In Psychological Assessment and Testing, how the scale, test, battery, and inventory are similar and different from each other?
Test is a test - Yes or No or a definite answer.
Scale captures the preferences which can be taken as definite answers if required.
Battery is a series of tests.
Inventory is a collection of items which can be in the form of "test" or "scale" .
Both Test and Scales are designed to capture the response of the subjects to certain psychological construct.
Scale measures, test assesses, battery may include scale, tests and inventory, inventory is similar to questionnaire. All assist in establishing diagnosis, intervention, etiology and prognosis.
A scale and a test are different concepts, but in some ways they overlap. A scale is derived from Stevens' concept of measurement. It specifies four types of scales: nominative, ordered, interval, and ratio. In a debate with physicist Campbell, psychologist Stevens argued that it was possible to measure psychological phenomena scientifically using these types of scales. Tests originate from Spearman's testology, which is based on practicality. Generally, tests should be based on interval scales and meet mandatory psychometric requirements, including standardization and norms. Many scales, however, contain only a list of categorised items arranged in principle of order. These are not tests. There are simpler scales, such as nominative scales with two categories, and there are more complex psychometrically elaborated interval scales. In a battery, several different tests are organized to assess different functions in the same mental sphere, often cognitive functions. The inventory contains verbal statements for self-assessment, along with guidelines for calculating and interpreting scores. Inventory could be a list, not a scale, and it can be ordered scale, but not a test, and it could be a test with a psychometric background.
When working with clients we use a number of approaches to gather information. Quantitative results can be reported can be presented in a number of configurations such as scales or inventories as you mentioned. Depending on your training and or purpose, the information is correlated with personal interviews with therapy to provide valid, reliable insights to psychological issues.
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