Testing methodology. Types of tests and their classifications, requirements for test research methods

Test methods. Definition of test. Approaches to test classification. Product quality criteria. Advantages and disadvantages of tests. Advantages and disadvantages of test methods.

Standardized tests must have certain psychometric properties.

1. Test reliability accuracy sustainability - the consistency of test results that are obtained when the test is repeated on the same subjects over time or as a result of applying equivalent sets of tasks. Reliability measures the extent to which individual differences in test scores are true and the extent to which they can be attributed to random errors. The test reliability indicator should be quite high (0.7-0.8). The reliability of a test does not necessarily imply its validity.

2. Test validity What

The following inequality is true: validity ≤ reliability.

3. Representativeness of the test determined by the possibility of its use in relation to this category of persons being examined. A test standardized on students, and even more so on specialists, will not be representative of secondary school students.

4. Reliability of the test– its protection from motivational distortions (a type of validity in relation to test self-reports).

Standard set test data should include a measure of reliability (characterizes the test when it is used under standard conditions and with subjects similar to those who participated in the standardization sample), information about validity and methods for determining it.

When using psychodiagnostic tests, it is important to comply with the following requirements:

● clearly define the goals, objectives and scope of the test;

● use a given algorithm for testing and processing results.

As a summary requirement for the test methodology, we can note the presence of the so-called technical passport psychodiagnostic test. The technical passport is an integral document that describes the test in detail, indicating the authorship, time and place of creation, forms and methods of implementation, parameters of reliability, validity, representativeness of the test, information about testing, author's instructions, keys and norms for the test, range of use and limitations .

Often, tests for psychodiagnostics of personnel are distributed without the necessary professional attributes, and tests that were developed for specific purposes and conditions are used in completely inappropriate areas. To help customers of psychodiagnostic testing, we can highlight the external signs of a scientific (and therefore effective) test, which should be taken into account when choosing test methods.

This category of methods is based on compliance with fairly strict and explicitly formulated rules. These methods provide a diagnosis (and a prognosis based on it) only with probabilistic accuracy; this diagnosis turns out to be more reliable in relation to a group of subjects than in relation to an individual subject. The advantages of measurement methods (the objective nature of the procedure, the possibility of double-checking) are provided not automatically, but through the fulfillment of psychometric requirements.

Test(English) test-experience, test) - a system of standardized questions and tasks that allow measuring the level of development of certain psychological qualities, necessary theoretical knowledge, practical skills in the subjects being examined.

Approaches to test classification. According to the generally accepted classification, tests can be divided into:

● according to purpose– for general diagnostic, professional suitability, special;

● according to completeness– for isolated and test batteries;

● by the degree of homogeneity of tasks– into homogeneous and heterogeneous;

● according to the forms of the examination procedure– for group and individual;

● according to the form of the answer– oral and written;

● by the presence of time restrictions in performing the test– for speed tests, capability (performance) and mixed tests;

● according to the characteristics of the test tasks used– verbal and non-verbal;

● by the nature of the test material presented to the subjects - on blank (“pencil-paper”) and hardware (including computer);

● on the subject of diagnostics– for intelligence tests, personality tests, socio-psychological tests, achievement tests, etc.

8. Reliability and validity of tests: basic concepts.

1. Test reliability is a characteristic of the technique that reflects accuracy psychodiagnostic measurements and sustainability test results to the action of extraneous random factors (temporary fluctuations in the psychological or physical state of the person being examined, environmental factors, etc.);

- the consistency of test results that are obtained when the test is repeated on the same subjects over time or as a result of applying equivalent sets of tasks.

Reliability measures the extent to which individual differences in test scores are true and the extent to which they can be attributed to random errors. The test reliability indicator should be quite high (0.7-0.8).

The reliability of a test does not necessarily imply its validity.

2. Test validity– this is an assessment of the suitability of the test for measuring the required (sought) quality. Validity shows What the test measures and how well it does it; the extent to which test results match independently observed behavior.

The name of the test often cannot serve as an indication of its validity (validity), allowing only to distinguish the test from others (the name of the tests is too broad and vague to determine what features the test is aimed at diagnosing). The validity of the test is determined in laboratory conditions by a system of statistical methods. The following inequality is true: validity ≤ reliability.

The validity of a test is also related to its representativeness and reliability.

Tests in psychology are standardized psychodiagnostic methods that make it possible to obtain comparable quantitative and qualitative indicators of the degree of development of the properties being studied. By the standardization of such methods, we mean that they must always and everywhere be applied in the same way, starting from the situation and instructions received by the subject, ending with the methods of calculating and interpreting the obtained indicators. Comparability means that the scores obtained from a test can be compared with each other regardless of where? When? How? and by whom? they were obtained if, of course, the test was applied correctly Gurevich K.M. What is psychological diagnostics M.: Knowledge, 1985.- 80 p..

