‘It’s a lot trickier than I expected’: Assessment Issues and Dilemmas for Intern Psychologists

Abstract

Beyond the basic information provided in foundation texts and test manuals, there is a notable scarcity of professional literature addressing complex issues and dilemmas in assessment. At times, psychologists need to make decisions based on their professional experience or personal preferences, and it is possible that some of these decisions are made without adequate justification or reflection. Intern psychologists may be confused by the differing advice they are given by university staff, supervisors and experienced practitioners. Our aim in this project was to identify specific issues in psychoeducational assessment that need clarity, guidance and reflection, not only during postgraduate training, but also across the professional lifespan. Focus groups with educational and developmental psychology interns revealed confusion about aspects of test administration and interpretation, as well as a number of challenging professional issues. The findings have implications for trainers and supervisors, as well as for experienced practitioners.

Keywords::

• psycho-educational assessment
• issues
• dilemmas
• training
• intern psychologists

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the postgraduate students who so willingly and enthusiastically volunteered to participate in this research.

Financial Support

The research was supported by a Queensland University of Technology Learning and Teaching Grant to the authors.

Conflicts of Interest

None.

Ethical Standards

The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.