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Good day!

I want to collect all the most necessary theory on testing, which is asked at interviews for trainees, juniors and a little middle. Actually, I have already collected quite a few. The purpose of this post is to collectively add what was missing and fix/rephrase/add/do SOMETHING ELSE with what is already there so that it becomes good and you can take it all and repeat it before the next interview just in case. In general, colleagues, I ask under the cut, to whom to draw something new, to whom to systematize the old, and to whom to contribute.

The result should be a comprehensive cheat sheet that you need to re-read on the way to the interview.

Everything listed below is not invented by me personally, but taken from various sources, where I personally liked the wording and definition more. At the end of the list of sources.

Topics: test definition, quality, verification/validation, goals, milestones, test plan, test plan items, test design, test design techniques, traceability matrix, tets case, checklist, defect, error/deffect/failure, bug report , severity vs priority, testing levels, types / types, integration testing approaches, testing principles, static and dynamic testing, exploratory / ad-hoc testing, requirements, bug life cycle, software development stages, decision table, qa/qc/test engineer, connection diagram.

Go!

Software testing- verification of the correspondence between the actual and expected behavior of the program, carried out on the final set of tests, selected in a certain way. In a broader sense, testing is one of the quality control techniques, which includes the activities of work planning (Test Management), test design (Test Design), test execution (Test Execution) and analysis of the results (Test Analysis).

Software Quality is a set of characteristics of software related to its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs.

Verification- is the process of evaluating a system or its components to determine whether the results of the current stage of development satisfy the conditions formed at the beginning of this stage. Those. whether our goals, deadlines, project development tasks, defined at the beginning of the current phase, are being met.
Validation- this is the definition of compliance of the developed software with the expectations and needs of the user, system requirements.
You can also find another interpretation:
The process of assessing the conformity of a product to explicit requirements (specifications) is verification, while at the same time assessing whether a product meets user expectations and requirements is validation. You can also often find the following definition of these concepts:
Validation - 'is ​​this the right specification?'.
Verification - 'is ​​the system correct to specification?'.

Testing Goals
Increase the likelihood that an application intended for testing will work correctly under all circumstances.
Increase the likelihood that the application intended for testing will meet all the described requirements.
Providing up-to-date information about the state of the product at the moment.

Testing steps:
1. Analysis
2. Develop a testing strategy
and planning of quality control procedures
3. Work with requirements
4. Creation of test documentation
5. Prototype testing
6. Basic testing
7. Stabilization
8. Operation

Test Plan is a document describing the entire scope of testing work, starting with a description of the object, strategy, schedule, criteria for starting and ending testing, to the equipment required in the process, special knowledge, as well as risk assessment with options for resolving them.
Answers the questions:
What should be tested?
What will you test?
How will you test?
When will you test?
Criteria for starting testing.
Criteria for the end of testing.

The main points of the test plan
The IEEE 829 standard lists the items that a test plan should (let it be) consist of:
a) test plan identifier;
b) introduction;
c) test items;
d) Features to be tested;
e) Features not to be tested;
f) approach;
g) Item pass/fail criteria;
h) Suspension criteria and resumption requirements;
i) test deliverables;
j) Testing tasks;
k) environmental needs;
l) Responsibilities;
m) StafÞng and training needs;
n) Schedule;
o) risks and contingencies;
p) Approvals.

test design- this is the stage of the software testing process, at which test cases (test cases) are designed and created, in accordance with the previously defined quality criteria and testing goals.
Roles responsible for test design:
Test analyst - defines "WHAT to test?"
Test designer - defines "HOW to test?"

Design Test Techniques

Equivalence Partitioning (EP). As an example, if you have a range of valid values ​​from 1 to 10, you must choose one correct value within the interval, say 5, and one incorrect value outside the interval, 0.

Boundary Value Analysis (BVA). If we take the example above, as values ​​for positive testing, we will choose the minimum and maximum limits (1 and 10), and the values ​​\u200b\u200bfor more and less than the limits (0 and 11). Boundary value analysis can be applied to fields, records, files, or any kind of constrained entity.

Cause / Effect (Cause / Effect - CE). This is, as a rule, the input of combinations of conditions (causes) to receive a response from the system (Consequence). For example, you are testing the ability to add a customer using a particular display. To do this, you will need to enter several fields, such as "Name", "Address", "Phone Number" and then, click the "Add" button - this "Reason". After pressing the "Add" button, the system adds the client to the database and displays his number on the screen - this is the "Consequence".

Exhaustive Testing (ET)- this is an extreme case. Within this technique, you have to test all possible combinations of input values, and in principle, this should find all problems. In practice, the use of this method is not possible due to the huge number of input values.

traceability matrix- The requirements compliance matrix is ​​a two-dimensional table containing the correspondence between the functional requirements of the product and the prepared test scenarios (test cases). Requirements are located in the column headings of the table, and test scenarios are placed in the row headings. At the intersection, a checkmark indicating that the current column's requirement is covered by the current row's test case.
The requirements compliance matrix is ​​used by QA engineers to validate product coverage with tests. The MCT is an integral part of the test plan.

Test Case is an artifact that describes a set of steps, specific conditions and parameters necessary to verify the implementation of the function under test or part of it.
Example:
Action Expected Result Test Result
(passed/failed/blocked)
Open page "login" Login page is opened Passed

Each test case should have 3 parts:
PreConditions A list of actions that bring the system into a state suitable for a basic check. Or a list of conditions, the fulfillment of which indicates that the system is in a state suitable for conducting the main test.
Test Case Description A list of actions that transfer the system from one state to another, to obtain a result, based on which it can be concluded that the implementation meets the requirements
PostConditions List of actions that bring the system to its initial state (the state before the test is performed - initial state)
Types of Test Cases:
Test cases are divided according to the expected result into positive and negative:
A positive test case uses only valid data and verifies that the application correctly executed the called function.
The negative test case operates on both valid and invalid data (minimum 1 invalid parameter) and aims to check for exceptions (validators fire), and also checks that the function called by the application is not executed when the validator fires.

Checklist is a document describing what is to be tested. In this case, the checklist can be of absolutely different levels of detail. How detailed the checklist will be depends on the reporting requirements, the level of knowledge of the product by employees, and the complexity of the product.
As a rule, the checklist contains only actions (steps), without the expected result. The checklist is less formalized than the test script. It is appropriate to use it when test scripts are redundant. Also, the checklist is associated with flexible approaches to testing.

Defect (aka bug)- this is a discrepancy between the actual result of the program execution and the expected result. Defects are discovered at the stage of software (software) testing, when the tester compares the results of the program (component or design) with the expected result described in the requirements specification.

error- user error, that is, he tries to use the program in a different way.
Example - enters letters in fields where numbers are required (age, quantity of goods, etc.).
In a quality program, such situations are provided and an error message is issued, with a red cross which.
Bug (defect)- a mistake of a programmer (or a designer or someone else who takes part in the development), that is, when something in the program does not go as planned and the program gets out of control. For example, when user input is not controlled in any way, as a result, incorrect data causes crashes or other “joys” in the program. Or inside the program is built in such a way that initially it does not correspond to what is expected of it.
Failure- failure (and not necessarily hardware) in the operation of a component, the entire program or system. That is, there are such defects that lead to failures (A defect caused the failure) and there are those that do not. UI defects for example. But a hardware failure that has nothing to do with software is also a failure.

Bug Report is a document describing the situation or sequence of actions that led to the incorrect operation of the test object, indicating the reasons and the expected result.
A cap
Short Description (Summary) A short description of the problem, explicitly indicating the cause and type of error situation.
Project Name of the project being tested
Application component (Component) The name of the part or function of the product under test
Version number (Version) The version on which the error was found
Severity The most common five-level system for grading the severity of a defect is:
S1 Blocker
S2 Critical
S3 Major
S4 Minor
S5 Trivial
Priority Defect priority:
P1 High
P2 Medium
P3 Low
Status The status of the bug. Depends on the procedure used and the bug workflow and life cycle

Author (Author) Creator of the bug report
Assigned To The name of the person assigned to resolve the issue
Environment
OS / Service Pack, etc. / Browser + version /… Information about the environment where the bug was found: operating system, service pack, for WEB testing - browser name and version, etc.
…
Description
Steps to Reproduce Steps by which you can easily reproduce the situation that caused the error.
Actual Result (Result) The result obtained after going through the steps to play
Expected Result Expected correct result
Add-ons
Attachment A log file, screenshot, or any other document that can help clarify the cause of an error or indicate a way to solve a problem.

Severity vs Priority
Severity is an attribute that characterizes the impact of a defect on the performance of an application.
Priority is an attribute that indicates the order in which a task or defect must be completed. We can say that this is a tool for a work planning manager. The higher the priority, the faster the defect needs to be fixed.
Severity is exposed by the tester
Priority - manager, team leader or customer

Defect severity grading (Severity)

S1 Blocker
A blocking error that brings the application to a non-working state, as a result of which further work with the system under test or its key functions becomes impossible. Solving the problem is necessary for the further functioning of the system.

S2 Critical
A critical bug, a key business logic not working properly, a security hole, a problem that temporarily crashes the server, or renders some part of the system inoperable, with no way to resolve the problem using other entry points. Solving the problem is necessary for further work with the key functions of the system under test.

S3 Major
Significant bug, part of the main business logic does not work correctly. The error is not critical, or it is possible to work with the function under test using other entry points.

S4 Minor
A minor error that does not violate the business logic of the part of the application under test, an obvious user interface problem.

S5 Trivial
A trivial error that does not concern the business logic of the application, a poorly reproducible problem that is hardly noticeable through the user interface, a problem of third-party libraries or services, a problem that does not have any impact on the overall quality of the product.

Defect Priority Grading
P1 High
The error must be corrected as soon as possible, as its presence is critical for the project.
P2 Medium
The error must be fixed, its presence is not critical, but requires a mandatory solution.
P3 Low
The error must be fixed, its presence is not critical, and does not require an urgent solution.

Testing Levels

1. Unit Testing
Component (unit) testing checks the functionality and looks for defects in parts of the application that are available and can be tested separately (program modules, objects, classes, functions, etc.).

2. Integration Testing
The interaction between the system components is checked after component testing.

3. System Testing
The main task of system testing is to test both functional and non-functional requirements in the system as a whole. This detects defects, such as incorrect use of system resources, unintended combinations of user-level data, incompatibility with the environment, unintended use cases, missing or incorrect functionality, inconvenience of use, etc.

4. Operational testing (Release Testing).
Even if the system satisfies all requirements, it is important to ensure that it satisfies the needs of the user and fulfills its role in the environment of its operation, as defined in the business model of the system. It should be noted that the business model may contain errors. This is why it is so important to conduct operational testing as the final step of validation. In addition, testing in the operating environment allows you to identify non-functional problems, such as: conflict with other systems related to business or software and electronic environments; insufficient performance of the system in the operating environment, etc. It is obvious that finding such things at the implementation stage is a critical and costly problem. Therefore, it is so important to carry out not only verification, but also validation, from the earliest stages of software development.

5. Acceptance Testing
A formal testing process that verifies that a system meets requirements and is conducted to:
determining whether the system satisfies the acceptance criteria;
decision by the customer or other authorized person whether the application is accepted or not.

Types / types of testing

Functional types of testing
Functional testing
Security and Access Control Testing
Interoperability Testing

Non-functional types of testing
All types of performance testing:
o Load testing (Performance and Load Testing)
o Stress Testing
o stability or reliability testing (Stability / Reliability Testing)
o Volume Testing
Installation testing
Usability Testing
Failover and Recovery Testing
Configuration Testing

Types of testing associated with changes
Smoke Testing
Regression Testing
Re-testing
Build Verification Test
Sanitary testing or consistency/health testing (Sanity Testing)

Functional testing considers pre-specified behavior and is based on an analysis of the specifications of the functionality of the component or the system as a whole.

Security Testing is a testing strategy used to test the security of a system, as well as to analyze the risks associated with providing a holistic approach to protecting an application, attacks by hackers, viruses, unauthorized access to confidential data.

Interoperability Testing is functional testing that tests the ability of an application to interact with one or more components or systems and includes compatibility testing and integration testing

Stress Testing- this is an automated testing that simulates the work of a certain number of business users on a common (shared by them) resource.

Stress Testing allows you to check how the application and the system as a whole are operable under stress and also evaluate the ability of the system to regenerate, i.e. to return to normal after the cessation of exposure to stress. Stress in this context can be an increase in the intensity of operations to very high values ​​or an emergency change in the server configuration. Also, one of the tasks in stress testing can be to assess performance degradation, so the goals of stress testing may overlap with the goals of performance testing.

Volume Testing. The goal of volume testing is to get a measure of performance as the amount of data in the application database grows.

Testing stability or reliability (Stability / Reliability Testing). The task of stability (reliability) testing is to check the performance of the application during long-term (many hours) testing with an average load level.

Installation testing is aimed at verifying the successful installation and configuration, as well as updating or uninstalling the software.