What is a psychological test in the understanding of most people? This is a set of questions and a key to process them. The fact that there is a special procedure and rules for conducting the test, that the test must be valid and reliable, is most often forgotten. Even people who have received a specialized education, feeling the free air of independence, completely forget about the strict requirements for carrying out methods. From numerous tests, the easiest to process or the most interesting for the recruiter are selected. Thus, those who are fundamentally unvalid or unacceptable for professional selection have entered into selection practice en masse. projective techniques, tests: Lushera, Sondi, Non-existent animal, House-tree-man, Rosebush and many others. Methods that are excellent for clinical or advisory diagnostics have flown into the practice of selecting candidates and, thereby, significantly discredited all other methods. Gorshkova E. Personnel assessment: fine-tuning the business // Company Management. - 2006. - No. 3..

Psychological testing belongs to the section of psychodiagnostics and deals with the study of psychological qualities and personality traits through the use of psychological tests. This method is often used in counseling, psychotherapy, and by employers when hiring. Psychological tests are needed when you need to learn about a person’s personality in more detail, which cannot be done through a conversation or survey.

The main characteristics of psychological tests are:

* Validity - compliance of the data obtained from the test with the characteristic for which the test is carried out;

* Reliability - consistency of the results obtained during repeated testing;

* Reliability - the ability of a test to give true results, even with intentional or unintentional attempts to distort them by the subjects;

* Representativeness - compliance with standards.

A truly effective test is created through trial and modification (changing the number of questions, their composition and wording). The test must go through a multi-stage verification and adaptation procedure. An effective psychological test is a standardized test, based on the results of which it becomes possible to assess the psychophysiological and personal characteristics, as well as the knowledge, skills and abilities of the subject.

Exist different kinds tests:

* Career guidance tests - to determine a person’s predisposition to any type of activity or suitability for a position;

* Personality tests - to study character, needs, emotions, abilities and other personality traits;

* Intelligence tests - to study the degree of development of intelligence;

* Verbal tests - to study a person’s ability to describe actions performed in words;

* Achievement tests - to assess the level of mastery of knowledge and skills.

There are other test options aimed at studying a person and his personality traits: color tests, linguistic tests, questionnaires, handwriting analysis, psychometrics, lie detector, various methods diagnostics, etc.

Psychological tests are very convenient to use in ordinary life in order to better know yourself or the people you care about.

Practical areas of application of psychology: work psychology, engineering, social, pedagogical, medical, legal, military and sports psychology - when creating and applying psychodiagnostic methods, they find in psychodiagnostics a general theoretical and methodological basis for assessing personality in the system of social, economic and other relations. These practical areas of psychology, for their part, enrich the system of basic psychological knowledge by applying and repeatedly testing them in practice.

Psychological testing is used in education to test intelligence, special abilities, achievements, personal qualities, behavior, etc.

Testing is carried out in the field of professional activity as an auxiliary means for making decisions about hiring and placement of personnel.

In clinical psychology and psychological counseling, testing and assessment of mental state is used when an individual is unable to cope with his difficulties or problems.

Neurophysiology conducts neuropsychological studies of the interaction of brain pathologies with human behavior. The influence of age on the behavioral effects resulting from brain damage has been established.

Let us dwell on the most common area of ​​application of psychological testing - personnel selection.

Employee testing is essential component in the personnel management system, which allows you to evaluate both the company’s personnel as a whole and each employee individually. It is necessary to test employees not only upon hiring, at the end of the trial period, when transferring to another vacant position, when creating a personnel reserve, but also on a regular basis according to the plan approved by the general director. It is employee testing that can provide company management real picture state of affairs with personnel. The absence or untimely implementation of activities, such as testing of employees, can lead to very negative consequences for the organization itself, when it is almost impossible to correct the state of affairs.

Analyzing many publications on the topic of testing an organization’s personnel, one can note the unequal attitude towards this assessment method both on the part of managers and on the part of specialized specialists.

It is quite obvious that selection procedures are very important for an enterprise both when hiring, since the final result of its activities depends on correctly selected personnel: making a profit and the competitiveness of the enterprise itself in the selected market segment, and when selecting personnel reserve and selection of personnel for release.

A selective study of various sources showed the low effectiveness of tests common in enterprise practice (see Table 1).

Table 1 - Comparative effectiveness of candidate testing

Managers of small and medium-sized enterprises who have assessed their employees using testing as the main method of personnel selection are often not satisfied with its results.

The main arguments of opponents of the use of tests are as follows: Malichevsky V. Technology for assessing and diagnosing candidates different levels HQS when hiring (Human quality selection) // http://www.trn.com.ua/news/2970/.:

High labor intensity of testing during professional selection of personnel;

Preparing tests for a position takes a lot of time;

Not every manager is able to competently and correctly use computer test tasks;

Prevalence of psychological tests of unknown nature presented on the Internet;

Low level of test prediction;

Many factors influencing the candidate both during the testing process and during the work process;

Uncertainty of applicants that testing can provide an adequate understanding of their abilities.

