LCP provide psychometric testing as part of our leadership training and executive coaching programmes. This Glossary to Psychometrics is adapted from a guide originally written by David Hoad and LCP’s Claire Walsh for Alchemy for Managers, a comprehensive online resource of management tools and information. We hope it’s useful, although don’t hesitate to share your suggestions for terms to add to our Psychometrics Glossary – we’d be happy to help.

UPDATE 1/3/2012: You can now download our psychometric testing glossary here (PDF)

360-degree feedback - leadership development tool, which involves collecting feedback from all angles, i.e. managers, peers and those managed. 360° feedback may be incorporated into a psychometric test e.g. Belbin Team Roles, although it isn’t itself a type of psychometric testing. For more information see our 360-degree feedback page as well as these blogs: business case for 360° & best practice guidelines to 360°.

Ability tests – or aptitude tests, used to measure an individual’s performance or potential performance in a defined domain of cognitive, psychomotor or physical functioning. As well as numerical and verbal reasoning, types include diagrammatic, clerical, spatial and mechanical.

Adaptive tests - are structured so that questions are chosen from the database based on the respondent’s previous answers, in order to provide the more in-depth results.

Answer key – used to describe a test or particular question’s scoring scenario.

Battery (test battery) – group of tests where the results are collected for a single score, sometimes called a composite test score.

Coaching - executive coaching involves an individual working closely with their coach, to focus on objectives and to be help accountable to the results. It is often used to follow up psychometric testing and 360-degree feedback, or to embed learning from other training and development activities. See coaching scenarios for some examples and for further clarification see this coaching versus mentoring blog.

Cognitive processes – higher mental processes such as perception, memory, language, problem solving and abstract thinking.

Competencies - areas of personal skills, knowledge or personality traits which enable an individual’s success in a job role.

Emotional intelligence – the ability to see, assess and communicate emotions effectively and appropriately; to use emotions to facilitate thinking and to use this emotional knowledge for both emotional and intellectual growth.

Intelligence tests – measure intelligence and often include a graded series of tasks, which have been standardised with a large, representative population.

Inventory – a checklist or questionnaire (most often self-report) used to discover details about an individual such as personality, preferences, interests, opinions or motivations.

Ipsative – tests where results are measured against each other rather than other people’s, e.g. an individual’s preference for collaborating in groups against their preference for working independently. This contrasts with ‘normative’ testing – although these terms are the source of some confusion, each approach is equally valid and some tests may use both.

Mentoring - in this approach to development, an individual benefits from the knowledge and experience of a mentor. It contrasts to coaching where the individual is encouraged to find the answers for themselves – see coaching versus mentoring.

Normative – tests where ‘norms’ or ‘standards’ are used to measure results against other people’s – in contrast to ipsative tests.

Occupational psychology - the field where psychology is applied in a work context, in a broad range of areas such as personnel assessment, training & development and organisational development.

Percentile – the score on a test below which a given percentage of scores fall.  For example the 40^th percentile would have 40% of the scores below.

Personality – the unique psychological qualities of an individual that influence a variety of characteristic behaviour patterns across different situations and time.

Personality profiles – attempt to describe individuals by identifying characteristics or a personality type, based upon an underlying theory (model) e.g. MBTI.

Practitioner – or administrators, are those who administer a psychometric test. In the UK most test providers only sell their tests to accredited administrators and the British Psychological Society also accredits people at a basic (A) and advanced (B) level. Practitioners can be from a third party provider or organisations may choose to train a staff member if regular testing is anticipated and needs aren’t complex.

Psychometric tests - the name that broadly groups ability and aptitude tests, personality profiles, inventories and assessments. More specifically, psychometric testing is usually referring to aptitude and ability tests, in contrast to psychometric profiling which will attempt to describe a group or person in terms of their characteristics and preferences. Psychometric assessment may be used to describe a combination of these types of tests, for example to assess a job applicant’s suitability.

Range – the difference between the highest and lowest scores.

Raw score – the unadjusted score on a test.

Reliability – the dependability of a measurement test or instrument. The extent to which a test consistently produces the same or comparable results when used in similar conditions.

Scale score – the score to which raw scores are converted by numerical transformation such as the conversion to percentile ranks or standard scores.

Standardised testing – tests completed under a set of uniform procedures.

Trait – any enduring characteristics that can serve an explanatory role in accounting for the observed regularities and consistencies in behaviour.

Type – a class or group distinguished by possessing or displaying some particular characteristic.

Validity – the degree to which a test or other instrument of measurement measures what it is supposed to measure.  There are different types of validity such as face validity and content validity.

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