Usability testing- this is a testing method aimed at establishing the degree of usability, learnability, understandability and attractiveness for users of the developed product in the context of given conditions. This also includes:
User interface testing (eng. UI Testing) is a type of research testing performed to determine whether some artificial object (such as a web page, user interface or device) is convenient for its intended application.
User eXperience (UX) is the feeling experienced by the user while using a digital product, while the User interface is a tool that allows interaction between the user and the web resource.

Failover and Recovery Testing validates the product under test for its ability to withstand and recover successfully from potential failures due to software bugs, hardware failures, or communication problems (such as network failure). The purpose of this type of testing is to check recovery systems (or duplicating the main functionality of systems), which, in the event of a failure, will ensure the safety and integrity of the data of the tested product.

Configuration Testing- a special type of testing aimed at checking the operation of software under various system configurations (declared platforms, supported drivers, various computer configurations, etc.)

Smoke testing is considered as a short cycle of tests performed to confirm that after building the code (new or fixed), the application being installed starts and performs the main functions.

Regression Testing- this is a type of testing aimed at verifying changes made to an application or environment (fixing a defect, merging code, migrating to another operating system, database, web server or application server), to confirm the fact that the previously existing functionality works as well as before. Regression tests can be both functional and non-functional tests.

Retesting- testing, during which the test scripts that detected errors during the last run are executed to confirm the success of fixing these errors.
What is the difference between regression testing and re-testing?
Re-testing - bug fixes are checked
Regression testing - it is checked that the bug fix did not affect other software modules and did not cause new bugs.

Build Test or Build Verification Test- testing aimed at determining the compliance of the released version with the quality criteria for starting testing. According to its goals, it is an analogue of Smoke Testing, aimed at accepting a new version for further testing or operation. It can penetrate further into the depths, depending on the quality requirements of the released version.

Sanitary testing- this is a narrow testing sufficient to prove that a particular function works according to the requirements stated in the specification. It is a subset of regression testing. Used to determine the health of a particular part of the application after changes have been made to it or the environment. Usually done manually.

Error Guessing - EG. This is when the test analyst uses his knowledge of the system and the ability to interpret the specification in order to "predict" under what input conditions the system may give an error. For example, the spec says "the user must enter a code". The test analyst will think: “What if I don't enter the code?”, “What if I enter the wrong code? ", etc. This is error prediction.

Integration Testing Approaches:

Bottom Up (Bottom Up Integration)
All low-level modules, procedures, or functions are put together and then tested. After that, the next level of modules is assembled for integration testing. This approach is considered useful if all or almost all modules of the developed level are ready. Also, this approach helps to determine the level of application readiness based on the results of testing.

Top Down Integration
First, all high-level modules are tested, and gradually, one by one, low-level modules are added. All lower-level modules are simulated by stubs with similar functionality, then, as they are ready, they are replaced by real active components. So we test from top to bottom.

Big Bang ("Big Bang" Integration)
All or almost all developed modules are assembled together as a complete system or its main part, and then integration testing is carried out. This approach is very good for saving time. However, if the test cases and their results are not recorded correctly, then the integration process itself will be greatly complicated, which will become an obstacle for the testing team in achieving the main goal of integration testing.

Testing principles

Principle 1- Testing shows the presence of defects
Testing can show that defects are present, but cannot prove that they are not. Testing reduces the likelihood of defects in the software, but even if no defects are found, this does not prove its correctness.

Principle 2- Exhaustive testing is impossible
Complete testing using all combinations of inputs and preconditions is not physically feasible except in trivial cases. Instead of exhaustive testing, risk analysis and prioritization should be used to more accurately focus testing efforts.

Principle 3- Early testing
To find defects as early as possible, testing activities should start as early as possible in the software or system development life cycle, and should be focused on specific goals.

Principle 4- Defects clustering
Testing efforts should be concentrated in proportion to the expected, and later the actual density of defects per module. As a rule, most of the defects found during testing or that caused the majority of system failures are contained in a small number of modules.

Principle 5- Pesticide paradox
If the same tests are run many times, eventually this set of test cases will no longer find new defects. To overcome this "pesticide paradox", test scripts should be regularly reviewed and adjusted, new tests should be diversified to cover all software components, or systems, and find as many defects as possible.

Principle 6- Testing is concept depending
Testing is done differently depending on the context. For example, security-critical software is tested differently than an e-commerce site.

Principle 7- Absence-of-errors fallacy
Finding and fixing defects will not help if the created system does not suit the user and does not meet his expectations and needs.

Static and dynamic testing
Static testing differs from dynamic testing in that it is performed without running the product code. Testing is carried out by analyzing the program code (code review) or compiled code. The analysis can be performed both manually and with the help of special tools. The purpose of the analysis is to identify errors and potential problems in the product early. Static testing also includes testing specifications and other documentation.

Exploratory / ad-hoc testing
The simplest definition of exploratory testing is developing and executing tests at the same time. Which is the opposite of the scenario approach (with its predefined testing procedures, whether manual or automated). Exploratory tests, unlike scenario tests, are not predetermined and are not executed exactly according to plan.

The difference between ad hoc and exploratory testing is that, theoretically, anyone can conduct ad hoc, while exploratory testing requires skill and possession of certain techniques. Note that certain techniques are not just testing techniques.

Requirements is a specification (description) of what is to be implemented.
Requirements describe what needs to be implemented, without detailing the technical side of the solution. What, not how.

Requirements for requirements:
Correctness
unambiguity
Completeness of the set of requirements
Requirements set consistency
Testability (testability)
traceability
Comprehensibility

Bug life cycle

Software Development Stages- these are the stages that software development teams go through before the program becomes available to a wide range of users. Software development begins with the initial development stage (the "pre-alpha" stage) and continues through the stages at which the product is finalized and modernized. The final step in this process is the release to the market of the final version of the software (“public release”).

The software product goes through the following stages:
analysis of project requirements;
design;
implementation;
product testing;
implementation and support.

Each stage of software development is assigned a specific serial number. Also, each stage has its own name, which characterizes the readiness of the product at this stage.

Software Development Life Cycle:
pre-alpha
Alpha
Beta
Release Candidate
Release
post-release

decision table is a great tool for streamlining complex business requirements that need to be implemented in a product. Decision tables represent a set of conditions that, when met simultaneously, must result in a specific action.

QA/QC/Test Engineer


Thus, we can build a model of the hierarchy of quality assurance processes: Testing is part of QC. QC is part of QA.

Link diagram is a quality management tool based on the definition of logical relationships between different data. This tool is used to compare causes and effects on the problem under study.

Tests in psychology are called standardized methods of psychodiagnostics, which allow obtaining comparable quantitative and qualitative indicators of the degree of development of the studied properties. The standardization of such methods means that they should always and everywhere be applied in the same way, starting from the situation and the instructions received by the subject, ending with the methods for calculating and interpreting the indicators obtained. Comparability means that the scores obtained from the test can be compared with each other no matter where? when? as? and by whom? they were obtained, if, of course, the test was applied correctly Gurevich K.M. What is psychological diagnostics M .: Knowledge, 1985.- 80 p ..

What is a psychological test in the understanding of most people? It is a set of questions and a key for processing them. The fact that there is a special procedure and rules for conducting the test, that the test must be valid and reliable is most often forgotten. Even people who have received a specialized education, having felt the free air of independence, completely forget about the stringent requirements for conducting methods. From the numerous tests, the easiest to process or the most interesting for the recruiter are selected. Thus, projective methods, tests that are fundamentally invalid or unacceptable for professional selection, have entered the practice of selection: Luscher, Sondi, Non-existent animal, House-tree-man, Rose bush and many others. Techniques that are perfectly suitable for clinical or consultative diagnostics have flowed into the practice of selecting candidates and, thereby, significantly discredited all other methods Gorshkova E. Personnel assessment: fine-tuning business // Management of the company. - 2006. - No. 3 ..

Psychological testing belongs to the section of psychodiagnostics and deals with the study of psychological qualities and personality traits through the use of psychological tests. This method is often used in counseling, psychotherapy, and by employers in hiring. Psychological tests are needed when you need to learn more about a person's personality, which cannot be done with a conversation or a survey.

The main characteristics of psychological tests are:

* Validity - compliance of the data obtained from the test with the characteristic for which the test is carried out;

* Reliability - conformity of the received results at repeated testing;

* Reliability - the property of the test to give true results, even with intentional or unintentional attempts to distort them by the subjects;

* Representativeness - compliance with the norms.

A truly effective test is created through trials and modifications (changing the number of questions, their composition and wording). The test must go through a multi-stage verification and adaptation procedure. An effective psychological test is a standardized test, based on the results of which it becomes possible to assess the psychophysiological and personal characteristics, as well as the knowledge, skills and abilities of the subject.

There are different types of tests:

ѕ Tests for vocational guidance - to determine a person's predisposition to any type of activity or compliance with the position;

ѕ Personality tests - to study the character, needs, emotions, abilities and other personality traits;

ѕ Intelligence tests - to study the degree of development of the intellect;

ѕ Verbal tests - to study the ability of a person to describe in words the actions performed;

¾ Achievement tests - to assess the level of mastery of knowledge and skills.

There are other options for tests aimed at studying a person and his personality traits: color tests, linguistic tests, questionnaires, handwriting analysis, psychometry, lie detector, various diagnostic methods, etc.

Psychological tests are very convenient to use in everyday life in order to get to know yourself or the people you care about better.

Practical fields of application of psychology: labor psychology, engineering, social, pedagogical, medical, legal, military and sports psychology - when creating and applying psychodiagnostic methods, they find in psychodiagnostics a general theoretical and methodological basis for assessing a person in a system of social, economic and other relations. These practical areas of psychology, for their part, enrich the system of basic psychological knowledge by applying and repeatedly testing them in practice.

Psychological testing is used in education to test intelligence, special abilities, achievements, personal qualities, behavior, etc.

Testing is carried out in the field of professional activity as an auxiliary means for making decisions on hiring, placement of personnel.

In clinical psychology and psychological counseling, testing and assessment of the mental state is used when an individual is unable to cope with their difficulties or problems.

In neurophysiology, neuropsychological studies of the interaction of brain pathologies with human behavior are carried out. The influence of age on the behavioral effects resulting from brain damage has been established.

Let us dwell on the most common area of ​​application of psychological testing - the selection of personnel.

Employee testing is the most important component in the personnel management system, which allows you to evaluate both the company's staff as a whole and each employee individually. It is necessary to test employees not only when hiring, at the end of the probationary period, when transferring to another vacant position, when creating a personnel reserve, but also on a regular basis according to the plan approved by the CEO. It is the testing of employees that can provide the company's management with a real picture of the state of affairs with the staff. The absence or untimely implementation of activities, such as testing employees, can lead to very negative consequences for the organization itself, when it is almost impossible to correct the state of affairs.

Analyzing many publications on the topic of testing the organization's personnel, one can note the unequal attitude to this method of assessment both on the part of managers and on the part of specialized specialists.

It is obvious that selection procedures are very important for an enterprise both when hiring, since the final result of its activity depends on the correctly selected personnel: making a profit and competitiveness of the enterprise itself in a selected market segment, and when selecting a personnel reserve and selecting personnel for release .

A selective study of various sources showed the low effectiveness of tests common in the practice of enterprises (see Table 1).

Table 1 - Comparative effectiveness of testing candidates

Managers of small and medium-sized enterprises who have evaluated their employees, using testing as the main method of personnel selection, are often not satisfied with its results.

The main arguments of the opponents of the application of tests are the following Malichevsky V. Technology for assessing and diagnosing candidates of different levels of HQS when applying for a job (Human quality selection) // http://www.trn.com.ua/news/2970/.:

High labor intensity of testing during professional selection of personnel;

Preparation of tests for the position takes a lot of time;

Not every manager is able to competently and correctly use computer test tasks;

The prevalence of psychological tests of unknown orientation, presented on the Internet;

Low level of test forecasting;

A lot of factors influencing the candidate both in the testing process and in the process of work;

Candidates' lack of confidence that testing can give an adequate idea of ​​their abilities.

The American Management Association cited data that 44% of the enterprises that took part in the survey use tests when selecting employees. Moreover, 40% of Fortune100 companies use psychological testing

In our country, this problem is becoming more acute, because, following the fashion for testing, enterprises use tests with keys published both in scientific and popular science publications. In addition, in Russia, in 80% of cases, the Wexler, Ravenn, Amthauer and Cattell tests are used, which are well known not only to employers, but also to employees.

Like the development process, the software post-testing process also follows a specific methodology. By methodology, in this case, we mean the various combinations of principles, ideas, methods, and concepts that you resort to while working on a project.

There are currently a fairly large number of different approaches to testing, each with its own starting points, duration of execution, and methods used at each stage. And choosing one or the other can be quite a challenge. In this article, we will look at different approaches to software testing and talk about their main features to help you navigate the existing variety.

