Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART ONE BASIC ISSUES
- PART TWO DIMENSIONS OF TESTING
- PART THREE APPLICATIONS OF TESTING
- 9 Special Children
- 10 Older Persons
- 11 Testing in a Cross-Cultural Context
- 12 Disability and Rehabilitation
- PART FOUR THE SETTINGS
- PART FIVE CHALLENGES TO TESTING
- Appendix: Table to Translate Difficulty Level of a Test Item into a z Score
- References
- Test Index
- Index of Acronyms
- Subject Index
- References
11 - Testing in a Cross-Cultural Context
from PART THREE - APPLICATIONS OF TESTING
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART ONE BASIC ISSUES
- PART TWO DIMENSIONS OF TESTING
- PART THREE APPLICATIONS OF TESTING
- 9 Special Children
- 10 Older Persons
- 11 Testing in a Cross-Cultural Context
- 12 Disability and Rehabilitation
- PART FOUR THE SETTINGS
- PART FIVE CHALLENGES TO TESTING
- Appendix: Table to Translate Difficulty Level of a Test Item into a z Score
- References
- Test Index
- Index of Acronyms
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
AIM What are the problems associated with using psychological tests with minority individuals and those of another culture? If for example, we wish to administer the WISC-R to a black child, or we translate the test into French for use with French children, will the test still be valid? Basically, this is the issue we look at in this chapter.
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we look at cross-cultural testing, that is, at some of the ways in which culture and testing can interact. We use the term “culture” in two different ways: (1) to delineate people living in different countries, for example, the United States vs. the People's Republic of China; and (2) to refer to minority groups within a particular country, for example, blacks and Hispanics living in the United States. There are of course many ways of defining culture. For our purpose, we can define culture as a set of shared values and behaviors that include beliefs, customs, morals, laws, etc., that are acquired by a person, shared in common with other members who are typically in close proximity, but different from those held by others who often live in a different geographical setting (D. W. Sue & D. Sue, 1990).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Psychological TestingAn Introduction, pp. 272 - 296Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006