Clinical and research implications of revising psychological tests

This article integrates those of other contributors to this special section, "Methods and Implications of Revising Assessment Instruments," to underscore important conceptual factors to consider when undertaking test revisions. These considerations include determination of when test measures have become sufficiently understood to be incorporated in a test revision, cohort effects, revision of administration formats and test instructions, and comparisons of performance levels across test versions. The discussion of these factors also takes into consideration clinical practice and educational implications of making a transition to revised test versions.     

Confidentiality issues in psychological research

There has been increased attention in recent years to the importance of individual privacy and professional confidentiality both in Australia and overseas. At the same time, psychologists' growing research interests in areas such as AIDS, child sexual abuse, and domestic violence have led to new ethical dilemmas over the contract of confidentiality between researchers and their research participants. The present paper discusses a number of issues regarding the ethics of confidentiality in psychological research. Following Bok (1989), the issues are highlighted within the context of four ethical principles that underlie researchers' obligations to preserve confidentiality. These principles are derived from considerations of privacy, loyalty, the pledge of silence, and professional codes of ethical standards. Each of these principles is illustrated with examples taken from recent research. We devote special attention to instances that appear to provide a clash between moral principles.     

Microcomputer graphics in psychological research

This paper discusses a methodology for psychological instrumentation in which requirements common to a spectrum of experiments are defined and implemented in a microcomputer system. The microcomputer may either stand alone or be used as an intelligent front end to a larger computer. In either case, experiments are described in a high-level implementation language. The advantages of this approach include reduced hardware and maintenance costs, increased reliability, and smoother operation by research personnel. A tutorial example is given of the design and construction of one such system used to present visual stimuli, including text, graphics, and simple animation, on a movable array of video monitors. Displays are produced by a Z80 microcomputer in response to commands from a larger host computer, in this case a PDP Lab/8e. Illustrations are given of three studies in progress; comparisons are made with special-purpose equipment built earlier. The microcomputer system is preferable from both a cost and management point of view.     

International perspectives in psychological research

The following two papers by (1) Bond and Sabourin and (2) d'Ydewalle and Denis were prepared for the World Social Science Report. They illustrate some of the current scope and diversity of the discipline.     

Informed consent content in research with survivors of psychological trauma

One hundred eighty trauma-focused dissertations published in the United States were examined to determine the variation in risk language used in the informed consents. Level of risk proposed in the informed consents was poorly related to ratings of risk by graduate coders and virtually unrelated to vulnerability factors such as the age of participants and clinical or nonclinical status. Risk language in the informed consents was markedly elevated over that rated by the coders, with more than one third of the dissertations presenting the risk of participation as severe (i.e., associated with substantial risk of reactivity and lasting discomfort). These statements are not in keeping with the literature and raise ethical concerns in relation to (a) nocebo effects, (b) distortion of correlational findings, and (c) discouragement of participants from disclosing trauma in other settings.     

Roles of instruments in psychological research

What roles have instruments played in psychology and related disciplines? How have instruments affected the dynamics of psychological research, with what possibilities and limits? What is the psychological instrument? This article provides a conceptual foundation for specific case studies concerning such questions. The discussion begins by challenging widely accepted assumptions about the subject and analyzing the general relations between scientific experimentation and the uses of instruments in psychology. Building on this analysis, a deliberately inclusive definition of what constitutes a psychological instrument is proposed. The discussion then takes up the relation between instrumentation and theories and differentiates in greater detail the roles instruments have had over the course of psychology's history. Finally, the authors offer an approach to evaluating the possibilities and limitations of instruments in psychology.