Mccaauley And Swisherer Summary
Citation
McCauley, R.J., & Swisher, L. (1984). Use and misuse of norm-referenced test in clinical assessment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 49, 338-348.
Summary
An article written by Rebecca J. McCauley and Linda Swisher (1984), discusses the use of norm-referenced tests and four major errors that are often encountered when using them. A norm-referenced test compares the test taker's performance to a normative sample, then supplies the clinician with evidence for the existence of an impairment. When these tests are used appropriately, they can have many benefits, such as recommending a need for further assessment, or to assert a need for therapy. However, norm-referenced tests are often misused, which can mislead both the clinician, …show more content…
This error can fall into two categories, for the first problem the scores can cause psychometric concerns. Within this first category, there are two psychometric problems: the relationship between the age-equivalent scores to the raw scores, and the fact that age-equivalent scores are not always based directly on evidence collected for the age group you are focusing on. Children with higher developmental levels make fewer errors, which may unfortunately result in poor reliability. Also, if the test creators did not have access to each and every age group, the scores are then calculated indirectly, which leads to assumptions regarding the continuity of the skill or behavior. The second category this error can fall into is the mistaken inferences that result from the scores with psychometric concerns. Within this category, people infer that the client will behave at the level of the age-equivalent score, which is not valid. Secondly, norm-referenced tests do not take into account the normal individual differences within each age group. This is exemplified when a child scores on the lower end of his/her chronological age, but is till within a normal variation. Many tests may score this as a lower age-equivalent score than his chronological …show more content…
Not all skills that may need to be treated in therapy will be addressed in these tests. Norm-referenced tests should not be used to create therapy goals for multiple reasons including: the small number of test items are not adequate to sample skills, there may be an inaccurate conceptualization of the individual's impairment due to reasons such as inattention or guessing, tasks in the test assess behaviors only within a very restricted range of communicative context, test scoring systems do not provide subtle descriptive clues, and the invalid belief that norm-referenced tests are a test of
McCauley, R.J., & Swisher, L. (1984). Use and misuse of norm-referenced test in clinical assessment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 49, 338-348.
Summary
An article written by Rebecca J. McCauley and Linda Swisher (1984), discusses the use of norm-referenced tests and four major errors that are often encountered when using them. A norm-referenced test compares the test taker's performance to a normative sample, then supplies the clinician with evidence for the existence of an impairment. When these tests are used appropriately, they can have many benefits, such as recommending a need for further assessment, or to assert a need for therapy. However, norm-referenced tests are often misused, which can mislead both the clinician, …show more content…
This error can fall into two categories, for the first problem the scores can cause psychometric concerns. Within this first category, there are two psychometric problems: the relationship between the age-equivalent scores to the raw scores, and the fact that age-equivalent scores are not always based directly on evidence collected for the age group you are focusing on. Children with higher developmental levels make fewer errors, which may unfortunately result in poor reliability. Also, if the test creators did not have access to each and every age group, the scores are then calculated indirectly, which leads to assumptions regarding the continuity of the skill or behavior. The second category this error can fall into is the mistaken inferences that result from the scores with psychometric concerns. Within this category, people infer that the client will behave at the level of the age-equivalent score, which is not valid. Secondly, norm-referenced tests do not take into account the normal individual differences within each age group. This is exemplified when a child scores on the lower end of his/her chronological age, but is till within a normal variation. Many tests may score this as a lower age-equivalent score than his chronological …show more content…
Not all skills that may need to be treated in therapy will be addressed in these tests. Norm-referenced tests should not be used to create therapy goals for multiple reasons including: the small number of test items are not adequate to sample skills, there may be an inaccurate conceptualization of the individual's impairment due to reasons such as inattention or guessing, tasks in the test assess behaviors only within a very restricted range of communicative context, test scoring systems do not provide subtle descriptive clues, and the invalid belief that norm-referenced tests are a test of