The American Management Association cited data that 44% of enterprises that took part in the survey use tests when selecting employees. Moreover, 40% of Fortune 100 companies use psychological testing Psychological testing in the process HR management// http:// www.podborkadrov.ru/ articles/detail.php?ID=1547..

In our country, this problem becomes even more acute because, following the fashion for testing, enterprises use tests with keys published in both scientific and popular science publications. In addition, in Russia, in 80% of cases, the Wechsler, Ravenna, Amthauer and Cattell tests are used, which are well known not only to employers, but also to employees.

Methods of psychology- the main ways and techniques of scientific testimony of mental phenomena and their patterns.

In psychology, it is customary to distinguish four groups of methods for studying the psyche.

One type of empirical method is testing.

Test- a short-term task, the completion of which can serve as an indicator of the perfection of certain mental functions. The task of the tests is not obtaining new scientific data, but a test, a test.

Tests are more or less standardized short-term tests of personality traits. There are tests aimed at assessing intellectual, perceptual abilities, motor functions, personality traits, the threshold for anxiety, frustration in a certain situation, or interest in a particular type of activity. A good test is the result of a lot of preliminary experimental testing. Theoretically based and experimentally tested tests have scientific (differentiation of subjects according to the level of development of a particular property, characteristics, etc.) and, most importantly, practical (vocational selection) significance.

Most widely known and popular personality tests, aimed at determining the level of intellectual development of an individual. However, nowadays they are used less and less for selection, although they were originally created for this very purpose. This limitation in the use of these tests can be explained by a number of reasons. But it is through their use, criticism of the abuse of tests and measures taken to improve them that the nature and functioning of intelligence has become much better understood.

When developing the first tests, two main requirements were put forward that “good” tests must satisfy: validity and reliability.

Validity The test is that it must evaluate exactly the quality for which it is intended.

Reliability The test is that its results are reproduced with good consistency in the same person.

Also very important is the requirement normalization of the test. This means that standards must be established for it in accordance with the test data of the reference group. Such normalization can not only clearly define the groups of individuals to whom a given test can be applied, but also place the results obtained when testing subjects on the normal distribution curve of the reference group. Obviously, it would be absurd to use norms obtained on university students to assess (using the same tests) the intelligence of children primary school, or apply the standards for children from Western countries when assessing the mental abilities of young Africans or Asians.

Thus, the criteria for intelligence in these types of tests are determined by the prevailing culture, i.e. those values ​​that originally developed in Western European countries. This does not take into account that someone may have completely different family education, other life experience, different ideas (in particular, about the meaning of the test), and in some cases, poor command of the language spoken by the majority of the population.

Approaches to the Study of Emotions

Methods scientific knowledge are the methods by which scientists obtain reliable and reliable knowledge about psychological phenomena. This knowledge, unlike that which people receive and have in ordinary, Everyday life, seem to be quite accurate and verifiable. The latter means that the correctness of scientific knowledge can be re-tested in a special study if it is organized and conducted in accordance with the rules of science. Such rules, in particular, include the laws of strict logic of thinking, following which allows one to obtain reliable knowledge.

Each science has its own methods of cognition, corresponding to the nature of the phenomena that are studied in this science. At the same time, various sciences use same methods research. These are, for example, observation and experiment.

How can we study emotions? They can be studied by directly observing them, recording, evaluating and describing them in the form in which they are presented in human sensations. Introspection has been used in psychology for a long time. However, this method is not entirely reliable, since with its help it is impossible to obtain sufficiently reliable, objective information about mental phenomena. It does not allow us to study those phenomena that are not fully understood by humans. However, this is the only method by which mental phenomena can be observed and assessed directly.

Emotions can be indirectly judged by the external signs in which they manifest themselves. These are motor and other bodily reactions of a person directly related to emotions, his speech and actions. Similar method The study of mental phenomena is called objective, meaning that mental phenomena in this case are judged by external, clearly observable signs. This method It also does not always allow one to obtain absolutely accurate and completely reliable knowledge about mental phenomena, since there is no unambiguous connection between mental phenomena, bodily changes, verbal reactions and human behavior.

In principle, mental phenomena can be judged by what the person himself says about them. This method of studying mental phenomena is called self-report or survey. In order to draw correct conclusions about the laws to which mental phenomena are subject, it is possible to create conditions under which these phenomena will purposefully change, and then carefully monitor their changes. This method of studying mental phenomena is called experiment. It was borrowed by psychologists from other sciences, more developed than psychology, and contributed to the fact that psychology became a recognized, modern science.

