What is a psychological test?

In this unit, you’ll be introduced to the basics of psychological and psychometric testing, including what makes a test psychometric as opposed to just psychological. You’ll explore examples of well-known psychological tests and consider why some of these do not meet psychometric principles, especially in workplace settings. You’ll also start to understand the importance of standardisation and why it matters for accurate and fair assessment.

After this talk, you will:

• Be able to explain what a psychological test is.

• Understand the difference between psychological tests and psychometric tests.

• Recognise that psychological tests aim to measure something in the brain to help predict behaviour.

• Know that psychometric tests are especially useful in workplace settings for predicting performance and competence.

• Understand that not all psychological tests are psychometric—for example, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and the Rorschach inkblot test do not meet psychometric standards.

• Be aware of the importance of standardisation in test interpretation and why this is essential for psychometric tests.

• Appreciate some of the challenges and issues associated with non-psychometric tests, such as the lack of standardisation and reliability.

• Be prepared to learn about different ways psychometric tests can be administered in later parts of the module.