Assessment, Statistics, and Research

  In psychological assessment using projective tests, clinicians provide patients with ambiguous words, sentences, or images and look for themes in their response patterns that indicate the person's mood, anxieties, needs, motives, attitudes, and conflicts about which the person may have varied degrees of awareness. In order to improve the reliability of scoring, some researchers developed scoring systems, which allowed for the examination of consistency among different clinicians scoring the same record and validity studies linking test results to clinical diagnoses or other measures less reliant on clinical judgment. These scoring systems have been challenged in terms of reliability and validity of the scores. Classic psychological tests based on the projective hypothesis include the Rorschach Inkblot test, the Thematic Apperception Test, House-Tree-Person Test, and the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank. There are many other tests along these lines. Following are examples of a few...

  Assessment name:   Forgiveness Reconciliation Inventory Scale overview: The Forgiveness Reconciliation Inventory is a 24-item assessment of forgiveness and reconciliation.   Author: Richard S. Balkin   Response Type: FRI items are presented along with a pair of words with five boxes in between the two words. Participants check the box to indicate how closely a word matches their feelings. Scale items In the Forgiveness Reconciliation Inventory study by Balkin et al. (2014), the authors presented evidence for 24-items organized into four subscales of six items each. The four subscales are: Collaborative Exploration, Role of Reconciliation, Remorse/Change, Interpersonal/Intrapersonal. Scores for each subscale range from 6 to 30 and can be plotted on a profile as illustrated in the article. Psychometric properties The authors presented means and standard deviations as well as Cronbach alpha values ranging from 0.88 to 0.93 for the four subscales. F...

  Assessment name:   Desire to Reconcile Scale Scale overview: The Desire to Reconcile Scale is a 4-item rating scale developed by Woodyatt and Wenzel (2014) to assess the willingness of an offender to reconcile with the person they offended. Authors: Lydia Woodyatt and Michael Wenzel Response Type: Items are rated on a scale of agreement from 0 = Do not Agree at all, 3 = Neutral, and 6 = Strongly Agree. Scale items The scale includes four items.   Psychometric properties The authors’ findings revealed adequate internal consistency (alpha = 0.82) and they provided support for validity in the form of correlations with self-forgiveness and self-trust. Griffin (2016) reported a positive correlation between Decisional Affirmation of Values scale and the Desire to Reconcile Scale. Availability: The four items are included in Woodyatt and Wenzel (2014). Reference for the scale Woodyatt, L., & Wenzel, M. (2014). A needs-based perspective on sel...

  Assessment name:   Differentiated Process Scale of Self-forgiveness Scale overview: The Differentiated Process Scale of Self-forgiveness (DPSSF; Woodyatt & Wenzel, 2013) assesses three dimensions of self-forgiveness: Genuine self-forgiveness(GSF), pseudo-self-forgiveness (PSF), self-punishment (SP).   Authors: Lydia Woodyatt and Michael Wenzel   Response Type: Items are rated on a scale of agreement from 0 = Do not Agree at all, 3 = Neutral, and 6 = Strongly Agree. Scale items There are a total of 20 items divided among the three subscales as follows: GSF 1-7, SP 8-14, PSF 15-20. Psychometric properties Woodyatt and Wenzel (2013) reported adequate Cronbach’s alpha levels and positive correlations with empathy and self-esteem. Griffin (2016) reported strong internal consistency (alpha) values (GSF, 0.91; PSF, 0.80; SP 0.82). Griffin (2016) also reported significant positive correlations between the GSF and his Decisional Affirmation of Values...

  Assessment name:   Two-factor Self-Forgiveness Scale Scale overview: The Two-factor Self-Forgiveness Scale is a 10-item self-report measure of two factors of self-forgiveness: Decisional Affirmation of Values(DAV), Emotional Restoration of Esteem (ERE). The names of the two factors represent the dual-process model of self-forgiveness.   Read more about the concept of Self-Forgiveness Author:   Brandon Griffin   Response Type: Items are rated on a 7-point scale of agreement from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 7 = Strongly Agree. Scale items Each of the two factors are assessed based on responses to five items. DAV items focus on thoughts about one’s wrongdoing and ERE items assess feelings about oneself related to the wrongdoing. Psychometric properties Griffin provides extensive findings in his dissertation (2016). The first two studies support the two-factor structure. Study two includes evidence supporting criterion-related validity. Data analyse...

  Assessment name:   Single-Item Measure of Self-Control Scale overview:   The single-item self-control scale uses an 11-point scale to quantify a person’s perception of their self-control.   Authors: Wanja Wolff and others   Response Type: Item was answered on an 11-point quantitative scale (1 = none at all, 11 = very much). Scale item: How much self-control do you have?   Psychometric properties The self-control item mean = 8.16 with SD = 2.13. There was a strong positive correlation with the Brief Self-Control Scale ( r = .715) and a moderate inverse relationship with Short Boredom Proneness Scale (-0.397). Availability: The self-control single item measure is included in the Wolff et al. (2022) article. Reference for the scale Wolff, W., Bieleke, M., Englert, C., Bertrams, A., Schüler, J., & Martarelli, C. S. (2022). A Single Item Measure of Self-Control – Validation and Location in a Nomological Network of Self-...