Ethical and cultural issues in psychological testing (Essay)

“Ethics” are moral principles which should be followed. “Culture” may be defined as “the socially transmitted behaviour patterns, community, or group of people”. Ethics and culture play an important role in various aspects of psychological testing. This sensitivity is manifested in greater consideration of cultural issues with respect to every aspect of test development and use, including decision making on the basis of test data.

One of the major ethical issue is about the privacy. The results or findings of the psychological test should not be disclosed to any other third party. Client should be aware of the purpose of the test. This is not so and usually many of these results are used for purposes other than those specified. This is unethical, for the reasons for which an individual agreed to take a psychological test may be different from those that the findings are actually used for. It is also true that ethical issues have both positive and negative impact.

Laws and rules that individuals must obey for the good of the society as a whole or rules thought to be for the good of society as a whole. But some of the laws are uncontroversial. Body of laws is a body of rules. A body of ethics is a body of principles of right, proper or good conduct. A principle of ethical research is that the researcher should never fudge data; all data must be reported accurately.

Psychological tests are used in criminal justice. The popular lie detector, also known as a polygraph, is an example of psychological testing where authorities try to detect lies from suspected criminals. This raises the legal issue of the acceptability and validity of such test and whether or not findings from such are admissible as evidence in court. Questions are raised about the accuracy of the tests and there is always the fear that the tests may give wrong results on an innocent individual.

Legal issues facing psychological testing affect the field in both good and bad ways. When legal issues are raised, better laws are formulated to govern the administration of psychological tests and any areas of contention are agreed upon. This leads to the development of better laws intended to uphold the rights of all the parties involved. Negative impact resulting from the legal issues includes the legal battles that more often than not act to derail development in the field. It also raises doubt in the minds of many about the accuracy and validity of the psychological tests.

The code of professional ethics is recognized and accepted by members of a profession as it defines the standard of care expected of members of that profession. Members of the public and members of the profession have not always been on “the same side of the fence” with respect to issues of ethics and law.

The concerns of public is important. Possible consequences of public misunderstanding include fear, anger, legislation, litigation, and administrative regulations. Concern about the use of psychological tests first became widespread in the aftermath of World War 1, when various professionals sought to adapt group tests developed by the military for civilian use in schools and industry. Reflecting public discomfort with the burgeoning assessment industry were popular magazine articles featuring stories with titles such as “The abuse of tests”. Less well known were voice of reason that offered constructive ways to correct what was wrong with assessment practices.

The Atkins V. Virginia case in 2002 is one of the cases which have the largest impact on the field of psychological testing. One of the accused in the case, Daryl Atkins, was proved to be mildly mentally retarded by use of psychological I.Q test records obtained from his school records that showed that he had an I.Q of 59 (Atkins V. Virginia). The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Atkins be imprisoned for life and was saved from the death sentence. This case is very important in the development of clinical testing since it showed that clinical psychological testing can be used as admissible evidence in court. The court ruling was important since it set precedence on the use psychological testing in court proceedings.

Truth –in –testing legislation was also passed at the state level beginning in the 1980’s. To meet the objective, some laws mandate the disclosure of answers to postsecondary and professional school admissions tests within 30 days of the publication of test scores. Some laws mandate the involvement of the executive branch of govt. in their application.

Cultural issues also play significant role in psychological testing. So called culture-specific tests or tests designed for use with people from one culture but not from another, soon began to appear on the scene. Even though many published tests were purposely designed to be culture-specific, it soon became apparent that the tests were being administered – improperly – to people from other cultures. Perhaps, not surprisingly test-takers from minority cultures tended to score lower as a group than people from the group for whom the test was developed.
Today test developers typically take many steps to ensure that a major test developed for national use is indeed suitable for such use. Those steps might involve administering a preliminary version of the test to a tryout sample of test-takers from various cultural background, particularly from those whose members are likely to be administered the final version of the test.

There are some issues regarding culture and assessment. Assessors must be sensitive to any differences between the language or dialect familiar to assessees and the language in which the assessment is conducted. Assessors must also be sensitive to the degree to which the assessees have been exposed to the dominant culture and the extent to which they have made a conscious choice to become assimilated.

