If you’re a student or are an active member of the corporate lifestyle, chances are that you must have come across an aptitude or behavioural test, be it for measuring your abilities when applying for job roles, or simply by your school counsellor to determine your personality traits. Such assessments usually fall under the umbrella of psychometric tests and have now become a huge part of the recruitment process, especially in corporate job positions.
This article will thoroughly dive into the tasks and duties of a psychometrician, while also briefly explaining psychometric science. Keep reading ahead to know more.
Before dealing with psychometricians and their roles, it would only make sense to understand what psychometric tests are and how they work. Mental health psychologists typically define psychometric tests as assessments that define, measure, analyze, and track an individual’s mental and behavioural attributes and display the results as numeric, graphical, and statistical values.
These tests are mainly used by employers to gather detailed information about potential employees, and whether they have the capacity or the required mental attributes to be perfectly fit for the position. Furthermore, these tests are also used by the best psychologists to determine and analyze their patients for any unrecognized mental illnesses and disorders.
Mental health psychologists classify psychometric tests as a function of their purpose, i.e. what they are meant to measure. Broadly classifying, these assessments can be grouped into two major types: personality tests and cognitive ability tests.
As the name suggests, cognitive ability tests are intended to measure and demonstrate intelligence and aptitude as a function of numeric or graphical values, whereas personality tests measure behavioural attributes such as extraversion, openness and neuroticism.
These tests can accurately measure abilities that are involved in thinking, including reasoning, mathematical aptitude, memory, perception, and problem-solving skills. This type of psychometric test can be used by recruiters and employers to test the problem-solving skills of a potential employee and the readiness or willingness to gain knowledge and work with colleagues.
Several mental skills and attributes related to thinking and mental perception can be performed to measure:
Examples of cognitive ability tests include the famous Raven’s Test and the Terman Merrill Test.
Psychometric tests specified towards personality aim to measure the way a patient is mentally designed to solve problems and handle emotions. Unlike cognitive ability tests, personality tests aim to analyze and study behavioural patterns and emotional tendencies. These tests are widely used by the best psychometricians in India to refine their diagnosis or to find underlying mental issues suffered by the patient if there are any.
Personality psychometric tests can analyze and study various emotional and behavioural patterns, some of which include:
The most common personality tests used by best psychologists around the world include the 16PF Test, the Big Five, the SHL and the SJT Test.
Naturally, a psychometrician is a psychologist or a scientist who studies ways to measure an individual’s thinking abilities and analyzes their skillset. Typically, psychometricians design, develop, validate and study psychometric assessments and help understand human characteristics, behaviours, or attributes. These scientists aim to use statistical, graphical, and mathematical techniques to quantify the emotional and aptitude traits of an individual.
While the two terms are often used interchangeably, there is a notable difference between the two. A psychometrician is a scientist, or a “developer” that designs and validates such psychological and psychometric tests. They are engineers who use data analysis, and deep learning along with machine learning techniques and typically work in labs for the same.
On the other hand, psychometrists are usually psychologists who implement these tests on their patients to track their progress.
Compared to psychometrists, the duties of a psychometrician are vast, since they develop the tests psychometrists work on.
Designing Tests: A psychometrician conducts research and designs tests to study behavioural patterns and attributes.
Gathering Data and Conducting Research: Psychometricians collect and cluster intensive data to study human traits. This also involves an extensive testing process for assessment validation to ensure perfect administration.
Other important roles of a psychometrician include clustering information, assessing patients to ensure reliable results, and designing research reports on their developments.
Dr Pankaja is one of the best psychologists in India, with over 15 years of experience in clinical psychology. Based in Gurugram, Haryana, India, she has supported and healed various individuals dealing with a range of mental health disorders and illnesses.