PSYC 806 Psychological Assessment

The purpose of psychological testing, or assessment, is to provide standardized, objective methods for measuring samples of behavior. This course is an introduction to psychological assessment: its history, methodologies, applications, and ethical considerations. Students will learn to administer, score, and interpret psychological measures, and to write psychological reports. Equally importantly, they will be able to describe underlying theories, methods, and assumptions of psychological assessment, and be able to evaluate tests and testing results based on their understanding of the ethical and cultural dimensions of psychological assessment. The course introduces students to principles and techniques of assessment including interviews, behavioral observations, test selection, tests and measures for assessing cognitive, achievement, and social emotional functioning. It covers technical, methodological, and ethical issues. At the end of the course, students will have acquired basic competencies for conducting psychological assessments that are reliable, valid, and useful. They may also participate in research for establishing normative data among Caribbean children and adults.