Importance of high quality psychological testing

החשיבות שבאבחון פסיכולוגי באיכות גבוהה

הנה העתק של פוסט מתוך הבלוג של דר' קאוין מקגרו,    IQ'S CORNER.

לא מכירים את הבלוג? גילשו לשם עכשיו!  זה בלוג מצוין של האיש שיצר את הסינתזה הנקראת – CHC, האיש שמאחורי מבחן הוודקוק ג'ונסון!

This is a copy of a post from Dr Kevin McGrew's blog, IQ'S CORNER.

Don't know this blog?  Go there now!  It's an excellent blog by the man who created the CHC theoretical synthesis, the man behind the Woodcock Johnson test!  

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Quotes to note: Importance of high quality psychological testing to psychologists

I just read this nice statement at the begging of the following article by Robert J. Ivnik, Ph.D., ABPP Professor of Psychology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN.

The only professional services that are uniquely psychology's are testing-based assessments. Every other service that psychology offers can be obtained from other professions. In light of testing's central importance to our profession, and considering the number of years that psychologists have been practicing, we assure that our tests are scientifically sound and have been validated for the purposes to which they are put (e.g., research proves that our tests make accurate predictions). Correct? After all, in today's health care environment would any profession knowingly expose its core service to potential attack? 

Although testing-based assessments are psychology's defining feature, they may also be our profession's Achilles' heel. Unfortunately, the manner in which many tests have been developed, standardized, normed, and validated may be most kindly described as ‘‘varied'' when it comes to scientific rigor. The science behind some of psychology's older and commercially successful tests tends to be stronger when some of the profit accrued by their sale is devoted to improving the tests. Lacking similar financial resources, many other tests have simply not been developed or validated very well.

 

The quote is taken from this paper:

Normative psychology - a professional obligation?

     The Clinical Neuropsychologist Volume 19, Issue 2, 2005

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13854040590945247?journalCode=ntcn20#.U9k6d_l_t3M

פוסט זה יכול אולי להתכתב עם הפוסטים שלי בנושא ספרו של פרופ' סילברסטיין על פרשנות למבחנים 

השלכתיים עפ"י תאורית הסלף. 

לכן אוסיף את הציטוט הבא מאת קארל פופר (פילוסוף נודע של המדע.  הציטוט לקוח מתוך ספרו של סיימון

 סינג, "המפץ הגדול"):

"המדע חייב להתחיל במיתוסים, ובביקורת על מיתוסים".

This post might "converse" with my posts about Prof. Silverstein's book about understanding storytelling tests through self theory.

So I'll add the following quotation from Karl Popper (a renowned philosopher of science.  The quote is taken from Simon Singh's book, "Big Bang".    My translation from Hebrew):

"Science must begin with mythoses, and with criticism of mythoses"