Verbal communication is a major cultural issue as the language varies from culture to culture. This creates a problem when the assessor and assessee are speaking a different language. If a test is in written form, and includes written instructions, then the test-taker must be able to read and comprehend what is written. In some instances, assessees may purposely attempt to use a language deficit to frustrate evaluation efforts. When an assessment is conducted with the aid of a translator, different types of problems may emerge. Depending on the translator’s skills, and professionalism, subtle nuances of meaning may be lost in translation, or unintentional hints to the correct or more desirable responses may be conveyed.

A test is not considered biased simply because some students score higher than others. A test is considered biased when the scores of one group are significantly different and have higher predictive validity, which is the extent to which a score on an assessment predicts future performance, than another group.

Most test biases are considered cultural bias. Cultural bias is the extent to which a test offends or penalizes some students based on their ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic status. Item Bias refers to problems that occur with individual items on the assessment. These biases may occur because of poor use of grammar, choice of cultural phrases and poorly written assessment items.

Culture exerts effects over many aspects of nonverbal behavior. According to some findings child is from a culture where elders are revered and where children speak to adults only when they are spoken to- and then only in as short as a phrase as possible. In this way, ethical and cultural issues play an important role in psychological testing.

References:
1. https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/204421.html
2. https://www.ukessays.com/essays/psychology/ethical-issues-in-psychological-testing-psychology-essay.php
3. Cohen, R.J., Swerdlik, M.E. (2015). Psychological testing and assessment (8th edition), Dubuque: McGraw-Hill Education.

How to write an ethics paper: Here’s an example using free ethics paper.

How to write an Ethics paper

Introduction

Career assessment involves a process of gathering information to facilitate career development assist in understanding and coping with career related problems or concerns and facilitate informed career decision-making. Culturally specific variables to assess include: racial and ethnic identity, acculturation, worldview, socio economics status gender role exceptions family exceptions and responsibilities primary language and relationships.

Ethics paper outline / format

A major issue confronting a psychological researcher is ethics. Research ethics comprise many different topics, including test construction and psychometrics. Areas of concern within these areas include but are not limited to, measurement bias validity and reliability errors and the use of negligence or deception areas of limitations in the research and recommendations. The scientist must provide enough information about the research to ensure the applicability of the results. However to ensure the applicability of the results. However the experiment should also include information about the misuse of research and the need to consult multiple sources of information. The researcher mu ensure that they are abiding by ethical process as results may have consequences that the experimenter cannot foresee and failing to comply with these processes may lead to the scorn of the scientific community. Because of the daunting nature of this process it is necessary for the researcher to work with fellow scientists to confirm their research is reputable.

Psychologists regularly conduct research where they have to ensure they are meeting ethical guidelines and professional standards. This may range from informed consent and confidentiality to appropriate test use and proper testing protocols. Ethics plays a major role in how the scientific community perceives the work of a researcher. For example a discovery research would lead to their research being unaccepted by fellow scientists. Lesser examples of this includes issues of a test not meeting the purposes of a research study therefore ethics is an important elements to legitimate research practices.

Test construction is an important part of research ethics. The American psychological association (APA) (2010) published the manual ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. This provides a statement on test construction in standard 9.05 which says psychologists who develop tests and other assessment techniques use appropriate psychometric procedures and current scientific or professional knowledge for test design, standardization, validation, reduction or elimination of bias and recommendations for use.

Reliability refers to the test measures what the researchers must also provide recommendations for the interpretation of test results including the possible misuse of research. Readers should be aware that they should not rely on one research study when making decisions. There should also be procedures for setting performance standards or passing scores. In the research article there should be an indication of what score a participants requires to pass a test or what constitutes sufficient performance.

Conclusion

In this assignment I learnt about the importance of ethics in research and the consequences of failing to abide by them. There are many “grey” areas in research ethics as indicated in the book on being a scientist: responsible conduct in research and seeking passing scores or performance standards. Because this appears to be a large task, beginning researchers should work closely with an adviser or faculty member to ensure they abide by ethical practices. the mentor can give practical advice on research ethics as well as provide additional sources to consult regarding correct research disciplines.

References:-
american psychological association (apa) (1992) ethical standards of psychologits and code of conduct. Washington, dc: author

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