There are many cases described in fiction (especially in detective stories) when the experimenter specifically simulates a situation, and the subject in this situation displays certain emotions indicating his involvement in the crime. About emotional state creative person can be judged by his work. However, a work of art does not always accurately reflect the emotional state of the author. In this case, the degree of “entering the role” is mixed in. A more accurate picture of a person’s emotional state can be given by his diaries. In diaries, a person usually expresses not only his thoughts, but also his experiences.

A good idea of ​​a person's emotional state can be obtained by examining his letters. T. Dreiser’s work “An American Tragedy” describes a situation where Roberta’s letters to Clyde, which reflect Roberta’s emotional state shortly before her death, produced such strong impression on the jury and the public that Clyde was sentenced to death.

Psychological tests are methods that can be used to accurately describe and quantify what is being studied. psychological phenomena. Psychological tests are standardized methods in the above sense of the word scientific research, they cannot be changed arbitrarily and must be used exactly as described in the relevant instructions. Tests form the main group modern methods the study of mental phenomena, including psychic ones.

Skillfully designed tests can also be one approach to studying the emotional properties of a person. However, the design of such tests must be scientifically sound. For example, psychology often uses tests based on the choice of colors when drawing a particular picture. However, for example, pictures in which black color predominates do not always indicate that the subject was in a gloomy emotional state. The student, knowing that testing was being carried out, could deliberately draw a picture in dark colors.

Thus, it is necessary to design tests in such a way that they can be used to determine other personality traits.

CONCLUSION

Emotions play a lot big role in the life of every person. With the help of emotions, we determine the significance of external influences and evaluate our own behavior. All our victories and defeats are colored by emotions. Many life events are remembered precisely because of the emotions experienced. Nurturing a culture of emotions and feelings among students is an important direction in the overall educational work family and school, is an urgent task of literature, art, means mass media. The inability to manage one’s emotions disrupts one’s interpersonal interactions with other people, does not allow one to adequately build industrial, family, and friendly relationships, and becomes an obstacle to choosing and successfully mastering many professions. The harmonious development of the emotional sphere is necessary for every person to live a full life in society, to have an adequate relationship with other people and himself, and to maintain his health.

In emotions, a person’s relationship to the world and to himself is objectively experienced and becomes an internal event, therefore emotions and feelings are one way or another present in the entire psychology of the individual.

Emotions are important, expressively bright and significant side primordial, attributive subjectivity of the mental image of the world.

A person always has practical experiences, although they are not necessarily expressed, presented to his consciousness and self-awareness.

Personality exists, functions and develops in interactions, communication, and relationships with other people. These relationships are laid down in the orientation of the individual, expressed in his character, and experienced in emotions, i.e. become for a person some subjectively noted fact of his mental life, therefore emotions and feelings, by definition, interact with the entire human psyche. They phenomenologically and functionally intersect with activities, needs, abilities, consciousness and self-awareness, temperament and character, psychic experience and speech, with the cognitive, evaluative, volitional and regular spheres of the psyche.

Also based on the analysis literary sources the following conclusions can be drawn:

1. Emotions can be studied by directly observing them, recording, evaluating and describing them in the form in which they are presented in a person’s sensations.

2. Introspection has been used in psychology for a long time. However, this method is not entirely reliable, since with its help it is impossible to obtain sufficiently reliable, objective information about mental phenomena.

3. In principle, mental phenomena can be judged by what the person himself says about them. This method of studying mental phenomena is called self-report or survey.

4. In order to draw correct conclusions about the laws to which mental phenomena are subject, it is possible to create conditions under which these phenomena will purposefully change, and then carefully monitor their changes. This method of studying mental phenomena is called experiment.

5. Tests can be used in the study of psychic phenomena, but they must be skillfully designed.

Related information.

In modern practical activities Psychologists of all directions widely use test methods for psychological diagnostics. Test (English test - sample, trial) is a standardized, usually time-limited, meaningful and standardized test (task, survey), intended to study the individual mental and socio-psychological specifics of a person. Psychodiagnostic tests identify individual-typical and socio-typological characteristics of people and groups.

Psychodiagnostics is represented by various tests. For individual testing (when the interaction between the experimenter and the subject occurs one-on-one) and group testing, including children, subject tests are used.

In subject tests, the material of test tasks is presented in the form of real objects: cubes, cards, parts geometric shapes, structures and components of technical devices, etc. The most famous are the Koos cubes and the test of addition of figures from the Wechsler set, the Vygotsky-Sakharov test, non-verbal tasks for testing personality, intelligence, abilities, achievements, action tests, tests for self-esteem of personality, studying the characteristics of motor development of children, vocabulary, etc.

Individual subject testing has its advantages: the ability to observe the subject (his facial expressions, other involuntary reactions), hear and record statements not provided for in the instructions, which allows one to assess the attitude towards testing, the functional state of the subject, etc. This allows subject testing to be widely used in the psychodiagnostics of children .

Children differ from each other in intellectual, moral, interpersonal development, and they can react differently to the same instructions and psychodiagnostic situations.

