among teachers in grading essay items. The desire for more objectivity in testing promoted the use of more objective items and the development of state, regional, and national achievement testing programs. The rapid advancement in many areas of testing during the 1920s and 1930s led to a need for a resource to identify and evaluate testing instruments. The first edition of the Mental Measurements Yearbook was published in 1939 to fill that need. Oscar Buros established these yearbooks to provide information about instruments as well as to critique the properties of the instruments. The Mental Measurements Yearbooks continue to be a good resource for counselors currently. 1940s and 1950s Even though there were efforts to produce sound personality assessment tools, there was some dissatisfaction with many of these instruments because they were somewhat transparent and could easily be faked by an examinee. Therefore, projective techniques, such as the Rorschach, began to become more popular. With projective techniques, clients respond to a relatively unstructured task, and their responses are then evaluated. The increased use of projective techniques did not, however, hamper the development of self-report instruments. In the early 1940s, Hathaway and McKinley developed a prominent personality instrument, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), which incorporated validity scales to assess the degree to which individuals portrayed themselves in an overly positive or negative way. The MMPI also contained items that were empirically selected and keyed to criterion rather than items that appeared to measure different aspects of personality. Standardized achievement tests were also becoming well established in the public schools. Although single aptitude tests were already in existence, most of the multiple aptitude batteries appeared after 1940. Multiple aptitude batteries could indicate where an individual’s strengths and limitations were (e.g., Does an individual have higher verbal aptitude or higher numerical aptitude?). The development of multiple aptitude batteries came late compared with other assessment areas, which was directly related to the refinement of the statistical technique of factor analysis. With the increased use of assessment instruments, problems associated with these instruments began to emerge. As criticisms of assessment rose, it became clear that there was a need for standards with respect to the development and use of instruments. The American Psychological Association published the first edition of defined standards. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Chapter 1 Assessment in Counseling 15 In later years, three organizations—the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME)—collaborated on revised editions, titled Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. These standards continue to be revised, with the most recent edition published in 2014, and serve as a significant resource in the evaluation and appropriate use of appraisal instruments. As assessment became more established, it also became more sophisticated. Individuals began to see that centralized publication of tests would be convenient for consumers as well as, quite possibly, profitable for the publishers. For example, the testing functions of the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB), the Carnegie Corporation, and the American Council on Education merged to form the Educational Testing Service. With the centralization of some publishing, electronic scoring became more cost-effective. Electronic scoring reduced scoring errors and allowed for more complicated scoring procedures. 1960s and 1970s This period is marked by an examination and evaluation of testing and assessment. The proliferation of large-scale testing in schools, along with the increased use of testing in employment and the military, led to widespread public concern. Numerous magazine articles and books questioned the use of psychological instruments and uncovered misuses of these instruments. Assessment instruments were particularly scrutinized for racial or ethnic bias, fairness, and accuracy. This scrutiny revealed many limitations of existing instruments, particularly those concerning the use of some instruments with minority clients. An interesting paradox occurred during the 1970s. Although there was substantial concern about the use of tests, there was also a grassroots movement related to minimum competency testing that encouraged more testing. This movement grew out of concern that high school students were graduating without sufficient skills. Because the public wanted to ensure that children reached a minimal level of competency before they graduated, many states enacted legislation requiring students to pass a minimum competency examination before they could be awarded a high school diploma (Lerner, 1981). In addition, legislation at the national level had a significant impact on testing. In 1974, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act was passed, mandating that parents and children older than 18 had the right to review their own school records. This legislation also specified topics that could not be assessed without parental permission. As the country was beginning to take advantage of advances in technology, the field of assessment was also changing. Computers began to be used more, particularly for scoring. Near the end of the 1970s, the assessment field began to explore the interactive nature of computers and methods for using computers not only to score but also to administer and interpret assessment results 1980s and 1990s The use of computers in appraisal really blossomed in the 1980s. With the increased availability of personal computers, clients could take an assessment instrument on a computer and receive the results immediately. Computers could be programmed to adapt the order of items depending on a client’s previous answer. For example, if a client got one item correct, then the next item could be more difficult, but if a client got the item wrong, the next item could be easier. There also was an increase in computer-generated reports, where instead of a psychologist writing a report, the report was written by a computer. Earlier criticisms of assessment techniques led to many instruments being revised. For example, the developers of the MMPI-2 attempted to eliminate many of the shortcomings of the MMPI. The most widely used instrument to assess children’s intelligence, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC-R), was revised to become Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 16 Section I Principles of Assessment the WISC-III. The