Waterfall model (Linear sequential software life cycle model)

The Waterfall Model is one of the oldest models that can be used not only for software development or testing, but also for almost any other project. Its basic principle is the sequential order in which tasks are performed. This means that we can proceed to the next development or testing step only after the previous one has been successfully completed. This model is suitable for small projects and is applicable only if all requirements are clearly defined. The main advantages of this methodology are cost-effectiveness, ease of use and documentation management.

The software testing process begins after the completion of the development process. At this stage, all the necessary tests are transferred from units to system testing in order to control the operation of components both individually and as a whole.

In addition to the advantages mentioned above, this approach to testing also has its drawbacks. There is always the possibility of finding critical errors in the testing process. This may lead to the need to completely change one of the system components or even the entire logic of the project. But such a task is impossible in the case of the waterfall model, since the return to the previous step in this methodology is prohibited.

Learn more about the waterfall model from the previous article..

V-Model (Verification and Validation Model)

Like the Waterfall Model, the V-Model is based on a direct sequence of steps. The main difference between these two methodologies is that testing in this case is planned in parallel with the corresponding development stage. According to this software testing methodology, the process starts as soon as the requirements are defined and it becomes possible to start static testing, i.e. verification and review, which avoids possible software defects at later stages. An appropriate test plan is created for each level of software development that defines the expected results and entry and exit criteria for that product.

The scheme of this model shows the principle of dividing tasks into two parts. Those related to design and development are placed on the left. Tasks related to software testing are located on the right:

The main steps of this methodology may vary, but typically include the following:

• Stage requirements definitions. Acceptance testing belongs to this phase. Its main task is to assess the readiness of the system for final use.
• The stage at which high-level design, or High-Level Design (HDL). This phase refers to system testing and includes an assessment of compliance with the requirements for integrated systems.
• Detailed design phase(Detailed Design) is parallel to the integration testing phase, during which the interactions between the various components of the system are tested
• After coding stage Another important step begins - unit testing. It is very important to make sure that the behavior of individual parts and components of the software is correct and meets the requirements.

The only drawback of the considered testing methodology is the lack of ready-made solutions that could be applied to get rid of software defects found during the testing phase.

incremental model

This methodology can be described as a multi-cascade software testing model. The workflow is divided into a number of cycles, each of which is also divided into modules. Each iteration adds certain functionality to the software. The increment consists of three cycles:

1. design and development
2. testing
3. implementation.

In this model, simultaneous development of different versions of the product is possible. For example, the first version may be in the testing phase while the second version is in development. The third version can go through the design phase at the same time. This process can continue until the end of the project.

Obviously, this methodology requires the detection of the maximum possible number of errors in the software under test as quickly as possible. As well as the implementation phase, which requires confirmation of the readiness of the product to be delivered to the end user. All these factors significantly increase the weight of testing requirements.

Compared to previous methodologies, the incremental model has several important advantages. It is more flexible, changes in requirements lead to lower costs, and the software testing process is more efficient, since testing and debugging is much easier through the use of small iterations. However, it is worth noting that the total cost is still higher than in the case of the waterfall model.

spiral model

The Spiral Model is a software testing methodology that is based on an incremental approach and prototyping. It consists of four stages:

1. Planning
2. Risk Analysis
3. Development
4. Grade

Immediately after the first cycle is completed, the second begins. Software testing begins at the planning stage and continues until the evaluation stage. The main advantage of the spiral model is that the first test results appear immediately after the results of the tests in the third stage of each cycle, which helps to ensure a correct assessment of quality. However, it is important to keep in mind that this model can be quite expensive and not suitable for small projects.

Although this model is quite old, it remains useful for both testing and development. Moreover, the main goal of many software testing methodologies, including the spiral model, has changed in recent times. We use them not only to find defects in applications, but also to find out the reasons that caused them. This approach helps developers work more efficiently and fix bugs quickly.

Read more about the spiral model in the previous blog post..

Agile

Agile software development methodology and software testing can be described as a set of approaches focused on the use of interactive development, dynamic generation of requirements and ensuring their implementation as a result of constant interaction within a self-organizing working group. Most agile software development methodologies aim to minimize risk through development in short iterations. One of the main principles of this flexible strategy is the ability to quickly respond to possible changes, rather than relying on long-term planning.

Learn more about Agile(note - article in English).

Extreme Programming (XP, Extreme Programming)

Extreme Programming is one example of agile software development. A distinctive feature of this methodology is "pair programming", a situation where one developer works on the code, while his colleague constantly reviews the written code. The software testing process is quite important because it starts even before the first line of code is written. Each application module should have a unit test so that most bugs can be fixed at the coding stage. Another distinguishing property is that the test determines the code, and not vice versa. This means that a certain piece of code can only be considered complete if all tests pass. Otherwise, the code is rejected.

The main advantages of this methodology are constant testing and short releases, which helps to ensure high quality of the code.

Scrum

Scrum - Part of the Agile methodology, an iterative incremental framework created to manage the software development process. According to Scrum principles, the test team should be involved in the following steps:

• Participation in Scrum planning
• Unit testing support
• User story testing
• Collaborate with customer and product owner to determine acceptance criteria
• Providing automated testing

Moreover, QA members should be present at all daily meetings, like other team members, to discuss what was tested and done yesterday, what will be tested today, as well as the overall progress of testing.

At the same time, the principles of Agile methodology in Scrum lead to the emergence of specific features:

• Estimating the effort required for each user story is a must
• The tester needs to be attentive to requirements as they can change all the time.
• The risk of regression increases with frequent code changes.
• Simultaneous planning and execution of tests
• Misunderstanding between team members in case the customer's requirements are not completely clear

Learn more about the Scrum methodology from a previous article..

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is important to note that today the practice of using one or another software testing methodology implies a multiversal approach. In other words, you should not expect that any one methodology will be suitable for all types of projects. The choice of one of them depends on a large number of aspects, such as the type of project, customer requirements, deadlines, and many others. From a software testing perspective, it is common for some methodologies to start testing early in development, while for others it is customary to wait until the system is complete.

Whether you need help with software development or testing, a dedicated team of developers and QA engineers is ready to go.

A special method of management research, the most popular in modern conditions and, perhaps, quite effective is the testing method.

There are many definitions of a test. The test is an empirical-analytical procedure that satisfies the criteria of the study. A very general definition. But there are more specific definitions. For example: a test is a system of statements that allows you to get an objective reflection of the really existing relationships between people, their properties, characteristics and quantitative parameters.

But it is possible to formulate a more precise definition of the test in relation to management research problems. Test - this is a method of studying the deep processes of human activity, through his statements or assessments of the factors in the functioning of the management system.

There is a misconception that testing is used mainly in the study of psychological problems. Indeed, in psychology, testing is the most effective method of studying a person. But the scope of testing is not limited to psychological issues.

Test design plays an important role in research using testing.

The test includes a set of statements and assessments on a specific problem or situation. Ratings can be simplified (such as "agree" - "disagree" or scaled (such as "absolutely true", "true", "more true than false", "hard to say", "more false than true", "false"). "," completely wrong "). The scale can have numerical estimates in the form of rating coefficients or a choice of degree of agreement.

The design of the test should provide for the possibility of processing its results according to certain statistical programs.

Each test has a key that allows you to process the information received in accordance with the goals of testing.

There are rules for wording statements. They include the following provisions (scheme 34 ).

A) statements should be short, no more than one subordinate clause;

B) understandable to all, without exception, the subjects (respondents);

C) there should be no hint of a correct, approved or expected answer in the statements;

D) it is desirable to have structured answers for each of the statements with the same number of alternatives (at least 5 and not more than 11);

E) the test cannot consist entirely of sentences in which only positive or only negative judgments are expressed;

f) in each statement of the test, one thing should be asserted.

When compiling a test, it is necessary to take into account its main characteristics.

Reliability- one of the main and most important characteristics. It is associated with accuracy, which determines the possibility of measurement, translation into quantitative indicators. Reliability is determined by the purpose, objectives and nature of the test study, the quality of statements.

There are methods for checking the reliability of tests. They include retesting, parallel testing, separate correlation (internal correlation of statements), use of analysis of variance, factor analysis.

Test Validity- the ability to reflect and measure what it should reflect and measure according to the plan, goals. This applies not only to the test itself, but also to the procedure for conducting it. The validity of a test can be verified by comparative evaluation of the results obtained by other methods, or by experimenting with the formation of different groups of test takers, it is possible to check the validity by the content of the test by analyzing each of its statements.

In management with the help of testing, one can investigate the problems of resource use (in particular, the most important of them - time), the level of staff qualifications, the distribution of management functions, the combination of formal and informal management, management style, etc.

Testing.

Testing (English test - test, verification) is an experimental method of psychodiagnostics used in empirical sociological research, as well as a method for measuring and evaluating various psychological qualities and states of an individual.

The emergence of testological procedures was due to the need for comparison (comparison, differentiation and ranking) of individuals according to the level of development or the severity of various psychological qualities.

The founders of testing are F. Galton, Ch. Spearman, J. Cattel, A. Binet, T. Simon. The term "mental test" itself was coined by Cattell in 1890. The beginning of the development of modern testology for the mass use of tests in practice is associated with the name of the French doctor Binet, who developed, in collaboration with Simon, a metric scale of mental development, known as the Binet-Simon test.

The wide distribution, development and improvement of tests was facilitated by a number of advantages that this method provides. Tests allow you to evaluate the individual in accordance with the goal of the study; provide the possibility of obtaining a quantitative assessment based on the quantification of the qualitative parameters of the personality and the convenience of mathematical processing; are a relatively quick way to evaluate a large number of unknown persons; contribute to the objectivity of assessments that do not depend on the subjective attitudes of the person conducting the study; ensure the comparability of information obtained by different researchers on different subjects.

Tests require:

Strict formalization of all testing stages,

Standardization of tasks and conditions for their implementation,

Quantification of the results obtained and their structuring according to a given program,

Interpretation of the results based on the previously obtained distribution according to the trait under study.

Each test that meets the reliability criteria, in addition to a set of tasks, includes the following components:

1) a standard instruction for the subject about the purpose and rules for completing tasks,

2) scaling key - correlating task items with scales of measurable qualities, indicating which task item belongs to which scale,

4) the interpretation key of the obtained index, which is the data of the norm, with which the obtained result is correlated.

Traditionally, the norm in testology was the average statistical data obtained as a result of preliminary testing on a certain group of people. Here it is necessary to take into account that the interpretation of the obtained results can be transferred only to those groups of subjects who, in their main sociocultural and demographic characteristics, are similar to the base one.

To overcome the main drawback of most tests, various techniques are used:

1) increase in the base sample in order to increase its representativeness for a greater number of parameters,

2) the introduction of correction factors, taking into account the characteristics of the sample,

3) introduction into the practice of testing a non-verbal way of presenting material.

The test consists of two parts:

a) stimulating material (task, instruction or question)

b) instructions for recording or integrating responses received.

The standardization of the situation, which is typical for tests, provides them, in contrast to the "free" observation of behavior, with greater objectivity of the results.

Tests are classified according to different criteria.

According to the type of personality traits, they are divided into achievement tests and personality tests. The former include intelligence tests, school performance tests, creativity tests, ability tests, sensory and motor tests. To the second - tests for attitudes, for interests, for temperament, characterological tests, motivational tests. However, not all tests (eg, development tests, graphics tests) can be sorted by this feature. According to the type of instruction and method of application, individual and group tests are distinguished. In group testing, a group of subjects is simultaneously examined. If there are no time limits in the level tests, then they are mandatory in the speed tests. Depending on how the subjectivity of the researcher is manifested as a result of testing, tests are distinguished between objective and subjective.

Most achievement tests and psychophysiological tests are objective, and projective tests are subjective. This division to a certain extent coincides with the division into direct and indirect tests, which differ depending on whether the subjects know or do not know the meaning and purpose of the test.

For projective tests, a situation is typical when the subject is not informed about the actual purpose of the study. There are no "correct" answers when performing projective test items. Depending on the representation of the speech component in the test, verbal and non-verbal tests are distinguished. Verbal, for example, is a vocabulary test, non-verbal is a test that requires certain actions as an answer.

According to the formal structure, simple tests are distinguished, i.e. elementary, the result of which can be a single answer, and complex tests, consisting of separate subtests, for each of which an assessment must be given. In this case, general scores can also be calculated. A set of several unit tests is called a test battery, a graphical representation of the results for each subtest is called a test profile. Often, tests include questionnaires that meet a number of requirements that are usually imposed on this method of collecting psychological or sociological information.

Recently, criteria-oriented tests have become more widespread, allowing the test subject to be evaluated not in comparison with the average statistical data of the population, but in relation to a predetermined norm. The evaluation criterion in such tests is the degree of approximation of the test result of the individual to the so-called "ideal norm".

Test development consists of four stages.

