John Rust - Modern Psychometrics: The Science of Psychological Assessment

Today psychometrics plays an increasingly important role in all our lives as testing and assessment occurs from preschool until retirement. This book introduces the reader to the subject in all its aspects, ranging from its early history, school examinations, how to construct your own test, controversies about IQ and recent developments on testing on the internet.

In a practical step-by-step guide to the development of a psychometric test is provided. This will enable anyone wishing to develop their own test to plan, design, construct and validate it to a professional standard. This third edition has been extensively updated and expanded to take into account recent developments in the field, making it the ideal companion for those studying for the British Psychological Societys Certificates of Competence in Testing.

Modern Psychometrics combines an up to date scientific approach to the subject with a full consideration of the political and ethical issues involved in the large scale implementation of psychometrics testing in todays highly networked society, particularly in terms of issues of diversity and internationalism. It will be useful to students and practitioners at all levels who are interested in psychometrics.

John Rust is Director of The Psychometrics Centre at the University of Cambridge and a Senior Member of Darwin College.

Susan Golombok is Professor of Family Research at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Centre for Family Research and a Fellow of Newnham College.

The science of psychological assessment

THIRD EDITION

John Rust and Susan Golombok

First published 2009
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2009 Psychology Press

Typeset in Century Old Style by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall Paperback cover design by Andy Ward

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

This publication has been produced with paper manufactured to strict environmental standards and with pulp derived from sustainable forests.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Rust, John, 1943

Modern psychometrics: the science of psychological assessment / John Rust and Susan Golombok. 3rd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Psychometrics. I. Golombok,
Susan. II. Title.
BF39.R85 2009
150.28'7dc22 2008023482

ISBN 978-0-415-44216-9 (hbk)
ISBN 978-0-415-44215-2 (pbk)

It is now almost twenty years since Modern Psychometrics was first published, and in that time the science has continued to stride ahead. Today, many of the future possibilities tentatively discussed in the 1st and 2nd editions are now accepted realities. Furthermore, the main tenet of the book, that psychometrics is so central to modern society that it cannot be ignored, has become the accepted view. Arguments about psychometrics today are no longer about the whether but about the how. Since the publication of the 2nd edition in 1999, there have been major advances in the field, helped enormously by the introduction of a whole new generation of statistical software that is able to model many of the subtleties present in psychometric tests that had previously eluded precise elucidation.

The early chapters of this 3rd edition continue to consider the role of sociobiology and its precursors on the development of the psychometrics movement. A proper understanding of these issues remains crucial to psychometric practitioners. The major lesson of the troublesome sociobiological disputes of the past century was that selection and assessment are important social processes and that the psychometrician cannot stand apart from ideological and political debate. In particular, psychometrics, if it is to fulfil its function of fair assessment and selection, must take a stand on issues of racism and injustice. This is particularly so in view of the overt racism of so many of its historical advocates. Today, we are indebted to the work of Professor James Flynn in making clear the implications of the decade-by-decade rise in IQ scores since IQ tests were first introduced over a century ago (a phenomenon that has become known as the Flynn effect), and in showing us how hollow were their arguments.

The chapters looking at the practice and application of testing and test construction pay particular attention to current issues, such as the use of item response theory, and statistical modelling. Knowledge-based tests of ability, aptitude and achievement are considered, as well as person-based tests of personality, integrity, clinical symptoms, mood and attitude.

The book is written in two parts. The first part deals with theoretical and more general issues in psychometrics. The second part is a step-by-step guide on how to construct psychometric questionnaires. This progresses through all the stages of test construction, from definition of the original purpose of the test to its eventual validation. The book is intended to provide both a theoretical underpinning to psychometrics and a practical guide.

John Rust
Susan Golombok
University of Cambridge