If we do not control for the quality of measurement instruments that we use how can we rely on measurements that we make? Ever growing popularity and frequency of test use in various contexts makes it impossible to believe that all test developers have good knowledge of test development guidelines and adhere to “good practice” of test construction. It is necessary to control for the quality of tests and other assessment procedures.
The need in the system of test quality assessment may seem obvious; nevertheless, historically psychologists in most countries do not raise the question of centralized test quality control at early stages. First of all, it is necessary to have enough methods to assess and second of all, it is probably important to gain some negative experience of using low-quality tools. And here we go. In our country we have reached that point at last: psychological community do realise the necessity of quality standards for tests.
Organisers and speakers in this Symposium (Dr Patricia Lindley, UK; Prof Eugene Aidman, Australia; Prof Dave Bartram, UK) are world leading experts in test quality assessment. They will give talks about test quality assessment in European countries and quality standards for tests on European and international levels. Particularly, our guests would like to discuss the following topics:
1. Quality standards for tests and ways of managing test quality including test registration (e.g., UK), test certification (e.g., Norway) and test reviewing (e.g., UK, Germany, Netherlands, USA).
2. Impact of technology developments on standards: methods for managing unproctored Internet testing; ITC Guidelines on Computer Based Testing.
3. Other issues relating to standards in tests and testing including ensuring quality in test translation and adaptation across languages and cultures.
We do expect, however, that this Symposium will not be limited to presentations of our foreign speakers and kindly invite Russian specialists to join. We are looking forward to your submissions featuring the following topics:
- Quality criteria when choosing measurement tools for research and/or assessment purposes (What criteria do you use in the absence of any national agreed ones? Do you have your own test quality assessment “system”?)
- Consequences of the lack of quality standards for psychological tests (experience of working with the tools of a low quality).
- Your ideas and suggestions on the most appropriate system of test quality control for Russia.
- Any other submissions related to Symposium theme.
Additional information
The Conference Organising Committee is proud to announce that we have already made some progress in the direction of test quality standards. The first signs are the first issue of the Yearbook of professional reviews of Russian psychological tests (the presentation will form the part of the South Ural State University Publishing house presentation).
International recommendations and guidelines that will be covered by the speakers in this Symposium are free and downloadable:
International Guidelines for Test Use http://www.intestcom.org/Guidelines/Test+Use.php
International Test Commission Guidelines for Translating and Adapting Tests
http://www.intestcom.org/Guidelines/Adapting+Tests.php