At the first stage, the initial concept is developed with the formulation of the main points of the test or the main questions of a preliminary nature;

At the second stage, preliminary test items are selected, followed by selection and reduction to the final form; simultaneously, an assessment is carried out according to the qualitative criteria of reliability and validity;

In the third step, the test is retested on the same population;

On the fourth, it is calibrated in relation to age, education level and other features of the population.

At all stages of test development, it is necessary to consider:

a) a diagnosable property of a person (size, position, indicator) or only its observable manifestations (for example, abilities, level of knowledge, temperament, interests, attitudes);

b) associated method validation, i.e. determining how much it measures the required property;

c) the size of the sample from the population on which the evaluation of the method should be carried out;

d) stimulating material (tablets, images, toys, films);

e) the influence of the researcher in the process of instructing, setting tasks, explaining, answering questions;

e) the conditions of the situation;

g) such forms of behavior of the subject, which testify to the measured property;

h) scaling of relevant forms of behavior;

i) summarizing results for individual measured items into total values ​​(eg, summing responses such as "Yes");

j) formulation of results in a normalized rating scale.

One of the test options may be a questionnaire, but on condition that it meets the requirements for tests. A questionnaire is a collection of questions that are selected and arranged in relation to each other in accordance with the required content. Questionnaires are used, for example, for the purpose of psychodiagnostics, when the subject is required to self-assess his behavior, habits, opinions, etc. In this case, the subject, answering the questions, expresses his positive and negative preferences. With the help of questionnaires, it is possible to measure the subjects and their assessments of other people. The task usually acts as a direct response to questions that must be answered by regret or refutation. Opportunities for answering in most cases are given and require only a mark in the form of a cross, a small cap, etc. The disadvantage of the questionnaire is that the subject can simulate or dissimulate certain personality traits. The researcher can overcome this shortcoming (although not completely) by means of control questions, control scales, and "lie" scales. Questionnaires are used primarily for diagnosing character, diagnosing personality (for example, extroversion - introversion, interests, attitudes, motives).

Personality diagnostics is a set of methods that make it possible to recognize its non-intellectual properties, which are in the nature of relatively stable dispositions. For such personality traits as extraversion - introversion, dominant motive, lethargy, excitability, rigidity, a number of diagnostic methods (questionnaires and projective tests) have been developed that can be used to determine the severity of these properties. When designing such methods, as a rule, they use factor analysis (G. Eysenck, J. Cattell, J. Gilford) and constructive validation.

At the present stage in applied sociology, test methods borrowed from social psychology are most often used, concerning the study of personality traits. There are tests specially developed by sociologists. These tests are often used in sociological questionnaires.

Test- this is a test, a test, one of the ways of psychological diagnosis of the level of development of mental processes and human properties. Psychological tests are a certain system of tasks, the reliability of which is tested on certain age, professional, social groups and is evaluated and standardized using a special mathematical (correlation, factorial, etc.) analysis.

There are tests for studying intellectual abilities, the level of mental development of a person and performance tests. With their help, you can find out the level of development of individual mental processes, the levels of assimilation of knowledge, the general mental development of the individual. Tests as standardized methods make it possible to compare the levels of development and success of the experimental subjects with the requirements of school programs and professiograms of various specialties.

In order to avoid errors when using tests as a method of psychological research, their content must correspond to the phenomenon under study (mental activity, attention, memory, imagination, etc.) and is not required to perform special knowledge. The content of the test and instructions for its execution should be as clear and understandable as possible. The results of a test study cannot be assessed as absolute indicators of the mental capabilities of a person. They are only indicators of the level of development of certain qualities at the time of research on the specific conditions of life, learning and education of the individual.

In psychology, in particular in pedagogical practice, it is widely used polling method when you need to find out the level of understanding of the experimental tasks, life situations, concepts used in training and practical activities (scientific, technical, social) or when you need information about the interests, views, feelings, motives of the activity and behavior of the individual. The most common types of survey as a method of psychological research include conversation, interview, questionnaire and sociometric research.

One of the types of empirical methods is testing.

The test is a short-term task, the fulfillment of which can serve as an indicator of the perfection of some mental functions. The task of tests is not to obtain new scientific summer residences, but to test, verify.

Tests are more or less standardized short-term tests of personality traits. There are tests aimed at assessing intellectual, perceptual abilities, motor functions, personality traits, the threshold for anxiety, annoyance in a particular situation, or interest shown in a particular type of activity. A good test is the result of a lot of preliminary experimental testing. Theoretically substantiated and experimentally tested tests have scientific (differentiation of subjects according to the level of development of one or another property, features, etc.) and, most importantly, practical (professional selection) significance.

The most widely known and popular are personality tests aimed at determining the level of intellectual development of a person. However, at present they are used less and less for selection, although they were originally created for this very purpose. This limitation of the use of these tests can be explained by a number of reasons. But it is precisely through their use, criticisms of the abuse of tests and measures taken to improve them, that a much better understanding of the essence and functioning of the intellect has become.

When developing the first tests, two main requirements were put forward that "good" tests must satisfy: validity and reliability.

The validity of the test lies in the fact that it should evaluate exactly the quality for which it is intended.

The reliability of the test lies in the fact that its results are reproduced with good consistency in the same person.

Also very important is the requirement to normalize the test. This means that for him, in accordance with the data of the test of the reference group, the norms must be established. Such normalization can not only clearly define the groups of people to whom a given test can be applied, but also place the results obtained when testing subjects on the normal distribution curve of the reference group. Obviously, it would be absurd to use norms obtained from university students to assess (using the same tests) the intelligence of elementary school children, or to use norms for children from Western countries when assessing the intelligence of young Africans or Asians.

Thus, the criteria for intelligence in such tests are determined by the prevailing culture, i.e., those values ​​that were originally developed in Western European countries. This does not take into account that someone may have a completely different family upbringing, different life experience, different ideas (in particular, about the meaning of the test), and in some cases, poor command of the language spoken by the majority of the population.

Testing is a method of psychological diagnostics that uses standardized questions and tasks (tests) that have a certain scale of values. There are three main areas of testing: a) education - due to the increase in the duration of training and the complication of curricula; b) vocational training and selection - in connection with the growth rate and the complexity of production; c) psychological counseling - in connection with the acceleration of sociodynamic processes.

Testing allows, with a certain probability, to determine the current level of development of the necessary skills, knowledge, and personal characteristics of an individual. The testing process itself can be divided into the following stages: 1) test selection, taking into account the purpose and degree of its reliability; 2) its conduct is determined by the instructions for the test; 3) interpretation of the results. At all three stages, professionalism, participation or consultation of a psychologist is needed.

Test (English test - test, test, check) - a standardized, often time-limited test designed to establish quantitative or qualitative individual psychological differences.

There are various classifications of tests. They can be subdivided:

1) according to the features of the test tasks used for verbal tests and practical tests;

2) according to the forms of the examination procedure - for group and individual tests;

3) by focus - on intelligence tests and personality tests;

4) depending on the presence or absence of time limits - for speed tests and performance tests;

5) tests also differ in design principles, for example, computer tests have been actively developed in recent decades.

Verbal tests are a type of tests in which the material of test tasks is presented in a verbal (verbal) form. The main content of the subject's work is operations with concepts, mental actions in a verbal-logical form. Verbal tests are most often aimed at measuring the ability to understand verbal information, skills in operating with grammatical language forms, mastery of writing and reading, and are also common among intelligence tests, achievement tests and in assessing special abilities (for example, tests of creativity, writing stories, etc.) .).

Practical (non-verbal) tests - a type of tests in which the material of test problems is presented by tasks in a visual form (for example, drawing figures, adding an image, certain actions on a model, drawing an image from cubes or redrawing).

Group tests - designed for simultaneous examination of a group of subjects. The number of simultaneously tested persons is limited, as a rule, by the possibilities of control and observation by the examiner. Usually the maximum allowable number of people in the surveyed group is 20-25 people. This form of examination for children is more familiar, as it resembles the natural conditions of learning and control of knowledge in the classroom, and therefore is often used by school psychologists.

The next type of tests is individually oriented; they implement an individual approach to the diagnosis of the psychological characteristics and behavior of the subject.

Intelligence tests (lat. intellectus - understanding, cognition), or tests of general abilities, are designed to measure the level of intellectual development and are among the most common in psychodiagnostics.

Tests of special abilities - a group of psychodiagnostic methods designed to measure the level of development of certain aspects of intelligence and psychomotor functions, mainly ensuring efficiency in specific, rather narrow areas of activity. Usually, the following groups of abilities are distinguished: sensory, motor, technical (mechanical) and professional (counting, musical, reading speed and reading comprehension, etc.). The most widespread are complex test batteries of abilities.

A variety of ability tests can be considered tests of creativity (lat. creatio - creation, creation) - a group of psychodiagnostic methods designed to measure the creative abilities of an individual (the ability to generate unusual ideas, deviate from traditional thinking patterns, quickly solve problem situations).

Personality tests - a group of tests aimed at measuring non-intellectual manifestations of personality. Personality tests are a collective concept that includes psychodiagnostic methods that measure various aspects of an individual's personality: attitudes, value orientations, relationships, emotional, motivational and interpersonal properties, typical forms of behavior. Several hundred varieties of personality tests are known. They usually take one of two forms: objective action tests and situational tests. Objective tests of action are relatively simple, clearly structured procedures that orient the subject to perform a task. A feature of situational tests is the placement of the subject in situations close to real.

Computer tests, despite their wide distribution and the presence of certain advantages (automation of processing, reduction of the effect of the experimenter), are not flexible enough in data interpretation and cannot completely replace the work of a professional psychologist.

Speed ​​tests are a type of psychodiagnostic methods in which the main indicator of the productivity of the test subjects is the time to complete (volume) of test tasks. Such tests usually include a large number of homogeneous tasks (items).

Achievement tests are aimed at assessing the achieved level of development of skills, knowledge and abilities of an individual, as a rule, after completion of training. They belong to the most numerous group of psychodiagnostic methods (according to the number of specific tests and their varieties).

In addition, there are tests oriented towards a socio-psychological standard or a socially set objective meaningful standard (for example, STUR - a school test of mental development).

In recent years, more and more popular is becoming separated from the laboratory psychological experiment testing method.
The term "test" (in English - a task, or a test) was introduced in 1890 in England. Tests became widespread in child psychology after 1905, when a series of tests were developed in France to determine the giftedness of children, and in the practice of psychodiagnostics after 1910, when a series of tests for professional selection was developed in Germany.

By applying tests, one can obtain a relatively accurate quantitative or qualitative characteristic of the phenomenon under study. Tests differ from other research methods in that they imply a clear procedure for collecting and processing primary data, as well as the originality of their subsequent interpretation. With the help of tests, you can study and compare the psychology of different people, give differentiated and comparable assessments.

The most common test options are: test questionnaire, test task, projective test.

Test questionnaire based on a system of pre-thought out, carefully selected and tested in terms of their validity and reliability of questions, the answers to which can be used to judge the psychological qualities of the subjects.

Test task involves assessing the psychology and behavior of a person based on what he does. In tests of this type, the subject is offered a series of special tasks, based on the results of which they judge the presence or absence and the degree of development (severity, accentuation) of the quality being studied.

These types of tests are applicable to people of different ages and genders, belonging to different cultures, having different levels of education, any profession and life experience - this is their positive side. But at the same time, there is also a significant drawback, which consists in the fact that when using tests, the test subject, at his own request, can consciously influence the results obtained, especially if he knows in advance how the test works and how his psychology and behavior will be evaluated based on the results. In addition, such tests are not applicable in cases where psychological properties and characteristics are subject to study, in the existence of which the subject cannot be completely sure, does not realize or consciously does not want to admit their presence. Such characteristics are, for example, many negative personal qualities and behavioral motives.

In these cases, usually apply projective tests. They are based on the projection mechanism, according to which a person tends to attribute unconscious personal qualities, especially shortcomings, to other people. Such tests are designed to study the psychological and behavioral characteristics of people that cause a negative attitude. Using tests of this type, the psychology of the subject is judged on the basis of how he perceives and evaluates situations, the psychology and behavior of people, what personal properties, motives of a positive or negative nature he ascribes to them.

Using the projective test, the psychologist introduces the subject into an imaginary, plot-indefinite situation that is subject to arbitrary interpretation. Such a situation can be, for example, the search for a certain meaning in the picture, which depicts who knows what kind of people, it is not clear what they are doing. You need to answer questions about who these people are, what they are concerned about, what they think about and what will happen next. Based on the meaningful interpretation of the answers, they judge the own psychology of the respondents.

Projective-type tests impose increased requirements on the level of education and intellectual maturity of the subjects, and this is the main practical limitation of their applicability. In addition, such tests require quite a lot of special training and high professional qualifications of the psychologist himself.

Another important problem, relating to almost all types of tests without exception, in the process of conducting the testing procedure itself is the formal, superficial interpretation of the experimental results obtained, the researcher's conscious refusal to know the essence of the phenomenon under study and replacing it with a random outcome of the task; in the fetishization of the mathematical processing of the formal results of "tests".

