Critical Assessment (Section II) Psychology Essay Paper

The second section (1-2 pages, double spaced) of your review should be the Interpretation (10%) and Reflection (10%). Administrate this assessment to yourself and follow the manual or test direction to interpret your results. In the essay, report your scores, assessment interpretation (usually involving whether the scores indicate certain symptoms and their severity), and your reflection (e.g., test-taking experience and result accuracy)

Critical Assessment Review: A 6-8 page (maximum, double spaced) paper that analyzes and critiques a commercially available assessment device. This paper will be graded for adequacy (content coverage), accuracy (validity of points), organization (writing clarity and cohesion), critical thinking (depth of your reflection and review), and adherence to APA style requirements. A detailed explanation of the paper is included in the guideline below.

Basic Work Flow: Identify the assessment tool (section I), collect information to understand the tool (section I), administrate the tool to yourself (section II), interpret the results (section II), reflect on your experience (section II), review the psychometric evidence (section III), provide overall review (section III). 

 In the first assessment, you should submit the first section of your review. In the second assessment, you should submit the second section of your review.

The first section (1-2 pages, double spaced) of your review should be the Introduction (20%). Use this section to briefly introduce your assessment and to provide an overview of its development (e.g., when it was developed, for what purpose, etc.). Be sure to include the exact source for obtaining the instrument in question. In a few cases, this will be a publisher or journal article citation. However, the vast majority of these tests are in the public domain and therefore available online. Thus, in most cases you will provide a URL. This section should further include: purpose of the instrument; description of the measure; for whom it may be used; administration procedures; and scoring procedures. 

 The second section (1-2 pages, double spaced) of your review should be the Interpretation (10%) and Reflection (10%). Administrate this assessment to yourself and follow the manual or test direction to interpret your results. In the essay, report your scores, assessment interpretation (usually involving whether the scores indicate certain symptoms and their severity), and your reflection (e.g., test-taking experience and result accuracy).

 The third section (2-4 pages, double spaced) of your review should be titled Psychometric Characteristics (10%) and Critique (10%). In this section, you will report typical reliability coefficients, both test-retest and internal consistency. You will also provide your evaluation of the evidence for validity (including convergent, divergent, and criterion-related validity), using one of these terms: nonexistent, poor, fair, good. After giving a descriptive term (e.g.: Validity: fair) you should provide a brief narrative discussion of the specific evidences for your evaluation. In this section, list three to five books, chapters, or journal articles that provide background for the test. In addition, you will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this instrument, as well as your overall assessment. Please be sure to include information regarding potential caveats and misuses of the instrument. 

 The final section will include the References and applicable Appendices. Please be sure to follow the APA style requirements for this review (e.g., with reference to including a title page, abstract, and citing references). 

 Tests Available for Student Review (you can choose one of the two to review) : BDI-II   Beck Depression Inventory-II  or PHQ-9  Patient Health Questionnaire