The Response Process in Standardized Cognitive Ability Tests and Validity

Standardized cognitive ability tests, such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), are common diagnostic tools used in the process of diagnosing learning and behavior disabilities. Important decisions are made based on the results of tests scores, with little consideration for, for instance, emotional variables that might impact negatively a child´s ability to perform up to his or her potential on standardized tests. In short, standardized tests may be biased in relation to social background and cultural and ethnic diversity, but also personality traits and motivational and emotional factors (personality diversity) and differential skills. In my presentation, I will give a review of empirical research that places attention on two types of bias in intelligence testing with the WISC: bias occurring related to diversity in personality traits and emotional and motivational factors that interact with test characteristics, and bias related to the influence of the assessor. I will then discuss that psychometric procedures seem not to be able to solve this problem. This could be related to the unsolved issue of multidimensionality. Multidimensionality can be approached from the viewpoint of the response process: in a test-taking situation with a standardized test, complex interrelationships take place between the test-taker and the test, and an assessor if present. This complex interaction shapes the response process which results in a performance, i.e., the results of this test. I present the interactionist and process-performance approach as a framework to approach this issue, and propose the “pretest methods,” qualitative methods stemming from the field of survey methodology as a way to approach the problem of multidimensionality stemming from the response process and help improve the development and interpretation of results of standardized tests.