This problem is directly related to the erroneous views of metaphysical functional psychology, which considers each "mental function" as something unchanging, "always equal to itself" and not connected either with the goals and conditions of human activity, or with other mental functions, or with personality traits in in general. In accordance with this, the tests are aimed only at taking into account the quantitative change in the "development level" of each individual function - psychometry.

The tasks and assignments themselves (tests of various types), if used correctly, can provide very valuable material for psychological analysis, but an unprepared researcher in a professional sense will not be able to adequately assess it and effectively apply the main principle of a practical psychologist "do no harm".

Very erroneous (and often leading to very sad consequences in practice) is the opinion that any person, having bought a popular book with psychological tests and briefly familiarized himself with its contents, can present himself as a surrounding psychologist and engage in testing at a professional level.

Thus, it is not the test itself that is vicious, but its misuse.

Sociometry: the study of interpersonal relationships in a group.

The sociometric technique developed by J. Moreno is used to diagnose interpersonal and intergroup relations in order to change, improve and improve them. With the help of sociometry, it is possible to study the typology of people's social behavior in the conditions of group activity, to judge the socio-psychological compatibility of members of specific groups.

A sociometric procedure may aim to:

a) measure the degree cohesion-disunity in a group;
b) identifying "sociometric positions", i.e., the relative authority of the members of the group according to the signs likes-dislikes, where the "leader" of the group and the "rejected" are at the extreme poles;
c) detection of intra-group subsystems, close-knit formations, which may be headed by their informal leaders.

The use of sociometry makes it possible to measure the authority of formal and informal leaders in order to regroup people in teams in such a way as to reduce tension in the team arising from the mutual hostility of some members of the group. The sociometric technique is carried out by a group method, its implementation does not require large time costs (up to 15 minutes). It is very useful in applied research, especially in work on improving relationships in a team. But it is not a radical way to resolve intra-group problems, the causes of which should be sought not in the likes and dislikes of group members, but in deeper sources.

The reliability of the procedure depends primarily on the correct selection of sociometric criteria, which is dictated by the research program and preliminary acquaintance with the specifics of the group.

Psychological testing is a method of measuring and evaluating the psychological characteristics of a person using special techniques. The subject of testing can be any psychological characteristics of a person: mental processes, states, properties, relationships, etc. The basis of psychological testing is psychological test- a standardized test system that allows you to detect and measure qualitative and quantitative individual psychological differences.

Initially, testing was considered as a kind of experiment. However, to date, the specificity and independent significance of testing in psychology make it possible to distinguish it from the actual experiment.

The theory and practice of testing are summarized in independent scientific disciplines - psychological diagnostics and testology. Psychological diagnostics- this is the science of ways to identify and measure the individual psychological and individual psychophysiological characteristics of a person. Thus, psychodiagnostics is an experimental psychological branch of differential psychology. Testology is the science of developing, designing tests.

The testing process usually includes three steps:

1) the choice of a methodology that is adequate to the goals and objectives of testing;

2) actual testing, i.e. data collection in accordance with the instructions;

3) comparison of the obtained data with the "norm" or among themselves and making an assessment.

In connection with the presence of two ways of making a mark on the test, two types of psychological diagnosis are distinguished. The first type consists in ascertaining the presence or absence of any sign. In this case, the data obtained about the individual characteristics of the psyche of the test person are correlated with some given criterion. The second type of diagnosis makes it possible to compare several testees with each other and find the place of each of them on a certain "axis" depending on the degree of manifestation of certain qualities. To do this, all the subjects are ranked according to the degree of representation of the indicator under study, high, medium, low, etc. levels of the studied features in this sample are introduced.

Strictly speaking, a psychological diagnosis is not only the result of comparing empirical data with a test scale or with each other, but also the result of a qualified interpretation, taking into account many factors (the mental state of the test person, his readiness to perceive tasks and report on his indicators, the testing situation, etc.). ).

Psychological tests especially clearly demonstrate the connection between the method of research and the methodological views of the psychologist. For example, depending on the preferred theory of personality, the researcher chooses the type of personality questionnaire.

The use of tests is an integral feature of modern psychodiagnostics. There are several areas of practical use of the results of psychodiagnostics: the field of training and education, the field of professional selection and career guidance, consultative and psychotherapeutic practice, and, finally, the field of expertise - medical, judicial, etc.

The emergence of the testing method, as mentioned above, occurred at the end of the 19th century. based on the development of experimental methods for the study of mental phenomena. The possibility of quantitative assessment of mental phenomena and comparison on this basis of the results of different subjects among themselves led to the rapid development of the testing method. Along with this, knowledge about the individual psychological characteristics of people was accumulating.

The differential psychological study of man was formed not only as a consequence of the development of experimental psychology. Differential psychology "grew" out of the tasks that confronted medical and pedagogical practice, where there was a great need for differentiation between mentally ill and mentally retarded people.

The development of psychological tests was carried out in many European countries and in the USA. Initially, ordinary laboratory experiments were used as tests, but the meaning of their use was different. In these experiments, not differences in the reactions of the subject to different stimuli were studied, but individual differences in the reactions of the subject under constant experimental conditions.

In 1905, the first intelligence test appeared, corresponding to the modern understanding of tests. By order of the French Ministry of Education, the French psychologist A. Binet developed an intelligence test to identify mentally handicapped children who are unable to study in regular schools. In 1907, this test was improved by compatriot A. Binet T. Simon and was called the Binet-Simon mental development scale. The developed scale contained 30 tasks arranged in order of increasing difficulty. For example, for a child of three years it was required: 1) to show his eyes, nose, mouth; 2) repeat a sentence up to six words long; 3) repeat two numbers from memory; 4) name the drawn objects; 5) give your last name. If the child solved all the tasks, he was offered tasks of an older age level. Tasks were considered appropriate for a certain age level if they were correctly performed by the majority (80–90%) of children of this age.

The Binet-Simon scale in subsequent editions (1908 and 1911) was translated into English and German. In these editions, the age range was expanded - up to 13 years, the number of tasks was increased, and the concept of mental age was introduced. Mental age was determined by the success of the test tasks in the following way: first, the child was offered tasks corresponding to his chronological age. If he coped with all the tasks, he was offered tasks for the next older age group. If he did not complete the tasks of his age group, he was offered tasks from the previous younger age group. The base mental age was considered to be the one, all tasks of which were completed by the child. If the child performed, in addition to them, some tasks from the subsequent older age, then several “mental months” were added to his base mental age.

In 1912, the German psychologist W. Stern introduced the concept of the IQ (I.Q.) defined as the ratio of mental age to chronological age, expressed as a percentage.

The improvement of the A. Binet scale was continued at Stanford University (USA) under the guidance of the American psychologist L.M. Theremin. In 1916, a new, standardized version of this scale was proposed, which became known as the Stanford-Binet scale. It had two significant differences from previous editions. Firstly, it used the IQ, and secondly, it introduced the concept of a statistical norm. For each age, the most typical mean test score was 100, and the statistical measure of variation, standard deviation, was 16. Thus, all individual scores between 84 and 116 were considered normal. If the test score was above 116, the child was considered gifted, if below 84, mentally retarded. The Stanford-Binet scale subsequently had several more editions (1937, 1960, 1972, 1986). Newly created intelligence tests are still tested for validity by comparing with the results of this scale.

At the beginning of the XX century. the development of testing was also determined by the demands of industry and the army. Tests were created for selection in various sectors of production and the service sector (Münsterberg tests for the professional selection of telephone operators, Friedrich tests for the selection of locksmiths, Guth tests for compositors, etc.), as well as for the distribution of recruits by military branches (tests "Army Alpha" and "Army Beta"). This led to the emergence of group testing. Subsequently, army tests were used for civilian purposes.

In the first half of the XX century. A number of methods aimed at the differential diagnosis of various types of pathology have appeared. The German psychiatrist E. Kraepelin continued the work of F. Galton on the method of free associations. Subsequently, the associative experiment was transformed into the "method of incomplete sentences", which is widely used to this day. In 1921, the Swiss psychiatrist G. Rorschach created the "ink spot test", which is one of the most popular projective methods.

In 1935, the American psychologists H. Morgan and G. Murray developed the thematic apperception test (TAT), which currently has many modifications. In parallel, the theoretical foundations of test design were developed, and the methods of mathematical and statistical processing were improved. Correlation and factor analysis appeared (C. Spearman, T. L. Keely, L. L. Thurston and others). This allowed the development of principles for standardizing tests, which made it possible to create consistent test batteries. As a result, methods were proposed based on the factorial principle (R. Cattell's 16PF questionnaire, etc.), and new intelligence tests (1936 - J. Raven's test, 1949 - D. Wexler's test, 1953 - Amthauer's test ). At the same time, professional selection tests (the GATB battery for the US Army in 1957) and clinical tests (the MMPI questionnaire in the 1940s) were being improved.

In 1950–1960 there have been important changes in the ideology of testing. If earlier tests were aimed at screening, selection, typing people into various categories, then in the 1950s-1960s. psychodiagnostics turned to the needs and problems of the individual. A huge number of personality questionnaires have appeared, the purpose of which is an in-depth knowledge of the personality, the identification of its features (questionnaires by G. Eysenck and others).

A significant number of special ability and achievement tests have been created at the request of industry and education. In the middle of the 20th century, criterion-oriented tests appeared.

Currently, psychologists have more than ten thousand test methods in their arsenal.

One of the most successful classifications was proposed by the American psychologist S. Rosenzweig in 1950. He divided psychodiagnostic methods into three groups: subjective, objective, and projective.

subjective methods, to which Rosenzweig referred questionnaires and autobiographies, require the subject to observe himself as an object. objective methods require research through observation of external behavior. Projective methods are based on the analysis of the reactions of the subject to the seemingly personality-neutral material.

American psychologist G.W. Allport proposed to distinguish between direct and indirect methods in psychodiagnostics. AT direct methods, conclusions about the properties and relations of the subject are made on the basis of his conscious report, they correspond to the subjective and objective methods of Rosenzweig. AT indirect methods, conclusions are drawn on the basis of the subject's identifications, they correspond to the projective methods in the Rosenzweig classification.

In domestic psychology, it is customary to subdivide all psychodiagnostic methods into two types: methods of a high level of formalization (formalized) and low-formalized methods (M.K. Akimova).

For formalized methods are characterized by strict regulation of the examination procedure (strict adherence to instructions, strictly defined methods of presenting stimulus material, etc.); they provide norms or other criteria for evaluating results. These techniques make it possible to collect diagnostic information in a relatively short time, quantitatively and qualitatively compare the results of a large number of subjects.

Little formalized Methods provide valuable information about the subject in cases where the phenomena being studied are difficult to objectify (personal meanings, subjective experiences) or extremely changeable (states, moods). Less formalized methods require a high professionalism of the psychologist, a significant investment of time. However, these types of techniques should not be completely opposed, since in general they complement each other.

The whole group of formalized methods is sometimes called tests. However, in this classification they include four classes of methods: tests, questionnaires, projective techniques and psychophysiological methods. Less formalized methods include: observation, conversation, analysis of activity products.

In the context of the topic under consideration, let us turn to the classification of S. Rosenzweig, presented and considered in detail in the work of V.V. Nikandrov and V.V. Novochadov.

Subjective psychodiagnostic methods. When using a subjective diagnostic approach, obtaining information is based on self-assessment by the subject of his behavior and personal characteristics. Accordingly, methods based on the use of the principle of self-assessment are called subjective.

Subjective methods in psychodiagnostics are mainly represented by questionnaires. The Dictionary-Handbook on Psychodiagnostics states that questionnaires include psychodiagnostic techniques, the tasks of which are presented in the form of questions. However, such a presentation of tasks is only an external sign that unites the questionnaires, but it is not at all sufficient to classify the methods in this group, since the tasks of both intellectual and projective tests are formulated in the form of questions.

By procedure for using Questionnaires are similar to questionnaires. In both cases, communication between the researcher and the subject is mediated by a questionnaire or questionnaire. The subject himself reads the questions offered to him and fixes his answers himself. Such mediation makes it possible to conduct a mass psychodiagnostic study using questionnaires. At the same time, there are a number of differences that do not allow considering questionnaires and questionnaires as synonyms. The difference in direction is decisive: unlike questionnaires that perform the function of collecting information of any orientation, questionnaires are aimed at identifying personal characteristics, which is why they do not have a technological feature (getting answers to questions), but a target one (measuring personal qualities) ). Hence, there are differences in the specifics of research procedures for questioning and testing using a questionnaire. Questioning is usually anonymous, testing using a questionnaire is personalized. Questioning, as a rule, is formal, the answers of the respondent do not lead to any immediate consequences, testing is personal. Questioning is more free in the procedure for collecting information up to sending questionnaires by mail, testing usually involves direct contact with the test person.

Thus, questionnaire- This is a test for identifying individual psychological differences based on the self-description of their manifestations by the subjects. BUT questionnaire in the strict sense of the word, it is a set of sequentially asked questions that are included in the questionnaire or questionnaire during their construction. The questionnaire, therefore, includes instructions to the subject, a list of questions (i.e., a questionnaire), keys for processing the data received, and information on interpreting the results.