The level of psychological development of children is different, and therefore some children have almost complete access to tests intended for psychodiagnostics of adults, while others - less developed - only have methods designed for children preschool age. Therefore, it is advisable to use testing that is intellectually accessible and not too simple in order to assess the real level of psychological development achieved by the child.

Many children entering school, being ready for learning by their physical age, are at the level of a preschool child in terms of their level of psychological development. If such a child is offered a rather difficult, in principle accessible, but of little interest to him, a serious psychological test that requires developed will, voluntary attention, memory and the same imagination, then it may turn out that he will not cope with the task. And this will happen not due to a lack of intellectual abilities and inclinations, but due to an insufficient level of personal and psychological development. If, on the contrary, the same test tasks are offered to the child in a playful, externally and internally attractive form, then, in all likelihood, the test results will turn out to be different, higher.

Also, children, unlike adults, are not able to consciously, with the help of appropriate volitional efforts, control their behavior during testing, therefore, test results may be underestimated.

To be confident in the reliability of the results of psychodiagnostic research, it is necessary that the psychodiagnostic methods used be scientifically substantiated, that is, meet a number of requirements. These requirements are: validity, reliability, unambiguity of the methodology, accuracy.

In children, involuntary attention predominates. The use of items in the test allows you to reduce the testing procedure to 5-15 minutes, while meeting all the requirements scientific method research.

The system of psychodiagnostic methods for children is intended for a comprehensive assessment of the level of psychological development of children entering school, as well as students primary classes, including their characteristics cognitive processes, personality and interpersonal relationships, assessment of their practical skills and abilities, including intellectual abilities.

With the help of subject tests it is possible to explore:

• - mental condition and personal properties the level of development of the child’s psychological functions, taking into account age,
• - dynamics of development (longitudinal sections),
• - rate of development,
• - neoplasms of age.

The use of subject tests in child psychology allows us to become more thoroughly acquainted with the structure and functions of a number of mental processes that ensure the successful development of children, as well as to understand the reasons for possible difficulties in the child’s learning process. They may be insufficient volitional regulation of attention and action, excessive impulsiveness of cognitive activity, rapid fatigue of the child under intellectual and emotional stress, low pace of activity, and much more. This can be revealed in individual psychological testing with objects.

By observing how a child uses an object during testing, it is possible to reliably assess wide circle questions that clarify their role in solving the following problems: the world of fantasy, symbolization of children's fears and desires, diagnostic and prognostic indicators of the mental development of children in normal and pathological conditions, family and school environment.

Subject testing is based on a unified psychological mechanism of projection. The essence of projection is the transfer of the mental properties of the child being tested onto the task material, which makes it possible to identify his hidden personal characteristics. Unconscious experiences, feelings, thoughts generated by the child’s unconscious drives are accessible to objective diagnosis. They are reflected in the nature of verbal associations and involuntary slips of the tongue; in the content of fantasies, in the features of drawings or the perception of paintings.

Also, objects in psychological tests act as stimulus material for the test subject. The use of stimulus material is based on the principle of uncertainty or task instructions. It is assumed that in a situation of uncertainty the subject more freely expresses (projects) his own “I”, the features of his inner world and personal experiences.

In the literature on psychodiagnostics one can find different classifications testing methods. Testing with objects refers to projective methods of psychodiagnostics. Let's consider the classification that most fully characterizes the projective testing technique with the help of objects, proposed by L. Frank.

• 1. Constitutive. The techniques included in this category are characterized by a situation in which the subject is required to create some kind of structure from unstructured material, that is, some amorphous material is offered to which it is necessary to give meaning. Examples of such techniques for completing a task include:
  • - Unfinished sentences;
  • - Unfinished drawings.
• 2. Constructive. Designed details are offered (figurines of people and animals, models of their homes, etc.), from which you need to create a meaningful whole and explain it. An example that falls into this category is Edwin Shneidman’s “Make a Story Picture” test. Stimulus material - a form with background drawings and 67 figures cut out from cardboard, living and inanimate objects. The subject's task is to arrange the figures that fit the image as if on a stage and tell the story of what happened. This is then interpreted and a diagnosis of personality traits is given.
• 3. Interpretive methods- the subject must interpret some stimulus based on his own considerations. It is assumed that the subject identifies himself with the “hero” of the story, which makes it possible to reveal his inner world, his feelings, interests and motives. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a good illustration of this type of technique. The subject is offered cards with black and white pictures of ambiguous content, from which he must compose a story and establish the sequence of the events depicted.
• 4. Cathartic. Proposed implementation play activity in specially organized conditions. For example, psychodrama, carried out in the form of an improvised theatrical performance. With the help of this, the researcher can detect conflicts, problems, and other personally rich products that the subject brings to the outside.
• 5. Expressive. Analysis of handwriting, features of speech communication. Implementation by the subject visual arts, drawing on a free or given topic, for example, the “House-Tree-Man” technique. Based on the drawing, conclusions are drawn about the affective sphere of the personality, the level of psychosexual development and other characteristics.
• 6. Impressive. These methods are based on studying the results of choosing stimuli from a number of proposed ones. The subject selects the most desirable, preferred stimuli. For example, the Luscher test, consisting of 8 colored squares. All the squares are presented with a request to choose the most pleasant one. The procedure is repeated with the remaining squares until a row is finally formed in which the colors are arranged according to their attractiveness. The psychological interpretation comes from symbolic meaning colors.
• 7. Additive. The subject is required to complete a beginning sentence, story or story.

