Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

reliability
The property by which 
tests measure consistently what they 
are trying to measure.
validity
The property by which tests 
actually measure what they are 
supposed to measure.
norms
Standards of test performance 
that permit the comparison of one 
person’s score on a test with the scores 
of other individuals who have taken 
the same test.
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292 Chapter 
9 
Intelligence
the other individuals who have taken the test in the past and provide future test-
takers with a qualitative sense of their performance. 
Obviously, the samples of test-takers who are employed in the establishment of 
norms are critical to the norming process. The people used to determine norms must 
be representative of the individuals to whom the test is directed.
Adaptive Testing: Using 
Computers to Assess Performance
Ensuring that tests are reliable, valid, and based on appropriate norms has become 
more critical with computer-administered testing. In computerized versions of tests 
such as the Graduate Record Exam, a test used to determine entrance to graduate 
FIGURE 7
Adaptive testing. In the Graduate Record Examination, the computer randomly 
selects a fi rst question of medium diffi
culty. If the test-taker answers the question correctly, 
the computer poses a more diffi
cult question. Once the test-taker gives an incorrect answer, 
he or she is given a question at the next easiest level, as illustrated in this example. Test-
takers are graded based on the level of diffi
culty of the questions they answer correctly, 
meaning that two test-takers who answer the same number of questions correctly can end 
up with very diff erent scores. What do you think are the drawbacks of adaptive testing of this 
sort? Do you think such tests may discriminate against test-takers who are less familiar with 
computers compared with those who have easy access to them? 
(Source: 
New York Times
Graphics.)
What is the area of a circular
region that has a circumference 8
␲
?
(a) 4
␲

(b) 8
␲

(c) 16
␲

(d) 32
␲

(e) 64
␲

Right answer; move to
more difficult question
Wrong answer; move
to easier question
Answers: 1. 
16
␲
, 2a. 
$6.90
, 2b. 
50
k
,
3a. 
15
, 3b. 
40 – 
x
,
3c.
24
, 3d. 
z < x < y
1.
If 15 pens cost a total of $11.50,
then at this rate, what is the cost 
of 9 pens?
(a) $6.75 (b) $6.90 (c) $7.50 
(d) $8.50 (e) $9.45
2a.
9
2 
– 6
2
3
1
15/9
5
8
15
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
3a.
At the rate of 3,000 revolutions per
minute, how many revolutions will a
wheel make in 
k
seconds?
(a) 3,000
k
(b) 50
k
(c) 50/
k
(d) 3,000/
k
(e) 180,000/
k
2b.
If the average
(arithmetic mean)
of two numbers is
20 and one of the
numbers is 
x
, what
is the other number
in terms of 
x
?
(a)
(c)
(e)
40 – 
x
20 + 
x
20 – 2
x
(b) 40 – 2
x
(d) 20 – 
x
3b.
What is the area 
of the triangular
region above?
3c.
6
10
If 
x 
=
 
0.888,
y 
= 

0.888, and
z 
=
 
(0.888)
2
, then
(a)
x < y < z
(b) 
 x < z < y
(c)
y < x < z
(d)
y < z < x
(e)
z < x < y
3d.
24
30
40
48
60
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
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