By construction principle Distinguish questionnaires-questionnaires and actual questionnaires. To questionnaires include methods that contain elements of the questionnaire. They are characterized by the inclusion of questions not only of closed, but also of open type. Processing of closed questions is carried out according to the corresponding keys and scales, the results are supplemented and refined by information obtained with the help of open questions. Questionnaires usually include questions to identify socio-demographic indicators: information about gender, age, education, etc. A questionnaire may consist entirely of open questions, and sometimes the number of answers to questions is not limited. In addition, it is customary to include methods, the subject of which is weakly related to personal characteristics, to questionnaire questionnaires, even if such methods have formal characteristics of a questionnaire (for example, the Michigan screening test for alcoholism).

By area of ​​primary application distinguish narrow-profile questionnaires and questionnaires of wide application (broad profile). Narrow profile questionnaires, in turn, are divided according to their area of ​​​​primary application into clinical, career guidance, education, management and personnel work, etc. Some questionnaires were created specifically for university and school psychodiagnostics (Phillips's school anxiety diagnostic questionnaire), psychodiagnostics in the field of management (questionnaires for self-assessment of business and personal qualities of managers at various levels, identifying the degree of loyalty to the company, etc.). Sometimes narrow profile questionnaires become questionnaires over time wide profile. For example, the well-known Minnesota Multidisciplinary Personality Inventory (MMPI) was created as a purely clinical, to identify mental illness. Then, thanks to the creation of a significant number of additional non-clinical scales, it became universal, one of the most commonly used personality questionnaires.

Depending on which category the phenomenon studied with the help of the questionnaire belongs to, state questionnaires and property questionnaires (personal questionnaires) are distinguished. There are also complex questionnaires.

Mental states are situationally determined and measured in minutes, hours, days, very rarely - weeks or months. Therefore, the instructions for the questionnaires states indicate the need to answer questions (or evaluate statements) in accordance with actual (and not typical) experiences, attitudes, moods. Quite often, state questionnaires are used to assess the effectiveness of corrective actions when states are diagnosed before and after a treatment session or before and after a series of sessions (for example, the WAN questionnaire, which allows you to assess the state in three parameters: well-being, activity, mood).

Mental properties are more stable phenomena than states. Numerous personal questionnaires. Complex questionnaires combine features of the state questionnaire and the property questionnaire. In such a case, the diagnostic information is more complete, since the condition is diagnosed against a certain background of personality traits that facilitate or hinder the occurrence of the condition. For example, the Spielberger-Khanin questionnaire contains a reactive anxiety scale (which diagnoses anxiety as a condition) and a personal anxiety scale (for diagnosing anxiety as a personal property).

Depending on the degree of coverage of properties, personality questionnaires are divided into traits that implement the principle and typological ones.

questionnaires, implementing the principle of traits, subdivided into one-dimensional and multidimensional. One-dimensional personality questionnaires are aimed at identifying the presence or severity of one property. The severity of the property is implied in some range from the minimum to the maximum possible level. Therefore, such questionnaires are often called scales (for example, the J. Taylor anxiety scale). Quite often, scale questionnaires are used for screening purposes, i.e., screening out subjects for a certain diagnosable trait.

Multidimensional personality questionnaires aim to measure more than one property. The list of revealed properties, as a rule, depends on the specific scope of the questionnaire and the conceptual views of the authors. So, E. Shostrom's questionnaire, created within the framework of humanistic psychology, is aimed at identifying such properties as self-acceptance, spontaneity, self-respect, self-actualization, the ability to make close contacts, etc. Sometimes multidimensional questionnaires serve as the basis for creating one-dimensional questionnaires. For example, the J. Taylor anxiety scale was created on the basis of one of the scales of the MMPI questionnaire. At the same time, the indicators of reliability and validity of the original multidimensional questionnaires cannot be automatically transferred to the created one-dimensional questionnaires. In this case, an additional assessment of these characteristics of derived methods is required.

The number of scales in multidimensional questionnaires has certain limits. Thus, testing with R. Cattell's 16PF questionnaire, which assesses personality traits according to 16 parameters and contains 187 questions, takes from 30 to 50 minutes. The MMPI questionnaire contains 10 main scales and three control scales. The subject must answer 566 questions. The time of work on the questionnaire is 1.5–2 hours and, perhaps, has a maximum duration. As practice shows, a further increase in the number of questions is unproductive, since it leads to an almost exponential increase in the time required for answers, the development of fatigue and monotony, and a decrease in the motivation of the subjects.

Typological Questionnaires are created on the basis of the identification of personality types - integral formations that are not reducible to a set of individual properties. The description of the type is given through the characteristics of an average or, conversely, a pronounced representative of the type. This characteristic may contain a significant number of personality traits, which are not necessarily strictly limited. And then the purpose of testing will be to identify not individual properties, but the proximity of the person being examined to a particular personality type, which can be done using a questionnaire with a fairly small number of questions.

A striking example of typological questionnaires are the methods of G. Eysenck. His EPI questionnaire, created in 1963 and aimed at identifying introversion-extroversion and neuroticism (affective stability-instability), is widely used. These two personality characteristics are presented in the form of orthogonal axes and a circle, in the sectors of which four personality types are distinguished: unstable extraverted, stable extraverted, stable introverted, unstable introverted. To describe the types, Eysenck used about 50 multi-level features that correlate with each other: properties of the nervous system, properties of temperament, character traits. Subsequently, Eysenck proposed to compare these types with the types of temperament according to Hippocrates and I.P. Pavlov, which was implemented during the adaptation of the questionnaire in 1985 by A.G. Shmelev. When creating a methodology for express diagnostics of characterological features of adolescents, T.V. Matolin, the initial personality types according to Eysenck were divided into 32 more fractional types with a description of the ways of psychological and pedagogical influence, which makes it possible to use the questionnaire in the work of a teacher, a school psychologist, an employment service worker.

By assessed personality substructure distinguish: temperament questionnaires, character questionnaires, ability questionnaires, personality orientation questionnaires; mixed surveys. Questionnaires of each group can be both typological and non-typological. For example, a temperament questionnaire can be aimed at diagnosing both individual properties of temperament (activity, reactivity, sensitivity, emotional excitability, etc.), and at diagnosing the type of temperament as a whole according to one of the existing typologies.

From the diagnostic questionnaires temperament the methods of V.M. Rusalova, Ya. Strelyau and a number of others. The questionnaires were compiled in such a way that the properties of the temperament of a particular subject could be judged by his description of his emotional and behavioral reactions in various life situations. Temperament diagnostics with the help of such questionnaires does not require special equipment, takes relatively little time and can be mass-produced. The main drawback of these tests is that behavioral manifestations attributed to temperament bear the imprint of not only temperament, but also character. The character smooths out the real manifestations of some properties of temperament, due to which they appear in a disguised form (the phenomenon of “temperament disguise”). Therefore, temperament questionnaires provide information not so much about temperament as about the typical forms of response of the subject in certain situations.

Questionnaires for diagnostics character can also be both questionnaires for individual traits, and questionnaires for the type of character as a whole. Examples of a typological approach to character are the X. Shmishek questionnaire, aimed at identifying the type of character accentuation according to the typology of K. Leonhard, and the PDO questionnaire (pathocharacterological diagnostic questionnaire), which reveals the type of character accentuation according to the typology of the Russian psychiatrist A.E. Lichko. In the works of the German psychiatrist K. Leonhard, one can come across the terms “character accentuation” and “personality accentuation”. A.E. Lichko believes that it would be more correct to talk about accentuations only of character, because in reality we are talking about the features and types of character, and not personality.

Diagnostics abilities rarely performed using subjective questionnaires. It is believed that most people are not able to give a reliable assessment of their abilities. Therefore, when assessing abilities, preference is given to objective tests, where the level of development of abilities is determined on the basis of the effectiveness of the test tasks performed by the test subjects. However, a number of abilities, the self-assessment of the development of which does not cause the activation of psychological defense mechanisms, can also be successfully measured using subjective tests, for example, communication skills.

Diagnostics focus personality can be a definition of the type of orientation as a whole or a study of its components, i.e., needs, motives, interests, attitudes, ideals, values, worldview. Of these, fairly large groups of methods are questionnaires of interests, questionnaires of motives and questionnaires of values.

Finally, if the properties identified by the questionnaire belong not to one, but to several personality substructures, they speak of mixed questionnaire. These can be adapted foreign questionnaires, where there is no tradition to draw boundaries between temperament and character, character and personality as a whole. There are also domestic questionnaires created for the purpose of complex diagnostics, for example, the questionnaire "Traits of character and temperament" (CHT).

Objective tests. Within the framework of an objective approach, the diagnosis is made on the basis of information about the features of the performance of the activity and its effectiveness. These indicators are minimally dependent on the subject's self-image (as opposed to subjective tests) and on the opinion of the person conducting the testing and interpretation (as opposed to projective tests).

Depending on the subject of testing, there is the following classification of objective tests:

Personality tests;

Intelligence tests (verbal, non-verbal, complex);

Ability tests (general and special;)

Creativity tests;

Achievement tests (action tests, written, oral).

Tests personality, like personality questionnaires, they are aimed at identifying personal characteristics, however, not on the basis of self-description of these characteristics by the subjects, but through the performance of a number of tasks with a clearly structured, fixed procedure. For example, the masked shapes test (EFT) involves the test subject looking for simple black and white shapes inside complex color shapes. The results provide information about the perceptual style of a person, the determining indicator of which the authors of the test consider "field-dependence" or "field-independence".

Tests intellect aimed at assessing the level of intellectual development. With a narrow interpretation of the concept of "intelligence", methods are used that allow assessing only the mental (thinking) characteristics of a person, his mental potential. With a broad understanding of the category "intelligence", methods are used that allow characterizing, in addition to thinking, other cognitive functions (memory, spatial orientation, speech, etc.), as well as attention, imagination, emotional-volitional and motivational components of intelligence.

Both conceptual (verbal-logical) and figurative and visual-effective (objective) thinking are subject to measurement in intelligence tests. In the first case, tasks are usually verbal(speech) character and offer the subject to establish logical relationships, identify analogies, classify or generalize between different words denoting any objects, phenomena, concepts. There are also math problems. In the second case, it is proposed to complete tasks non-verbal(non-speech) nature: operations with geometric shapes, folding pictures from disparate images, grouping graphic material, etc.

Of course, the dyad "figurative thinking - conceptual thinking" is not the same as the dyad "non-verbal thinking - verbal thinking", since the word denotes not only concepts, but also images and specific objects, and mental work with objects and images requires an appeal to concepts , for example, when classifying or summarizing non-verbal material. Nevertheless, in diagnostic practice, verbal methods are often correlated with the study of verbal intelligence, the main component of which is conceptual thinking, and non-verbal methods with the study of non-verbal intelligence, which is based on figurative or objective thinking.

Given the above, it would be more correct to speak not about the study of types of thinking or intelligence, but about the types of methods used to study intelligence: verbal - non-verbal methods. The first category includes such tests as "Simple and complex analogies", "Logical connections", "Finding patterns", "Comparison of concepts", "Exclusion of the superfluous" (in the verbal version), school test of mental development (SMT). Examples of methods of the second category: Pictograms, Picture Classification, Progressive Matrices test by J. Raven, etc.

As a rule, in modern intelligence tests, both verbal and non-verbal tasks are combined in one methodology, for example, in the tests of A. Binet, R. Amthauer, D. Wexler. These tests are complex. The D. Wexler test (WAIS), one of the most popular, consists of 11 subtests: six verbal and five non-verbal. Tasks of verbal subtests are aimed at identifying general awareness, comprehension, ease of operating with numerical material, abilities for abstraction and classification, tasks of non-verbal subtests are aimed at studying sensorimotor coordination, features of visual perception, abilities to organize fragments into a logical whole, etc. Based on the results of execution tasks, the coefficients of intelligence are calculated: verbal, non-verbal and general.

Intelligence tests are constantly criticized, because in most cases it is not clear what they measure: whether it is really the mental potential of a person, or the degree of learning, that is, his knowledge and skills, which are very dependent on the conditions of development and education. This fact even served as the basis for designating test results as test, or psychometric, intelligence. Systematically observed discrepancies between actual achievements in mental activity and test intelligence led to the introduction of the concept of "unfair" tests into psychodiagnostic practice. This “injustice” is especially pronounced when using tests designed for one community (social group, social stratum, nationality, etc.) in examining people of another community, with other cultural traditions, a different level of education. In psychodiagnostics, attempts are constantly being made to create intelligence tests that are free from the influence of culture (R. Cattell's culture-free test).

It is generally accepted that classical intelligence tests measure only the level of convergent thinking - uncreative, "cautious". Another component of intelligence - divergent (creative) thinking - does not lend itself to such testing. The obtained coefficients (IQ) do not give an idea about this side of intelligence, which has led to attempts to develop special methods - tests of creativity (see below).