All of these methods are united by the ability to reflect the most essential aspects of personality in their interdependence and integrity of functioning. As a result, the task of diagnostic activity is solved: to assess the current state of the child, classifying his development as either conditionally normative or deviant.

One of the main psychological processes, the characteristics of which determine the assessment of a child’s cognitive readiness for learning at school and the success of his educational activities, is attention. Many problems that arise in learning, especially in the initial period, are directly related to shortcomings in the development of attention.

A universal tool that can be used to study children's attention of different ages, is a test using Landolt rings.

This test allows you to give a practical assessment of stability, distribution and switching of attention, using the same sheet of paper with Landolt rings, turning with each new task to that part of it that was left blank during the previous task.

Determining the child’s memory capacity (short-term visual memory, visual operational memory, indirect memory) is also possible using subject testing. For example, to determine the volume of short-term visual memory, the child is alternately presented with two drawings. After presenting each part of the drawing, A and B, the child receives a stencil frame with a request to draw on it all the lines that he saw and remembered on each part. Based on the results of two experiments, the average number of lines that he reproduced correctly from memory is established.

A correctly reproduced line is one whose length and orientation are not significantly different from the length and orientation of the corresponding line in the original drawing. The resulting indicator, equal to the number of correctly reproduced lines, is considered as the volume of visual memory. To assess operational visual memory, the child is sequentially, for 15 seconds each, given task cards, presented in the form of six differently shaded triangles. After viewing the next card, it is removed and instead a matrix is ​​offered, including 24 different triangles, among which are the six triangles that the child just saw on a separate card. children's psychodiagnostic test

The task is to find and correctly indicate in the matrix all six triangles depicted on a separate card. An indicator of the development of visual operative memory is the quotient of the problem solving time per minute divided by the number of errors made during the solution process, plus one.

Errors are considered triangles that are incorrectly indicated in the matrix or those that the child could not find for any reason. In practice, to obtain this indicator proceed as follows. Using all four cards, the number of triangles correctly found on the matrix is ​​determined and their total sum is divided by 4. This will be the average number of correctly indicated triangles.

This number is then subtracted from 6, and the result obtained is considered the average number of errors made. Then the average time the child worked on the task is determined, which in turn is obtained by dividing the total total time the child worked on all four cards by 4.

The end of the child’s time working on finding triangles in the general matrix is ​​determined by the experimenter by asking the child: “Have you already done everything you could?” As soon as the child answers yes to this question and practically stops searching for triangles in the matrix, it is considered that it has completed its work. Dividing the average time a child spends searching on a matrix of six triangles by the number of errors made allows us to finally obtain the required indicator.

To diagnose mediated memory, the material needed to carry out the technique is a sheet of paper and a pen. Before the examination begins, the child is told the following words: “Now I will tell you different words and sentences and then pause. During this pause, you will have to draw or write something on a piece of paper that will allow you to remember and then easily recall the words that I said. Try to make drawings or notes as quickly as possible, otherwise we will not have time to complete all the tasks. There are quite a lot of words and expressions that need to be remembered.” The following words and expressions are read to the child one after another: “Home. Stick. Tree. Jump high. The sun is shining. Cheerful man. Children play ball. The clock is standing. The boat is floating on the river. The cat eats fish."

After reading each word or phrase to the child, the experimenter pauses for 20 seconds. At this time, the child must have time to draw something on the sheet of paper given to him that will later allow him to remember the necessary words and expressions. If the child did not manage to make a note or drawing within the allotted time, the experimenter interrupts him and reads out the next word or expression. As soon as the experiment is completed, the psychologist asks the child, using the drawings or notes he made, to remember the words and expressions that were read to him.

Thus, in modern system education topical issues are the child’s readiness for school, his mental development, abilities and attitudes. Children have a number of significant characteristics, which puts forward special requirements for methods of psychodiagnostics of children. To ensure the scientific validity of the methods used, in psychological diagnostics Subject tests are widely used among children in practice.

