Ammons Quick Test (QT) is an intelligence test that was designed in 1962 by Robert B. Ammons and his wife Carol H. Ammons. This test has been used for many years to help assess premorbid intelligence. It is a passive response picture-vocabulary test. [1]
The QT is partly derived from a previous psychological measurement, the Full-Range Picture Vocabulary Test (FRPV), primarily developed by Richard B. Ammons with the contributions of several other psychologists in his clinic. At the time, the QT, just like the FRVP, was envisioned as a brief verbal-perceptual test that could measure both children and adults with intellectual or physical disabilities. The QT was also meant to be an improvement of the FRPV, which had issues with measuring extreme responses due to the lack of limited variation in item difficulty. It also meant to serve as a shorter version of the FRPV, albeit with different items. [2] [3]
During its initial testing phase, Ammons checked the QT's validity by measuring its concurrent validity, which was done by correlating the items with existing psychological tests that also measured verbal-perceptual skills, such as the Ohio State Psychological Examination and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. The QT's items yielded item validity coefficients in a range from r = .13 to r = .96. The QT also had sufficient reliability coefficients, with a range of r = 0.60 to r = 0.96. The QT was tested across various genders and ethnicities and included individuals who are not part of the target population. [3]
Other researchers, such as Martha T. Mednick, also conducted several studies to test the QT's robustness. Her study in 1969 which tested the QT on 2,213 male students found that the QT had a validity coefficient range of r = 0.37 to r = 0.68 when the QT scores are correlated with several short-form intelligence measures, which included an anagram task and a numerical reasoning test battery. [4]
The QT results also correlate well with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Full Scale IQ. The Quick Test raw score of 46 translates to a WAIS IQ score of 110, which is in the high average range of intellectual functioning for an adult. [5]
There have been several attempts to re-validate the QT in different populations and cultures. One of these was done in 2013 on a sample of 236 people, across several age ranges, ethnicity, and gender. The study found that the QT's original items had a validity coefficient range of r = .61 to r = .91 when the scores are correlated with a number of other intelligence tests, including the Weschler tests. [6]
An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term Intelligenzquotient, his term for a scoring method for intelligence tests at University of Breslau he advocated in a 1912 book.
Psychometrics is a field of study within psychology concerned with the theory and technique of measurement. Psychometrics generally refers to specialized fields within psychology and education devoted to testing, measurement, assessment, and related activities. Psychometrics is concerned with the objective measurement of latent constructs that cannot be directly observed. Examples of latent constructs include intelligence, introversion, mental disorders, and educational achievement. The levels of individuals on nonobservable latent variables are inferred through mathematical modeling based on what is observed from individuals' responses to items on tests and scales.
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In statistics and psychometrics, reliability is the overall consistency of a measure. A measure is said to have a high reliability if it produces similar results under consistent conditions:
"It is the characteristic of a set of test scores that relates to the amount of random error from the measurement process that might be embedded in the scores. Scores that are highly reliable are precise, reproducible, and consistent from one testing occasion to another. That is, if the testing process were repeated with a group of test takers, essentially the same results would be obtained. Various kinds of reliability coefficients, with values ranging between 0.00 and 1.00, are usually used to indicate the amount of error in the scores."
Validity is the main extent to which a concept, conclusion or measurement is well-founded and likely corresponds accurately to the real world. The word "valid" is derived from the Latin validus, meaning strong. The validity of a measurement tool is the degree to which the tool measures what it claims to measure. Validity is based on the strength of a collection of different types of evidence described in greater detail below.
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Cronbach's alpha, also known as tau-equivalent reliability or coefficient alpha, is a reliability coefficient that provides a method of measuring internal consistency of tests and measures. Numerous studies warn against using it unconditionally, and note that reliability coefficients based on structural equation modeling (SEM) are in many cases a suitable alternative.
Michael A. Persinger was an American-Canadian professor of psychology at Laurentian University, a position he had held from 1971 until his death in 2018. His most well-known hypotheses include the temporal lobes of the human brain as the central correlate for mystical experiences, subtle changes in geomagnetic activity as mediators of parapsychological phenomena, the tectonic strain within the Earth's crust as the source of luminous phenomena attributed to unidentified aerial objects, and the importance of specific quantifications for energy, photon flux density, and small shifts in magnetic field intensities for integrating cellular activity as well as human thought with universal phenomena.
In statistics and research, internal consistency is typically a measure based on the correlations between different items on the same test. It measures whether several items that propose to measure the same general construct produce similar scores. For example, if a respondent expressed agreement with the statements "I like to ride bicycles" and "I've enjoyed riding bicycles in the past", and disagreement with the statement "I hate bicycles", this would be indicative of good internal consistency of the test.
Construct validity concerns how well a set of indicators represent or reflect a concept that is not directly measurable. Construct validation is the accumulation of evidence to support the interpretation of what a measure reflects. Modern validity theory defines construct validity as the overarching concern of validity research, subsuming all other types of validity evidence such as content validity and criterion validity.
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Cognitive tests are assessments of the cognitive capabilities of humans and other animals. Tests administered to humans include various forms of IQ tests; those administered to animals include the mirror test and the T maze test. Such study is important to research concerning the philosophy of mind and psychology, as well as determination of human and animal intelligence.
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