Tests abilities- these are methods aimed at assessing a person's capabilities in mastering knowledge, skills, both general and particular. In the first case, we are talking about the assessment of general abilities (sensory, motor, mnemonic, etc.), in the second - about the assessment of special abilities, usually associated with professional activities (mathematical, musical, artistic, reading speed, etc.) .

Depending on the objectives of the study, ability tests are often combined into one battery or another; sometimes they are included in batteries with intelligence tests, for example, for a more complete assessment of a person's abilities during career selection and career guidance. The GATB general ability test battery, developed by the American Employment Service in 1956, contains 12 subtests for verbal and mathematical abilities, spatial perception, finger motor skills, hand motor skills, etc. At the moment, the GATB battery, due to the development of a number of its modifications for individual groups of professions is one of the most widely used in foreign professional diagnostics, in particular in the USA.

A separate type of ability is creative ability. The totality of creative abilities is called creativity. In theoretical terms, a clear line has not been drawn between creativity as a quality of intellect, as a creative ability and as a personality trait. Therefore, the group of tests of creativity includes very diverse methods. The most famous are the tests of J. Gilford and E. Torrens, developed at the turn of the 1950-1960s. The E. Torrens test consists of three subtests that allow assessing the levels of development of verbal, figurative and sound creative thinking, getting an idea of ​​the qualitative originality of these structures of creativity in different people. Tasks require the subject to produce ideas in verbal form, in the form of some drawing, image. Depending on the number and originality of ideas, the level of development of the subject's creativity is judged.

Tests achievements are designed to assess the level of mastery of knowledge, skills and abilities in any particular activity and are used mainly in the areas of training and professional selection. By type of task, tests are distinguished actions, written and oral tests.

Tests actions reveal the degree of ability to perform actions with certain tools, tools, materials, mechanisms, etc., for example, when testing a typist, parts assembler, car driver, etc. Written tests are a system of questions and possible answers on a special form. Sometimes questions are illustrated with pictures accompanying the question. The task of the subject is either to choose the correct verbal answer, or to mark on the graph the reflection of the situation described in the question, or to find in the picture a detail that gives the correct solution to the corresponding question. Oral tests are systems of oral questions that circumvent the difficulties that arise due to the lack of experience in the test subject in formulating answers. Achievement tests are used primarily in the areas of training and vocational selection. Recently, they have gained immense popularity in the form of a variety of games on radio and television.

Projective tests. Within the framework of the projective diagnostic approach, obtaining information is based on an analysis of the characteristics of the actions of the subject with externally neutral, as it were, impersonal material, which, due to its weak structure and uncertainty, becomes the object of projection. Accordingly, techniques based on the use of the projection principle are called projective(projective). The concept of projection to refer to these techniques was first used by the French psychologist L.K. Frank in 1939 and, despite repeated attempts to change their name, it took hold, becoming generally accepted.

The need to change the name was dictated by the gradual departure in the interpretation of the methods of this group from the ideas of psychoanalysis. To date, the term "projection" in psychology has two meanings; 1) in the psychoanalytic sense - one of the defense mechanisms by which internal impulses and feelings that are unacceptable to the "I" are attributed to an external object and only then penetrate into consciousness (in this sense, the term was first introduced into science by 3. Freud in 1894. ); 2) in the non-psychoanalytic sense - manifestations of the personality outside. Each manifestation of activity (emotional, verbal, motor) bears the imprint of the personality as a whole. The less stereotypical incentives that encourage activity, the brighter the manifestation of personality.

The first description of projection as a natural tendency of people to act under the influence of their needs, interests and the entire mental organization (moreover, protective mechanisms may or may not appear) belongs to the American psychologist G.A. Murray. The creation of a theoretical concept of projection in a form applicable to the study of personality led to the rapid development of projective methods, which currently occupy a prominent position in foreign psychodiagnostic practice.

Testing with projective methods has the following most common features. The methods use ambiguous, poorly structured stimulus material, which allows a large number of options for perception and interpretation. At the same time, it is assumed that the weaker it is structured, the higher the degree of projection: “The subject, absorbed in trying to interpret seemingly nothing subjectively meaningless material, does not notice how he reveals his worries, fears, desires and anxieties. In this way, resistance to revealing personal, sometimes very painful problems is significantly reduced. To overcome the resistance of the subject, the instruction is given to him without revealing the true goal, and the testing procedure itself often takes place in a playful way. The subject, as a rule, is not limited in the choice of answers, and the answers are not evaluated as "correct" or "erroneous". Due to these features, projective techniques are often used at the initial stages of psychological work with a client or at the beginning of a comprehensive psychological testing of a personality, since they allow you to establish contact and arouse interest in the examination. An important advantage of many projective methods is that the answers of the subjects do not have to be given in verbal form (as is the case with questionnaires), which allows them to be used in work with both adults and children.

The classification of projective methods belongs to L.K. Frank. He proposed to distinguish projective methods depending on the nature of the reactions of the subject. In the modern, supplemented classification of projective methods, there are constitutive, constructive, interpretative, cathartic, expressive, impressive, additive methods.

Constitutive Methods are characterized by a situation in which the subject is required to create a certain structure from a semi-structured, amorphous material, to form stimuli, to give them meaning. An example of the methods of this group is the G. Rorschach test, the stimulus material of which consists of 10 standard tables with black-and-white and color symmetrical "blots". The subject is asked to answer the question of what, in his opinion, each spot looks like. Depending on the responses of the subject, his experiences, features of interaction with the environment, realistic perception of reality, tendencies to anxiety and anxiety, etc. are judged. The stimulus material of this test does not impose answers on the subject, and therefore it is the most commonly used projective technique in foreign psychodiagnostics. An attempt to further develop the principle of weakly structured stimulus material is the technique of "Cloud Pictures" by V. Stern et al., where stimulus material resembling clouds is used, which, unlike Rorschach spots, does not have symmetry and a clear contour. The subject is invited to independently mark the contours and talk about what is shown in the pictures.

constructive techniques imply designing, creating a meaningful whole from the designed details. For example, the stimulus material of the “Village” and “Peace Test” methods consists of small objects, the number of which in different versions reaches 300. Among them are a school, a hospital, a city hall, a church, shops, trees, cars, figures of people and animals etc. The subject is offered, at his discretion, to build from these objects a village in which he would like to live, or some space of his existence (according to the terminology of the authors - “a small world”). The approach of the subject to the design of the layout, the realism of its construction, the proximity to the constructions characteristic of different contingents, etc., are determined.

Interpretive methods imply the interpretation of an event or situation by the test subject. Examples are the thematic apperception test (TAT), word association tests. The TAT stimulus material is a set of 30 black-and-white images depicting relatively vague scenes that can be interpreted ambiguously. The subject is asked to compose a story for each image: what is happening there, what the characters are experiencing, what preceded this, how the situation will end. Based on the subject's story, an idea is created about his experiences, conscious and unconscious needs, conflicts and ways to resolve them. In word association tests, the stimulus material consists of a list of unrelated words, for each of which the subject must give the first association word that comes to mind as quickly as possible. The nature and time of the reaction of the answers make it possible to single out the most "emotionally charged" words-stimuli for a given subject, to judge the presence of certain problematic topics.

cathartic methods are the implementation of gaming activities in specially organized conditions. These include, in particular, the psychodrama of J. (J.) Moreno, considered as a projective technique for studying personality. In the course of a mini-representation, in which the subject (protagonist) plays the role of himself or an imaginary person in situations that are significant for himself, his personal characteristics are manifested, and through affective response in dramatic situations that are consonant with the experiences of the subject, a therapeutic effect is achieved (catharsis - purification and insight - insight). The technique does not have a standard procedure for conducting, data on validity and reliability, as a result of which it is used as not so much a psychodiagnostic as a psychotherapeutic technique in group psychotherapy.

AT expressive methods, obtaining information is based on the analysis of the drawings of the subject. Drawings can be on a free or given topic. Known drawing techniques "Non-existent animal" M.Z. Drukarevich, "House - Tree - Man" by J. Book, "Drawing of a Family" by V. Khals, "Draw a Man" by K. Makhover, "My Life Path" by I.L. Solomina, "A child's hand that disturbs" R. Davido, "Faces and emotions" A. Jahez and N. Manshi, multidimensional drawing test R. Bloch, finger drawing test R. Shaw, etc. According to D. Harris, the author of one from the modifications of the "Drawing of a Man" test by F. Goodenough, "drawings can say a lot about the affect, temperament, attitude and personality of the person who drew them."

Conducting drawing tests does not require a lot of time, usually allows a group form. The main elements of the drawing to be analyzed are its size, position on the sheet (top, bottom, center, corner), rotation of the drawing to the left or right, pressure (weak, standard, strong), line characteristics (smooth, trembling, intermittent, double) , the slope of the figure, the density and area of ​​​​hatching, the number and nature of the details. As a rule, drawing techniques involve supplementing the drawing with the subject's story about the depicted, drawing up a story based on the drawing, and questioning the subject on the attached list of questions. The behavior of the subject during the execution of the task, his statements, vegetative manifestations, and the duration of work on the drawing are also analyzed. To increase the reliability of the interpretation, it is desirable to carry out drawing techniques in combination with other tests, supplement them with the results of conversation and observation.

Impressive techniques imply preference for some stimuli (as the most desirable) over others. The subject finds himself in a situation where it is necessary either to choose the most preferable stimuli, or to rank the stimuli according to the degree of preference. For example, in L. Szondi's test, the subject is presented with 48 portraits of mentally ill people, divided into six series, with instructions to choose two most and least liked portraits in each series. Depending on the preferences of the subject, the most significant "diagnostic areas" for him are judged.

A separate subgroup of impressive tests consists of color choice tests (A.M. Etkind’s color relationship test, I.L. Solomin’s color metaphor test, M. Pfister and R. Heiss’s color pyramid test, Yu.I. Filimonenko’s “Pairwise Comparisons”, etc.). ). All these tests are based on the test of the Swiss psychologist M. Luscher, published in 1948. The Luscher test is based on the assumption that the choice of color reflects mood, functional state and the most stable personality traits. Each color of the spectrum is a trigger signal that causes a variety of associations that are not fully realized in a person. For example, a person encounters red color mainly in situations of danger and intense struggle (it is the color of blood, fire), which leads to the association of this color with the state of neuropsychic tension, mobilization, and active action appropriate for such situations. Accordingly, in a testing situation, a person who is active and well rested, for whom the associative specificity of color perception will correspond to his energy capabilities and motivational attitudes, will prefer red color in a testing situation, to reject it - a tired and inhibited person, for whom excitement is inappropriate at the moment, runs counter to the available energy potential and settings.

Additive methods imply arbitrary completion of stimulus material by the subject, for example, completion of a sentence (methods of A. Payne, D. Sachs and S. Levy, A. Tendler, J. Rotter, B. Forer, A. Rode, etc.) or completion of a story (methods of L Duss, M. Thomas and others). Depending on the nature of the completions, the needs and motives of the subject, his attitude to the family, sex, superiors at work, etc. are judged.

K. Frank's classification has been repeatedly criticized for descriptiveness, confusion of criteria, fuzzy separation of groups of methods. It is not clear, for example, where to classify tests like "Completion of the drawing" - to expressive, constitutive or additive methods. When the group of cathartic methods was singled out, the emphasis shifted from the process to the result (catharsis). The choice of the nature of the reactions of the subject as a criterion for constructing a classification of projective methods that claims to be complete coverage is hardly justified, especially since the categories identified by Frank turned out to be set not so much by the nature of the reactions of the subject as by the nature of the stimulus material itself and the purpose of the study.

In this regard, there is a need to breed projective tests according to several criteria. V.V. Nikandrov and V.V. Novochadov propose the following classification system of projective methods:

1) according to the involved modality (techniques with visual, tactile, audio and other stimulation);

2) by the nature of the stimulus material (verbal, non-verbal);

3) according to the type of reaction of the subject (associative, interpretive, manipulative, free choice);

4) by the presence or absence of ready-made answer options (projective, semi-projective).

Most psychodiagnostic techniques involve the use of visual modality. This is a reflection of the special importance of the role of vision in the reception of information in a modern person: it is assumed that the addressing of stimulus material to the eyes allows one to receive answers that characterize the personality quite fully. Nevertheless, there are methods where stimulation is presented to the subject by ear, for example, in a word association test, where the test subject must, as soon as possible, give an association word to the stimulus word pronounced by the psychodiagnostician. There are also attempts to create projective techniques that address tactile sensations.

By the nature of the stimulus material, projective techniques can be verbal, where a word, sentence or text acts as a stimulus, and non-verbal, with subject, color, pictorial and other stimulation. Word association tests use single words as stimuli, Sentence Completion tests use incomplete sentences, and Story Completion tests use incomplete texts.

