Test Construction
The self-esteem test will be made in the form of propositions toward which one should express his or her opinion in the form of yes/no/not sure answers, showing agreement or disagreement with the statement. The test will comprise three groups of propositions related to the degree of awareness, one’s perception of his or her role in society, and subjective assumptions about other people’s beliefs. Moreover, the test will include a pyramid where a person tested will have to put some concepts in order of preference, the ones most meaningful at the top and the least meaningful at the bottom.
To develop the items, it is necessary to determine theoretical concepts, form a representative sample of content, and choose the formal characteristics of a test. At the preparatory stage, a sample version of a test will be developed, which will then undergo initial testing. After that, some points will have to be corrected, and the final items to be included in the test will be defined. Further test instructions will be elaborated on and tested for credibility and validity.
The test will be scored in points starting from 0 to 10, where the answer “no” will get 0 points, the answer “no sure” 5 points, and the answer “yes” 10 points. The sum of the points will determine a person’s standing in one of the three groups: people with low self-esteem, moderate self-esteem, and people with high self-esteem. The test is administered on paper among the group of people tested or can be done individually by anyone willing to determine the level of his or her self-esteem. The aim of the test is determined as an increase in self-awareness that allows getting rid of problems that can further affect adolescents’ lives. No specific requirements are needed for test users, although ethical issues should be considered. First of all, test results should not be disclosed to any outside parties. Secondly, test users should be familiarized with the purpose of the test, and the results of the test should not be used for purposes other than those announced to the client.
In order for the test to be recognized as reliable and objective, it must undergo a standardization procedure that includes three stages. The first stage of standardization of the self-esteem test is to create a uniform testing procedure. It includes the definition of the diagnostic situation in terms of testing conditions such as room, light, crowdedness, and some others (Hedrih, 2020). The second stage comprises the content of instruction and the specifics of the test presentation. The third stage allows for assessing the availability of standard stimulus material. Thus, the reliability of the results obtained may significantly depend on whether the respondent is offered printed tests in small letters or in large ones. The proposed self-esteem test will be given in a printed form in medium letters in facilities that have adequate light and spacing conditions. The instructions will be clearly repeated twice before the adolescents are asked to proceed with the test. Time considerations are also included in the standardization procedure, and the time for the proposed self-esteem test is 20 minutes.
The fourth stage of standardization of the psychological test consists in creating a uniform assessment of the test performance: a standard interpretation of the results obtained and preliminary standard processing. Here it is proposed to develop a scoring procedure where the points will range from 0 to 10 with a five-point interval. Moreover, this stage implements a comparison of the obtained indicators with a statistical norm. At the stage of creating the test, a certain group of adolescents will be formed, who will be the first to take the test. The average result of this test in this group will be considered the statistical norm. The average result is not a single number but a range of values. To determine the spread of values, the concept of standard deviation will be used (Hedrih, 2020). Thus, three groups will be formed based on the test results; since there will be 30 statements in the test, the maximum points it is possible to score will be thirty, while the minimum points will equate to zero. The group that scores from 0 to 100 points will comprise people with low self-esteem, and the group that scores from 100 to 200 will comprise people with healthy self-esteem. The group that scores from 200 to 300 will comprise people with high self-esteem.
Test Content
The test will include 30 statements with which a test-taker may agree, disagree, or say that he or she is not sure about his or her attitude. The statements will be as follows:
- I want my friends to cheer me up.
- I constantly feel responsible for my studies.
- I am worried about my future.
- I have less initiative than others.
- I’m uncomfortable about making a speech in front of the audience.
- Others are more attractive than me.
Since the notion of self-esteem is comprised of diverse factors, I would elaborate statements to include propositions about one’s degree of awareness, one’s ability to interact with society, and subjective beliefs about other people’s thoughts. Cultural factors should also be considered as in many cultures, especially Arabic ones, interaction with strangers is regulated by cultural norms and cannot effectively reflect the level of self-esteem. That is why statements should be elaborated in such a way as to exclude propositions the agreement or disagreement with which can be dictated by cultural issues rather than self-awareness and self-esteem.
Scope of Test
The results of the psychological self-esteem test serve to show users the respondent the level of respondent’s self-esteem, that is, his or her own attitude to himself or herself. Having answered a number of certain questions, users receive a result that informs them about a respondent’s ideas about himself and the level of his or her claims and aspirations. The potential benefit of the test lies in the fact that it allows a person to determine his or her level of self-esteem and work on problems if there are any, to achieve one’s aims and make one’s life more fulfilling. The potential harm of the test lies in the fact of incorrect interpretation when a person gets results that do not reflect his or her level of self-esteem. Thus, a person may begin to work on something he or she does not really need. This situation may occur if statements included in the test have different cultural connotations for different people. Another area where harm can be done is the disclosure of private information to third parties, which may take place if ethical issues are not properly considered.
The interpretation of the test will be made on the basis of a comparison of test results against an earlier developed statistical norm that will allow dividing test takes into three categories: adolescents with low self-esteem, medium self-esteem, and high self-esteem. To compare the results of the test against other self-esteem test results, test scores will be transformed into T-points that are a universal measure of comparison. Every psychological test serves to measure a specific psychological property and the self-esteem test is no exception. The validity of a self-esteem test can be understood as the extent to which the test tests the notion of self-esteem as such.
However, the notion of validity is not limited to reflecting this capacity and can be extended to embrace other test properties as well. Thus, practical validity characterizes the test not so much from the side of its psychological content but from the point of view of its value in relation to achieving a certain practical goal (Dunn, 2020). A test with high predictive validity allows users to make a prediction of how successfully the test-taker will perform a certain activity. The estimated validity expresses the degree of correlation between the indicators obtained by the subjects using this method and the estimates of the measuring property by experts (Dunn, 2020). For example, when validating tests for assessing the self-esteem of adolescents, school psychologists may act as experts. An effective methodology can be created if it has passed all the validation stages; that is when measures have been taken to give it both meaningful and practical validity.
The high reliability of the method is observed when the method accurately measures the property for which it is intended to measure, regardless of the time and conditions of the test. As criteria of accuracy, certain test characteristics can be named. First of all, when the method is re-applied to the same test users under the same conditions after a certain time interval, the results of both tests do not differ significantly from each other (Dunn, 2020). Secondly, random extraneous factors do not significantly affect the test results. As to extraneous factors, emotional state and fatigue, temperature, room illumination, and some others can be considered. To establish the reliability of my test, I will use the criteria of accuracy mentioned above since, in this case, I can be sure that my test answers all the demands of proper psychological testing.
References
Dunn, W. W. (2020). Validity. In Developing norm-referenced standardized tests, pp. 149-168. Routledge.
Hedrih, V. (2019). Adapting psychological tests and measurement instruments for cross-cultural research: an introduction. Routledge.