Subject testing is based on a unified psychological mechanism of projection. The essence of projection is the transfer of the mental properties of the child being tested onto the task material, which makes it possible to identify his hidden personal characteristics. Unconscious experiences, feelings, thoughts generated by the child’s unconscious drives are accessible to objective diagnosis. With the help of subject tests, it is possible to examine the mental state and personal properties of the level of development of the child’s psychological functions, taking into account age, the dynamics of development, the pace of development, and new age developments. Subject tests significantly reduce research time, which is important when diagnosing children due to the involuntary nature of their attention, they allow one to assess a wide range of issues and ensure the scientific nature of psychodiagnostic methods.

Tests usually contain questions and tasks that require a very short, sometimes alternative answer (“yes” or “no”, “more” or “less”, etc.), choosing one of the given answers or answers according to point system. Test tasks are usually diagnostic; their execution and processing do not take much time. At the same time, as world practice has shown, it is very important to see what tests can actually reveal in order not to replace the subject of diagnosis. Thus, many tests that claim to identify the level of development actually reveal only the level of preparedness, awareness or skill of the test takers.

When preparing test tasks, a number of conditions must be observed. First, you need to define and focus on a certain norm, which will allow you to objectively compare the results and achievements of different subjects. This also means that the researcher must accept a certain scientific concept of the phenomenon being studied, focus on it and, from this position, justify the creation and interpret the results of completing tasks. For example, test-tasks to identify the level of development of knowledge, abilities and skills in certain academic subjects are compiled and applied on the basis of certain ideas about the criteria for assessing the knowledge, abilities and skills of students and the corresponding standards of grades or can only be designed to compare subjects with each other by success. completing their tasks. Secondly, the subjects must be in the same conditions for performing the task (regardless of time and place), which allows the researcher to objectively evaluate and compare the results obtained.

The norm of each test is determined by the compiler-developer by finding the average indicator corresponding to the results of a large population of people belonging to a certain culture (standardization sample). This indicator is taken as the average indicator of the development of the property revealed by the test, which is statistically characteristic of the average person. This could be, for example, the age norm of intellectual development or some personal characteristic. This indicator is determined empirically and taken as a starting point. The results of each subject are compared with the norm and evaluated accordingly: each test is accompanied by a method for processing the data and interpreting the results. For example, in a test to determine character accentuation (K. Leonhardt), the test taker can score a maximum of 24 points for each type of accentuation; a sign of strong expression (accentuation) is considered to be an indicator exceeding 12 points (the researcher himself, based on accumulated experience, can further clarify the characteristics of the measure of the expression of a property with indicators up to 24 points).

Tests focused on determining average statistical norms and accepting them as evaluation and integration criteria allow for normatively oriented testing (NORT). Such normative evaluative actions are often used in pedagogical practice. For example, there are criteria for assessing knowledge, abilities and skills and standards for grades in certain academic subjects; educational test assignments are used in various subjects with established standards for assigning grades. NORT can be carried out using many tests (Raven's test, Cattell's test, methods for diagnosing the level of subjective control, etc.).

There are many cases when it is important to take into account changes in the performance of the same subject over a certain period of time, for example, before the start of training and after completing training in some educational material. This allows us to record the capabilities of the subject, and periodic diagnostics and comparison of his indicators with previous ones allows us to identify the pace and direction of development of the property being studied. In such cases, interpretation of test results is carried out from the perspective of selected criteria, showing the features of the test taker’s progress in mastering the content educational material and the development of certain mental qualities. Many intellectual tests, achievement tests, etc. allow you to use them in the above sense. The test norm in such cases is individual.

It is also possible that the test norm is determined on the basis of content, based on an analysis of the logical and psychological structure of the task material, when the success of the test is interpreted in terms of the qualitative characteristics of the property being studied. Such qualitative characteristics act as criteria for assessing the test taker’s achievements, and the testing itself becomes criterion-oriented. Criteria-based testing (KORT) allows you to quite successfully combine testing, interpretation of the result and correction of the course of learning (formation). Let us recall once again that the results of completing tasks in CORT are correlated with the qualitative characteristics of the content of the task (test), and not with some average statistical level of success in completing it, as in NORT.

An example is the use of the “ARP Methodology” and the corresponding block of techniques proposed by one of the authors of this manual. Completing this block allows you to determine the level of development of the subject's thinking - a school student, which can be empirical, analytical, planning and reflective. Since the formation of one or another level of development of thinking is a prerequisite for the possible formation in the future of the next level of development, there is therefore the possibility of: 1) accepting these levels as criteria for assessing the property under study; 2) accepting the next level beyond the established level as the direction for the subsequent development of thinking and determining the immediate zone of development of the student’s thinking; 3) compiling an adequate set of exercises for one or a number of academic subjects, the implementation of which should lead to the student achieving the appropriate level of development of thinking1.

