Designing an IQ Test

How do IQ test Psychologists come about creating an IQ test? What gives them inspiration on IQ test questions and answers they actually want to put into the test? Creating an IQ test would be difficult if basic steps are not followed. Isn’t it? Of course, these basic steps have to be observed in order to design a valid and reliable IQ test:

1. Norm phase

The norm phase is also called the standardization phase where obtaining a sample from the population of interest would serve as a criterion about judgments in order to categorize people within the IQ spectrum. For example, using a mean and standard deviation with regard to age, sex, ethnicity etc.

However, to make an IQ test effective in measuring IQ (not necessarily intelligence), test creators have to develop different norms for different groups or better still, for different countries. This could help to minimize cultural bias.

2. Validation Phase

Validity

Essentially, this is the extent to which a test measures what it suppose to measure. Intelligence, right? But by what method do psychometrists validate an IQ test? An IQ test can be validated by using the norm criterion and thereby ensuring any/all of the different types of validity:

• Content validity
• Concurrent validity
• Face validity
• Cultural validity
• Convergent validity
• Discriminant validity

Reliability

Could the test produce the same results as it revealed previously? If yes, the test is reliable and if otherwise, the test isn’t reliable but garbage; therefore, it doesn’t really worth your time. How do scientists ensure the reliability of a test? There are two most effective and popular methods for this: