Several Questions on the Latest Assignment (Linda Assignment)
1. Since Linda's test age is beyond the age range of the reference group, does this mean that we will not be able to provide a Reference Group Scaled Score?
2. I'm a little bit confused about getting scaled scores and base rates for the Process Analysis Section of the homework. Scaled Score equivalents for the Process Scores of the BDN, DSF, DSB and DSS are based age-group specific figures. On the other hand, Base Rates for the discrepancy comparison are based on the Overall Sample. Scaled Score equivalents for LDSF, LDSB, and LDSS have scaled score equivalents for both Age-specific Categories and the All Ages Category. For the LLNS has Age-specific categories until age 69. Base Rates for discrepancy for the LDSF, LDSB, LDSS and LLNS have both Age-specific figures and an All Ages figures. My question is: When faced with the option of getting figures from an Age-Specific Category and an All-Ages Category, which one should we use? That is, what criteria should we consider to decide?
3. In the question of discrepancies, do these only talk about the discrepancies/comparisons between two scores? Or should we also consider the 'Determining Strengths and Weaknesses' section results are discrepancy figures?
Thank you very much for taking time to read and answer my question. God bless!
- Neil Cortez
posted by Neil Cortez @ 6:39 PM
2 Comments:
Sorry, typos. Question 3 should read: On the question of discrepancies, do these only talk about the discrepancies/comparisons between two scores? Or should we also consider the 'Determining Strengths and Weaknesses' section results as discrepancy figures?
1. Right. I flew over that in class, but we don't need to look at the Reference Group Score. There are other reference norms in the book for other groups of people, but Linda is kind of a standard middle-aged person. Just go with regular norms.
2. Great questions! I'll do my best, come back if it's not clear.
2.a: Scaled scores are normed by age groups, as different ages should have different abilities on different tasks, based on opportunities for learning, etc. (for example, on Information,even with the same raw score, Timothy got a higher scaled score than George Bush because Bush has been around a lot longer and should have learned more by now). However, base rates are looking for the occurrence of a certain behavior/discrepancy out of the whole population.... Remember, base rates are looking for CLINICAL significance. Timothy can have a notable difference between his VCI and PRI as compared to his peers, but it is REALLY interesting that he has a notable difference compared to everyone else as well.
It's kind of a way of determining whether he's just a precocious kid who falls within the variability of his peer group, or if he is a freakin' genius.
Remember: there is a lot of variability to human functioning
Also, a stats refresher: statistical significance has to do with the results not being attributed to chance - because some of Timothy's differences fall well within the range for statistical significance, we can be pretty sure that there really are differences in the way he thinks about those different types of tasks (not just fluke performance/variability). And THAT is what your report wants to talk about.
2.b When to use age groups or All Ages: I would always start with a person's age group, because you want to first talk about how they perform relative to their peers (we probably don't care that he performs faster than an old lady, we would expect that). Looking at his performance compared to All Ages is comparing him to the mean, which can be informational in the case of extreme scores. However, remember that there are age effects for DS - you can see it just by looking at the rise and fall of numbers across age categories in table C.4. Therefore, at Timothy's age, he should be a little faster than the general population.
3. On the assignment when I ask about discrepancies, I want you to show me what is noteworthy about Linda's performance. Start at the top and work your way down, telling me about statistical and clinically significant differences. When you get to the subtests, pick out the significant strengths and weaknesses, and then do your best at drawing some hypotheses.
Hope this helps, write back if need be!
EV
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