Administering the DAT
When administering ability and aptitude tests such as the DAT, you must think carefully about a range of things such as when and where it should be used, whether it is suitable for the individual or group in terms of age, culture, ethnicity, disability and so on.
It is important to remember that even though some of these tests are quite easy to administer, they are not so simple to actually take for the participants - who will often be extremely nervous.
Clearly with the paper and pencil versions they only need pencils and the forms, but sitting for 1.1/2 hours taking a psychometric test is very nerve-wracking, so you must do what you can to set people at ease. I will post up elsewhere about this but here are a few general points on admiistering.
Scores will only be estimates and can be influenced a great deal by the test situation so control is vital. Each time the test is administered it must be as similar as possible to be fair to all. It is vital to keep a log of any uncontrolled aspects.
Careful preparation will help to remove some of the sources of error (not all!). It is important therefore to check the materials, the environment, make sure that candidates are fully informed and understand the reason for the test and what will be done with it as well as how the session will progress.
It is important to be prepared, check if you need anything special and whether any of the participants have special requirements. Have a standard set of questions and answers as well as the standard Wording to start and end the tests.
If in any doubt at all consult the publisher and if need be the BPS code of ethics. Remember this code and the data protection act at all stages.
Check the norms and validities against the roles you are considering and the candidates.
Ensure that you are not directly or indirectly discriminating against anyone and always remember to check data such as the standard error of mean when making interpretations.
Do ask questions here if you are unsure!
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