It is customary to distinguish the following types of responses of the subjects: association, interpretation, manipulation (on a scale of actions with objects, materials, etc., which has creative and reproductive manipulation as its poles), free choice (i.e., some kind of distribution, ranking of stimulus material). In accordance with this, projective methods are proposed to be divided into associative, interpretative, manipulative and free choice methods.

Depending on the availability of ready-made response options, semi-projective methods are distinguished, where the subject is asked to choose one of the proposed response options to projective stimulation (in a sense, an analogue of closed questionnaires), and actually projective ones, where such options are absent. An example of a semi-projective technique can be L. Szondi's test (usually the most famous tests are called only by last name, this is the case here), where the subject is asked to choose two likes and two dislikes in each series of portraits. The subject may not like any portrait, and there may be more than two dislikes, however, the forced instruction puts the subject in certain conditions that he must follow, which imposes certain restrictions on the manifestation of his personality traits. The undoubted advantages of semi-projective methods are the simplicity of quantitative processing of the results, the availability of transferring methods into computer form, and less vulnerability to the subjectivity of the interpreter.

It is generally accepted that projective tests have an advantage over subjective ones, since they allow revealing unconscious components of the mental. However, it should be noted that these unconscious components will not necessarily show up in the test results. According to G.U. Allport, a normal, adequately adapted subject, when conducting projective tests, gives answers similar to a conscious report in subjective tests, or, due to sufficiently developed self-control, does not show his dominant motives in any way. Therefore, projective testing acquires special significance only when “emotionally loaded material is found in projective reactions that contradicts conscious reports. And only then can one speak with confidence about the presence or absence of neurotic tendencies.

Computer testing. This is a relatively young area of ​​psychodiagnostics associated with the use of electronic computers. The emergence of computer psychodiagnostics is due to the development of information technology. Attempts to automate the presentation of stimulus material to the subject and subsequent processing of the results have been made since the 1930s, but only since the 1970s. the true development of computer psychodiagnostics began, due to the advent of personal computers. Since the 1980s computer tests began to be developed on a massive scale: first, as computer versions of well-known blank methods, and in the 1990s. - as special techniques that take into account the capabilities of modern technology and are not used in a blank form, since they are designed for complex stimulus material that changes in space and time, specific sound accompaniment, etc. The beginning of the XXI century. noted that the control of testing is increasingly transferred to the computer. If in past years certain stages of the study were automated, for example, the presentation of material, data processing, interpretation of the results, then at the present stage, more and more often you can find programs that take on the entire examination up to the diagnosis, which reduces the need for the presence of a psychologist to a minimum.

The undoubted advantages of computer tests are: fast execution; high speed and error-free processing; the possibility of immediate results; providing standard testing conditions for all subjects; clear control of the testing procedure (it is impossible to skip questions, if necessary, the time of each answer can be recorded, which is especially important for intelligence tests); the possibility of excluding the psychologist as an additional variable (which is of particular importance during the examination); visualization and entertaining of the process (support of attention with the help of color, sound, game elements, which is most important for training programs); easy archiving of results; the ability to combine tests into batteries (software packages) with a single final interpretation; mobility of the experimenter (all tools on one diskette); the possibility of conducting mass research (for example, via the Internet).

Disadvantages of computer tests: complexity, laboriousness and high cost of software development; the need for expensive computer equipment; the complexity of using computers in the field; the need for special training of the subject to work with computer tests; difficulties in working with non-verbal material, the particular difficulty of translating projective tests into a computer form; lack of an individual approach to the test person (loss of part of the psychodiagnostic information obtained in conversation and observation); latency of the stages of data processing and interpretation (the quality of these procedures depends entirely on the software developers). In some subjects, when interacting with a computer, the effects of a “psychological barrier” or “over-confidence” may occur. Therefore, data on the validity, reliability and representativeness of blank tests cannot be automatically transferred to their computer counterparts, which leads to the need for new standardization of tests.

The shortcomings of computer tests cause psychologists to be wary of them. Such tests are rarely used in clinical psychology, where the cost of error is too high. Domestic psychologist L.S. Vygotsky singled out three levels of psychodiagnostics: 1) symptomatic (identification of symptoms); 2) etiological (identification of causes); 3) typological (holistic, dynamic picture of the personality, on the basis of which the forecast is built). Computer psychodiagnostics today is at the lowest level - the level of symptomatic diagnosis, practically without providing material for identifying the causes and making a prognosis.

Nevertheless, it seems that computer tests have a great future. Many of the listed shortcomings of computer psychodiagnostics will certainly be eliminated due to the further development of electronic technology and the improvement of psychodiagnostic technologies. The key to such optimism is the growing interest of science and practice in computer diagnostics, which already has more than 1000 computer tests in its arsenal.

Among the existing computer tests, the following types can be distinguished:

1) by structure - analogues of blank tests and actual computer tests;

2) by the number of testees - tests of individual and group testing;

3) according to the degree of automation of testing - automating one or more stages of the examination and automating the entire examination;

4) according to the task - diagnostic and training;

5) to the addressee - professional psychological, semi-professional and non-professional (entertaining).

User professional computer tests is a psychologist, so they are developed by specialized laboratories or centers of computer psychodiagnostics. These tests have a number of specific features: a) the presence of an archive (database); b) the presence of a password to enter the test or database to ensure the confidentiality of the results; c) a detailed interpretation of the results using professional terms, coefficients, with the construction of graphs (profiles); d) the availability of information about the developers of the methodology, information about the validity and reliability, reference materials on the underlying theoretical principles of the methodology.

semi-professional computer tests are aimed at specialists in related professions, for example, teachers, personnel managers. Such tests are often equipped with a reduced interpretation without the use of special vocabulary, they are easy to learn and work with. Tests of this level can also be intended for a non-specialist, an ordinary user of a personal computer who is interested in psychology. Finally, there are also a large number of non-professional computer tests aimed at popularizing psychological ideas or for entertainment purposes.

When using professional or semi-professional computer-based tests, the same ethical principles must be observed as for blank testing. It is important not to distribute test results and to protect your files with a password, especially if the computer has multiple users. And most importantly - "do not create an idol for yourself", that is, remember that a computer test is only a tool, an assistant and has its own limits of application.

Consider the concepts of standardization, reliability and validity of the test from the standpoint of the classical empirical-statistical theory. In accordance with this theory, the design of tests for changing psychological properties and states is based on a scale of intervals. The measured mental property is considered to be linear and one-dimensional. It is also assumed that the distribution of the population of people with this property is described by a normal distribution curve.

Psychological testing is based on the classical theory of measurement error. It is believed that the test is the same measuring device as any physical device, and the results that it shows depend on the value of the property of the subject, as well as on the measurement procedure itself. Any property of the psyche has a “true” indicator, and the test readings deviate from the true one by the amount of a random error. The “systematic” error also affects the test readings, but it comes down to adding (subtracting) a constant to the “true” value of the parameter, which does not matter for the interval scale.

Test reliability. If the test is carried out many times, then the average value will be a characteristic of the "true" value of the parameter. Under reliability The test is usually understood as the stability of the results to the influence of random factors, external and internal. The most frequently assessed retest reliability. The more closely the results of the initial and repeated (usually delayed by several months) tests are correlated, the more reliable it is.

It is assumed that there is an unlimited number of tasks that can "work" for the property being measured. The test is only a selection of tasks from their general population. Ideally, you can create as many equivalent test forms as you want, so the test reliability can be determined by correlating parallel forms or equivalent equal parts obtained by splitting the test item into two parts. Since the number of tasks in a real test is limited (no more than 100), the assessment of test reliability is always approximate. The test is considered reliable if the correlation coefficient of the results is at least 0.75.

Test validity. The problem of validity in the classical theory of the test is given a lot of attention, but theoretically it is not solved in any way. Validity means the suitability of a test to measure the property it is intended to measure. Therefore, the more the measured property affects the result of a test or a separate task, and the smaller other variables (including external ones), the more valid the test.

A test is valid (and reliable) if only the property being measured affects its results. A test is invalid (and unreliable) if the test results are determined by the influence of irrelevant variables.

There are the following types of test validity.

obvious validity. A test is considered valid if the subject has the impression that he is measuring what he is supposed to measure.

Specific validity(convergent - divergent validity). The test should correlate well with tests measuring a specific property or close to it in content, and have low correlations with tests measuring obviously different properties.

predictive validity. The test should correlate with remote external criteria.

construct validity. It involves a complete description of the measured variable, the promotion of a system of hypotheses about its relationships with other variables, empirical confirmation (non-refutation) of these hypotheses.

From a theoretical point of view, the only way to establish the "internal" validity of the test and individual tasks is the method of factor analysis (and similar ones), which allows: a) to identify latent (hidden) properties and calculate the value of "factor loads" - the coefficients of determination of the properties of certain signs; b) determine the degree of influence of each latent property on the test results.

Test standardization is to bring the evaluation procedure to generally accepted standards. Standardization involves the transformation of a normal or artificially normalized scale of primary ratings into scale ratings (for more on this, see 5.2). The test norms obtained in the course of standardization are a system of scales with the characteristics of the test score distribution for different samples. They are not "internal" properties of the test, but only facilitate its practical application.

There are two ways to create psychodiagnostic methods: adaptation of known methods (foreign, outdated, with other purposes) and development of new, original methods.

Adaptation test is a set of measures that ensure the adequacy of the test in new conditions of use. There are the following stages of test adaptation:

1) analysis of the initial theoretical provisions of the author of the test;

2) for foreign methods - translation of the test and instructions to it into the language of the user (with a mandatory expert assessment of compliance with the original);

3) verification of reliability and validity in accordance with psychometric requirements;

4) standardization on the corresponding samples.

The most serious problems arise when adapting verbal tests (questionnaires, verbal subtests as part of intelligence tests). These problems are connected with the linguistic and socio-cultural differences between the peoples of different countries. The multi-variant translation of a term, the impossibility of accurately conveying idiomatic phrases is a common phenomenon when translating from language to language. Sometimes it is so difficult to find linguistic and semantic analogues of test items that its complete adaptation becomes comparable to the development of an original methodology.

The concept of adaptation is applicable not only to foreign methods that are supposed to be used in our country, but also to outdated domestic methods. They become obsolete quite quickly: due to the development of the language and the variability of socio-cultural stereotypes, the methods must be adjusted every 5–7 years, which means clarifying the wording of questions, correcting standards, updating stimulus material, and revising interpretation criteria.

Self development The test methodology usually consists of the following steps.

1. Choice of subject (phenomenon) and object of study (contingent).

2. The choice of the type of test (objective, subjective, projective), the type of tasks (with prescribed answers, with free answers) and scales (numerical, verbal, graphic).

3. Selection of the primary bank of tasks. It can be carried out in two ways: questions are formulated on the basis of theoretical ideas about the phenomenon being measured (factorial-analytical principle) or are selected in accordance with their discrimination, i.e., the ability to separate subjects by the presence of the required feature (criteria-key principle). The second principle is effective in designing selection tests (eg professional or clinical).

4. Evaluation of the tasks of the primary bank (substantive validity of the test, i.e., the correspondence of each of the tasks to the measured phenomenon, and the completeness of the coverage of the studied phenomenon by the test as a whole). It is carried out using the method of peer review.

5. Preliminary testing, formation of a bank of empirical data.

6. Empirical validation of the test. It is carried out using a correlation analysis of test scores and indicators for an external parameter of the studied property (for example, school performance during the validation of an intelligence test, medical diagnosis during the validation of clinical tests, data from other tests whose validity is known, etc.).

7. Evaluation of the reliability of the test (resistance of the results to the action of random factors, external and internal). The most frequently assessed are retest reliability (correspondence to the results of retesting, usually after several months), reliability of parts of the test (the stability of the results of individual tasks or groups of tasks, for example, using the even-odd method), and the reliability of parallel forms, if any. The technique is recognized as reliable if the correlation coefficient of the results (primary and repeated testing, one and the other parts of the test, one and the other parallel forms) is at least 0.75. With a lower reliability indicator, test tasks are adjusted, questions that reduce reliability are reformulated.

8. Standardization of the test, i.e. bringing the procedure and assessments to generally accepted standards. Standardization of assessments implies the transformation of a normal or artificially normalized scale of primary assessments (empirical values ​​of the studied indicator) into scale assessments (reflecting the place in the distribution of the results of a sample of subjects). Types of scale marks: walls (1-10), stanayny (1-9), 7-scores (10-100), etc.

9. Determination of predictive validity, i.e., information about the degree of accuracy with which the technique makes it possible to judge the diagnosed psychological quality after a certain time after the measurement. Predictive validity is also determined by an external criterion, but data on it are collected some time after testing.

Thus, reliability and validity are collective concepts that include several types of indicators that reflect the focus of the methodology on the subject of research (validity) and the object of research (reliability). The degree of reliability and validity reflect the corresponding coefficients indicated in the method certificate.

The creation of a methodology is a laborious work that requires a developed system of ordering methods with appropriate remuneration for developers and fees for the use of author's methods.