Psychology as a science and as an area of study, although it has been established for a short time, compared to other sciences or related areas, is constantly updated and moving every day; This is reflected in the constant changes, reconstructions and renovations that are being made to theories and practice.
Undoubtedly, this situation warns that the professional dedicated to this discipline cannot remain static and unarmed in this maelstrom of permutations; It is essential, and an obligation, to be up-to-date and permeable as well as ductile to tolerate, accept and integrate into your practice the advances that best suit you and that are aimed at becoming a daily part of your professional work.
Perhaps one of the most important psychological exercises today, due to its scope, effectiveness, validity and importance, is the application of psychometric tests or tests. One of the reasons is that, in almost any field of psychological work, tests either play a fundamental role or are the axis through which important decisions are made; for a diagnosis, an important part of the weight falls on what is obtained in the tests; in the clinical area, they are the spinal cord of the process; When recruiting staff, the objective way to obtain data, which will ultimately allow decisions to be made, comes directly from what is provided by psychometric tests.
In summary, up to this point, I can state that, although it has limitations and its objectivity and effectiveness have been questioned many times, psychometric tests are the cornerstone of the psychologist's work today in most of his activities professionals within the formal workplace; This, of course, entails great responsibility and a high degree of commitment and ethics at the time of its application, qualification and interpretation.
Therefore, not everyone is qualified to use and manage these techniques; Only the licensed psychologist and the student under supervision can have access and manipulate the different and extensive types of tests that exist today.
That is why it is very important to emphasize and show the correct and punctual way of using these instruments. Here is a summary of the most important aspects to take into account when having a psychological test in hand:
- Base its use on current techniques appropriate to the context Be up-to-date in the standardization of the instrument Verify reliability and validity data Verify if the test is applicable to the population with which it intends to work, recognizing the limits of certainty Identify if the testing techniques valuation are or are not applicable to the population or people according to:
a) gender
b) age
c) race
d) socioeconomic status
e) disability
f) sexual orientation
g) ethnic origin
h) language
These are just some of the aspects to be taken into account and must be valued and taken into account by the professional when applying this important daily work tool.