adult version of the Wechsler scale (WAIS) was revised twice during this period. New instruments designed to be sensitive to cultural diversity were also developed (e.g., Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children). Issues related to cultural bias and sensitivity to multicultural influences that arose in the 1960s and 1970s continued to be researched and discussed. Many professional organizations began to realize that standards for multicultural counseling and assessment needed to be developed. A major testing movement within the 1990s was authentic assessment, the purpose of which is to evaluate using a method consistent with the instructional area and to gather multiple indicators of performance. Authentic assessment has had a major influence on teachers’ assessments of students’ academic progress (Fisher & King, 1995). Teachers often use portfolio assessment, where multiple assignments are gathered together and evaluated. Rather than using only one multiple-choice test, teachers evaluate multiple essays, projects, and tests that are designed to represent the material being taught. 2000 to the Present It is difficult to predict the future issues and trends that will evolve in assessment. Technology and the Internet are continuing to change the manner in which assessments are developed, administered, scored, and interpreted. Counselors can now have clients sit down at a computer and take many assessments through the publisher’s website. There are also some drawbacks to technology’s influence on assessment. Thousands of assessments are on the Internet; however, it is difficult for clients to determine what assessments have been researched and the degree to which validation evidence has been accumulated. Individuals might make important life decisions (e.g., whether to pay for an expensive training program) based on an instrument that has very low reliability. Multicultural issues will continue to be a focus of research in the assessment area. Identifying methods of assessing individuals with different cultural backgrounds is complex, and it is hoped that the field will make strides in this area. A number of instruments have already been revised since 2000 with the goal of diminishing instrument bias. In addition, as we progress toward a global society, there is interest in assessment instruments that can be used in multiple countries. Certainly the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has had a dramatic influence on achievement testing in the schools. The specifics of No Child Left Behind related to assessment will be discussed in Chapter 10. In many ways, the Act was passed to make schools more accountable. The theme of accountability is also evident for counselors interested in being mental health counselors. Indications are that counselors will need to be more accountable and provide effectiveness data to various constituencies. In particular, the ASCA developed the ASCA National Model (ASCA, 2012), which encourages school counselors to collect and use data that link school counseling programs to student achievement and other important indicators of effectiveness. Arguably, this is another time of change within the field of assessment. The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA, & NCME, 2014), the primary resource for assessment, was recently revised. Its purpose “is to provide criteria for the development and evaluation of tests and testing practices and to provide guidelines for assessing the validity of interpretation of test scores for the intended test uses” (p. 1). Its revision provides more clarity about recent advancements in the assessment and focuses on test fairness. Another major revision is of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), with the publication of the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The American Psychiatric Association published the first edition of the DSM in 1952 to provide a common nomenclature regarding mental disturbances and disorders. Through various revisions, the DSM has served as the guidebook for the diagnosis of mental disorders for Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Chapter 1 Assessment in Counseling 17 many mental health clinicians. There are numerous changes in the DSM-5 as compared to other editions, and an overview of the DSM-5 is provided in Chapter 15. Other future trends in assessment may turn out to be significant, but what is clear is this is an exciting time for counselors with regard to assessment. Summary Often the terms assessment and appraisal have different meanings in the helping profession, depending on the situation and context. This book defines both terms as procedures, including formal and informal techniques, designed to gather information about clients. Assessment can involve formal tests, psychological inventories, checklists, scales, interviews, and observations. The degree to which counselors accurately assesses clients will influence the effectiveness of their counseling. Assessment is an integral part of the counseling process, and as such, counselors need to develop proficient assessment skills. The history of assessment in counseling indicates that there has been an ebb and flow in assessment strategies. In the United States today, there is considerable interest in various areas of testing, and some environments, such as schools, have seen a significant increase in assessments. Given current social and political influences, it is even more important for counselors to understand issues in assessment. The development of assessment skills involves knowledge of basic measurement techniques and methods for evaluating instruments. These skills also involve knowledge of the constructs (e.g., intelligence, personality) being measured and how to use the results in counseling. Assessment results can sometimes have a dramatic effect on a client; therefore, counselors should strive to ensure that assessment results are used in a professional and ethical manner. In the past, psychologists have challenged whether counselors have the appropriate training and background to use assessment. If counselors want to continue to have a place in providing mental health services, then they need to be proficient in assessment. The following chapters are designed to provide counselors with an introduction to key issues in assessment with an emphasis on understanding basic concepts related to measurement. Visit CengageBrain.com for a variety of study tools and useful resources such as video examples, case studies, interactive exercises, flashcards, and quizzes. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed…
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