A psychometric test is a measure of a psychological construct (such as personality or aptitude) that has been constructed according to psychometric principles. In addition, the test should be administered, scored and interpreted in a standardised manner. Psychometric principles means that the test was developed in the following manner:
-Constructed according to a valid theoretical rationale
-Items (questions) developed on the basis of that rationale and in order to assess the construct the test purports to measure
-Trialing of items
-Analysis of the items for reliability and other statistical properties
-Refinement of the items on the basis of the analysis
-Re-trialing of the items
-Further analysis and retrial ling as necessary to provide a reliable scale
-Standardisation and development of a norm group for comparative purposes
-Validation research to ensure that the test constructs measure what they purport to measure and to assess whether the test can also predict meaningful outcomes such as performance
-Writing up of all of the above in the test’s technical manual.
