PSYn4020 Psychological testing and assessment of adults

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2023
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Stanislav Ježek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
PhDr. Radka Neužilová Michalčáková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Stanislav Ježek, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: doc. Mgr. Stanislav Ježek, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Psychology – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Mon 25. 9. 12:00–13:40 U32, Mon 9. 10. 12:00–13:40 U43, Mon 23. 10. 12:00–13:40 U32, Mon 6. 11. 12:00–13:40 U32, Mon 20. 11. 12:00–13:40 U32, Mon 4. 12. 12:00–13:40 U32
  • Timetable of Seminar Groups:
PSYn4020/S01: Mon 18. 9. 12:00–13:40 P22, Mon 2. 10. 12:00–13:40 P22, Mon 16. 10. 12:00–13:40 P22, Mon 30. 10. 12:00–13:40 P22, Mon 13. 11. 12:00–13:40 P22, Mon 27. 11. 12:00–13:40 P22, Mon 11. 12. 12:00–13:40 P22, S. Ježek
PSYn4020/S02: Mon 18. 9. 14:00–15:40 P22, Mon 2. 10. 14:00–15:40 P22, Mon 16. 10. 14:00–15:40 P22, Mon 30. 10. 14:00–15:40 P22, Mon 13. 11. 14:00–15:40 P22, Mon 27. 11. 14:00–15:40 P22, Mon 11. 12. 14:00–15:40 P22, S. Ježek
Prerequisites
! PSY402 Assessment of adults
The introductory course assumes basic knowledge of statistics, research methods, observation and interviewing skills. There are two co-requisites: PSYn4790 Psychometrics: measurement in psychology and PSYn5340 Ethics in psychology.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The introductory part of the course is dedicated to general issues of psychological assessment – students will be introduced to the process of psychological assessment and attention will be also paid to general issues of test theory and psychometrics.
Further on, a systematic overview will be given of psychological assessment methods intended for adult population including the starting points for their development and basic psychometric features. The aim of the course is not only students’ theoretical introduction to the individual psychological assessment methods for adults but also acquiring practical skills of their administration, interpretation, and assessment report writing. .
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, students have an overview of the field of psychological assessment and testing. They know the purposes for which psychological testing and assessment are used and are able to critically assess specific uses. They know the rough outlines of the history of psychological testing and assessment.
In relation to the use of individual tests/methods, students are able to navigate the standard chapters of test/method manuals and can critically assess and argue the test qualities and its suitability for use in a specific case. They can also reflect their own competences in relation to the given test and know educational institutions providing further training in this area.
They know and can carry out the psychological assessment procedure, from contract negotiation to writing an effective report. They know the basic administration procedures and know the usual problems that arise during the administration itself, scoring and interpretation. They are able to use interview and observation techniques to obtain case history and the description of presenting problem.
Syllabus
  • Classes are held in six thematic blocks comprising a lecture and a practical seminar about each of the following areas.
  • 1. Introduction to psychological assessment and testing
  • The role and aims of psychological assessment and testing. History of development and use of psychological assessment methods and psychological testing. Types of tests and their uses. Test users, their responsibilities and qualifications. Psychometric and clinical approach in psychological assessment. Sources of information on tests, test publishers and test reviews. Ethical issues, fairness.
  • 2. Psychological assessment process and clinical methods. Concept of assessment. Referral question and assessment goals and hypothesising answers. Interpersonal factors of examination. Interpretation and factors affecting the validity of assessment. Assessment/test report writing. Interviewing, intake interview (MSE), structured clinical interviews schedules, observation.
  • 3. Performance tests. Tests of attention, psychomotor speed, memory, creativity, visuo-spatial perception, language. Achievement, ability and aptitude tests. Elements of neuropsychological assessment.
  • 4. Intelligence and intelligence testing History of intelligence theories and testing. Current theories and tests. approaches to the interpretation of complex intelligence tests. Cross-battery approach.
  • 5. Personality assessment. Questionnaires and rating scales. Principles of development and functioning. Interpretation. Unidimensional and multidimensional personality measures. Questionnaires based on personality theories, empirical questionnaire methods, questionnaires based on factor analysis, etc. Symptom rating scales and inventories. Motivation and interest scales.
  • 6. Projective techniques. Projective hypothesis vs. performace approach to projective tasks. Association techniques, ROR and TAT in various interpretation approaches, drawing techniques. Historical techniques which never went out of use, esp. Lüscher.
Literature
    required literature
  • HOGAN, Thomas P. Psychological testing : a practical introduction. 3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2015, xxi, 674. ISBN 9781118554128. info
  • GROTH-MARNAT, Gary and A. Jordan WRIGHT. Handbook of psychological assessment. Sixth edition. Hoboken: Wiley, 2016, xii, 911. ISBN 9781118960646. info
  • ZUCKERMAN, Edward L. Clinician's thesaurus : the guide to conducting interviews and writing psychological reports. 7th ed. New York: Guilford Press, 2010, xviii, 395. ISBN 9781606238745. info
  • HUMPOLÍČEK, Pavel and Václav ŠNOREK. Psychodiagnostika dospělých. Edited by Mojmír Svoboda. Vydání první. Praha: Portál, 2013, 487 stran. ISBN 9788026203636. info
  • Standardy pro pedagogické a psychologické testování. 1. české vyd. Praha: Testcentrum, 2001, 192 s. ISBN 8086471071. info
Teaching methods
Lecture, workshop, assessment work.
Assessment methods
Assessment report. During the semester, students will do a psychological assessment and submit an assessment report. The work will be evaluated from 0 to 25 points during an oral defense, while with a score of 10 points or less, the work will be returned for revision. Without an oral defense, the report will not receive any points. Reworked works can receive a maximum of 15 points.

Exam. The course ends with a written exam. The maximum number of points per exam is 35.

Final evaluation. With a maximum score of 60 (35 + 25), the evaluation intervals are as follows: A: 60-55, B: 54-50, C: 49-45, D: 44-40, E: 39-35, F: 34 and under points.
Language of instruction
Czech
Follow-Up Courses
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
Teacher's information
The preferred communication channel is email. Please us "PSYn4020" in the subject of emails.

As a part of the course students may be asked to participate in research projects, course-related or other. Participation in such projects is purely voluntary and is in no way related with passing the course or the grade.

The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2023, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/autumn2023/PSYn4020