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Major Movements in Psychology

Psychological Tests

How are tests and measurements developed?

A good deal of work goes into test construction. First, the construct must be defined. What exactly are you trying to measure? Then, taking the most typical case of a self-report questionnaire, the items must be selected. Next, the test must be administered to several samples of people to prove that it is a consistent and reliable measure of the construct it is intended to measure. Two critical concepts in test construction are reliability and validity.