List the major steps in developing a new test discussed in chapter six of the text (Hogan, 2007). Support the design process by describing and applying the test development process to an existing test.

          When developing a test six steps are a normally taken. These six steps are defining the test's purpose, preliminary design issues, item preparation, item analysis, standardization and ancillary research programs, and preparation of final materials and publication (Hogan, 2007). These steps are ordinarily taken when developing psychological and educational tests. An example of the process of these steps in developing a test is the Basic Achievement Skills Inventory (BASI).     

Defining the Test's Purpose: the purpose of the BASI in this instance is for assessing language, reading, and math skills of adults and children.

Preliminary Design Issues: the BASI can be group or self-administered by parents or teachers in a classroom setting. With a length of 115 minutes completion time; whereas, participants 10 minutes for each of the vocabulary, spelling, and language mechanics, 30 minutes for the reading comprehension, 20 minutes for the math computation, and 35 minutes for the math application. A multiple-choice item format will be used for this test. This test will yield performance classification by learning objective, age equivalency, grade equivalency, national percentile rankings, and standard scores for each categories and for the total score of combined categories. This test can be taken either through a means of paper-and-pencil or by computer. 

Item Preparation: The BASI is a means for assessing achievement skills and diagnosing learning disabilities in spelling, math and reading through by administering the subtests independently or together.  

Standardization and Ancillary Research Programs: this test was standardized through sample scores of more than 4,000 students ranging from third to 12th grade and college level students which matched demographic information of the U.S. Census of the year 2000 (Pearson Education Inc., 2014). This sample was stratified by socioeconomic status, geographical region, gender, age, ethnicity, and race.  

Preparation of Final Materials and Publication: available for purchase from http://www.pearsonclinical.com/psychology/products/100000666/basic-achievement-skills-inventory-basi.html#tab-pricing

References

 Hogan, T. P. (2007). Psychological testing: A practical introduction (2nd ed.).  Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Pearson Education Inc. (2014). Basic Achievement Skills Inventory. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonclinical.com/psychology/products/100000666/basic-achievement-skills-inventory-basi.html#tab-details