Week 4 - Chs. 5 & 6

I came to a greater respect of the importance of reliable and valid assessments this week, but not just because of the reading from Drummond & Jones. For the past couple of days, I’ve been battling a sinus infection. On Monday I felt like I was sneezing and blowing my nose almost non-stop. Monday night, the chills set in. I know that getting the chills is often a sign of a fever, so I decided to get out my handy-dandy thermometer to take my temperature. While the brand of my thermometer is called Reli On, I found that it was not very reliable (or valid). I took my temperature 3 times in a row on Tuesday morning, getting a slightly different reading each time. I realize that doctors will tell you that taking your temperature via the armpit is probably the least accurate (valid) measurement of body temperature; however, it also happens to be the cheapest type of thermometer to come by on the market. Even if my thermometer had been consistent (reliable), that doesn’t mean that it would have actually been giving me an accurate (valid) measurement on which to base my decisions as to whether or not I should go to work or go to the doctor’s office. This aligns with what Drummond and Jones (2010, p. 102) state: “ no matter how reliable assessment results are, it is not a guarantee of validity…assessment results may be highly reliable, but may be measuring the wrong thing or may be used in inappropriate ways.”

 My understanding of reliability and validity has been expanded from the knowledge that I first gained in my statistics class last year. Last year, we primarily talked about reliability and validity in regards to “treatment.” In my mind, “treatment” is what would normally follow an assessment. For instance, when I went to visit the doctor yesterday, she asked me a number of questions in order to assess what my symptoms were most likely caused by. After her assessment, she proceeded to prescribe me some antibiotics in order to treat my illness. If the treatment does what it is supposed to do (i.e. kill the infection wreaking havoc on my sinuses), it will be an effective, valid treatment. In assessment, validity refers not just to whether or not a test “measures what it was supposed to measure,” but also to the appropriateness of the interpretation and use made of assessment results (Drummond & Jones, 2010, p. 99). This leaves the issue of validity in assessment a bit more in the hands of the test administrator and a bit less in the hands of the test creator. In a few short weeks, I will be administering a couple of assessments to a high school student. That means that, with the help of whatever scoring mechanism the test creators have designed, I will also be responsible for making an appropriate interpretation of the results. This is a large responsibility. The interpretation of the assessments that I give could have a lasting impacts on this student’s life! And that is exactly why counselors need to be on the lookout for threats to reliability and validity in assessment.

References
Drummond, R.J. & Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping professionals ( 7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.