Practice question · Multiple choice
The Rorschach's inter-rater reliability was poor for decades, then improved substantially once Exner introduced a standardised scoring system. Why does that improvement not by itself rescue the test's validity?
Hints
- Recall the bathroom scale: consistent to within 0.1 kg and 3 kg wrong.
- Two clinicians agreeing tells you about the clinicians. What does it tell you about the client?
Show the answer
D. Because reliability is necessary for validity and does not supply it.
Why
Exner fixed a real problem, before it, two clinicians could score one protocol quite differently, which capped how valid any interpretation could be. Removing a cap is not the same as demonstrating meaning: it is the bathroom scale again, agreement with each other against correspondence with the person. The validity picture must be taken interpretation by interpretation.
Practise Personality Assessment
The app has 6 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Psychology I is free to start.
More questions on Personality Assessment
- Sort each feature by the test family it describes.
- Select every statement that is TRUE about personality assessment.
- Projective tests remain in use because their reliability and validity are well established.
- People shown a personality profile of vague, broadly flattering statements rate it as strikingly accurate…
- The MMPI includes validity scales designed to detect faking; the Rorschach has no such thing. Why does that…