The digital revolution in testing
I think it’s pretty self-evident that more and more things are being digitized these days. With our advances in technology the production and use of computers has sky-rocketed (old news, I know).
So what about the computer applications in psychological tests? Well it turns out it has a name, Computer-Assisted Psychological Assessment (CAPA), and it’s applicable for testing clinical populations, career counselling, and almost everything in between. It could go something like this: Barbara sits in front of a computer (in some nice office somewhere, or a hospital, or whatever). The computer displays some handy instructions. Barbara fills out a questionnaire, or a rating scale, or a multiple choice test, or short answers, etc.. She finishes up and the computer does some scoring and then gives her a report immediately (as opposed to waiting for a really busy psychologist to produce one). Neat-o! I think it’s the inevitable future of psychological tests.
That’s kind of a bold statement so I’m going to back it up with your typical extremely convincing pros/cons list.
PROS:
- Efficiency/speed - this one is kind of self explanatory, but it could save time in so many ways. No introductions to an experimenter, just click and go, faster turn-around, etc.. Also, instantaneous report!
- More openness to answering test items that have potentially sensitive answers - I don’t now about you, but I feel weird telling other humans all about my personal history.
- Less expensive - in labour time, materials, training.
- Objective - say goodbye to administrator bias
- Reliable - Kurt et al. (1) found that reliability of computer-administered tests compared to the traditional paper method was better or as-good-as.
- Even less computer-savvy groups can do it- Kurt et al. (same as above) used CAPA to test a group of primary care patients who were all 65 years old or above. 72% of them had never used a computer before. Although a small percentage reported some anxiety about computer use prior to the test, the numbers dropped during and after the test. They reported generally favourable attitudes towards the computer testing system.
- No difference between CAPA and the paper method on respondents’ self-reported anxiety, EMG-measured stress, or task satisfaction (according to Hart et al. (2))
CONS:
- Potential test development expenses - I suppose people want to be paid for the work they put into digital tests/software.
- Is it really equivalent to the traditional method? Does digitizing a test that was originally invented to be administered by a trained professional in a certain environment on a certain medium change the results? Maybe. Someone should figure that out for each test before using it willy-nilly.
I’m purposefully ignoring the idea of people taking psychological tests from the comfort of their own beds/laptops because I think that’s a whole other ethical can of worms. You can’t standardize that.
As you can see, there’s a pretty sizeable amount of reasons to move towards CAPA. As society grows more and more tech-positive, I think the change-over will be inevitable but also desirable.
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(1) Kurt, R., Bogner, H. R., Straton, J. B., Tien, A. Y., & Gallo, J. J. (2004). Computer-assisted assessment of depression and function in older primary care patients. Computer methods and programs in biomedicine, 73(2), 165–1711.
(2) Hart, R. R., & Goldstein, M. A. (1986). Computer-assisted psychological assessment. Computers in Human Services, 1(3), 69–75.