There are certain rules for conducting testing and interpreting the results obtained. These rules are quite clearly developed, and the main ones have the following meaning: 1)

informing the subject about the purposes of testing; 2)

familiarizing the subject with the instructions for performing test tasks and achieving the researcher’s confidence that the instructions are understood correctly; 3)

ensuring a situation where subjects can perform tasks calmly and independently; maintaining a neutral attitude towards the test takers, avoiding hints and help; 4)

compliance by the researcher with the methodological instructions for processing the data obtained and interpreting the results that accompany each test or corresponding task; 5)

preventing the dissemination of psychodiagnostic information obtained as a result of testing, ensuring its confidentiality; 6)

familiarizing the subject with the test results, providing him or the responsible person with the relevant information, taking into account the principle “Do no harm!”; in this case, there is a need to solve a series of ethical and moral problems; 7)

accumulation by the researcher of information obtained by other research methods and techniques, their correlation with each other and determination of consistency between them; enriching your experience with the test and knowledge about the features of its application.

As already noted, each test is accompanied by specific instructions and methodological instructions on processing and interpretation of the received data.

There are also several types of tests, each of which is accompanied by corresponding testing procedures.

Ability tests allow you to identify and measure the level of development of certain mental functions and cognitive processes.

Such tests are most often associated with the diagnosis of the cognitive sphere of the individual, the characteristics of thinking and are usually also called intellectual. These include, for example, the Raven test, the Amthauer test, the corresponding subtests of the Wechsler test, etc., as well as task tests for generalization, classification and many other tests of a research nature.

Achievement tests are aimed at identifying the level of formation of specific knowledge, skills and abilities and as a measure

1 See: Atakhanov R.A. Mathematical thinking and methods for determining the level of its development // Scientific. ed. V.V. Davydova. - Riga, 2000.

success of implementation, and as a measure of readiness to perform some activity. All cases of test examinations can serve as examples. In practice, “batteries” of achievement tests are usually used.

Personality tests are designed to identify the personality traits of subjects. They are numerous and varied: there are questionnaires of states and emotional makeup of the individual (for example, anxiety tests), questionnaires of motivation for activity and preferences, determinations of personality traits and relationships.

There is a group of tests called projective, which allow us to identify attitudes, unconscious needs and impulses, anxieties and a state of fear. The subject is offered various stimulus materials such as plot-undefined pictures, unfinished sentences, plot drawings with conflict situations and others with a request to interpret them. The mechanism for performing such tasks is manifested in the fact that the subject in some way arranges the elements of the stimulus material and gives them a subjective meaning that reflects his personal experience and experiences. In other words, projective tests are built on the recognition of the existence of a mechanism for a person to “project” his inner world onto the external one, when he involuntarily attributes to other people those drives, needs and desires that are normally suppressed. This means that projective tests allow us to diagnose a person’s unconscious experiences with a sufficient degree of objectivity. Such tests are the thematic apperception test, the Rorschach “ink blot” test, the widely used Rosenzweig frustration test, etc. Graphic projective techniques are also used, where the researcher puts the subject in a situation of projecting his state, personality traits and relationships onto reality by depicting a house, tree, family, person, non-existent animal and its interpretation. For example, the test " Constructive drawing of a person from geometric figures" reveals individual typological differences by analyzing a drawing of a person composed of ten figures (triangles, squares and circles, and their combination can be any): the subject may turn out to belong to the type of "leaders", "anxious and suspicious individuals" etc.

The use of tests is always associated with measuring the manifestation of one or another psychological properties and assessment of the level of its development or formation. That's why important has test quality. The quality of a test is characterized by the criteria of its accuracy, i.e. reliability and validity.

The reliability of a test is determined by how stable the results obtained are and how independent they are of random factors. Of course, we are talking about comparing the testimony of the same subjects. This means that a reliable test must have consistent test performance across multiple tests and can be confident that the test is detecting the same property. Apply different ways testing the reliability of tests. One way is the retesting just mentioned: if the results of the first and subsequent retesting show a sufficient level of correlation, then this will indicate the reliability of the test. The second method is associated with the use of another equivalent form of the test and the presence of a high correlation between them (some tests are offered to users in two forms; for example, the Eysenck EPI questionnaire - by definition of temperament - has equivalent forms A and B). It is also possible to use a third method of assessing reliability, when the test allows it to be split into two parts and the same group of subjects is examined using both parts of the test. Test reliability shows how stable the test results can be, how accurately psychological parameters are measured, and how high the researcher’s confidence in the results obtained can be.

Test validity answers the question of what exactly the test reveals and how suitable it is for identifying what it is intended to do. For example, ability tests often reveal something different: training, the presence of relevant experience or, conversely, the lack thereof. In this case, the test does not meet the validity requirements.

In psychodiagnostics there are different types validity. In the simplest case, the validity of a test is usually determined by comparing the indicators obtained as a result of testing with expert assessments about the presence of this property in the subjects (current validity or “simultaneous” validity), as well as by analyzing data obtained as a result of observing the subjects in various situations of their life and activities, and their achievements in the relevant field. The question of the validity of a test can also be resolved by comparing its data with indicators obtained using a technique associated with a given technique, the validity of which is considered established.