296 Assessment Psychology
SDS is a manual that instructs respondents not only in how to
self-administer the test but also in how to interpret the results
for themselves. Although in actual practice SDS results are
typically reviewed with an assessment professional, the self-
interpretation guidelines have the advantage of enriching a
respondent’s engagement in and understanding of a voca-
tional counseling process.
LOOKING AHEAD
Having opened with the words of one English author, this
chapter can fittingly close with the words of another: “It was
the best of times; it was the worst of times,” wrote Charles
Dickens in beginning A Tale of Two Cities. Assessment psy-
chology has arrived at the best and worst of times following
a long and distinguished history. As has been noted, the roots
of scientific and professional interest in assessing individual
differences reach almost as far back as the inception of psy-
chology as a science and preceded its initial applications in
applied practice. Advances in assessment methods were psy-
chology’s main way of responding to public and national
needs during the first half of the twentieth century, and
applied psychology was largely defined during this time by
assessment conducted in clinical, educational, and organiza-
tional settings. Students interested in practicing or studying
aspects of applied psychology were routinely trained in as-
sessment methods of various kinds, and being a competent
assessor was generally considered an integral part of being a
competent psychological practitioner.
As reviewed elsewhere in the present volume and in Vol-
ume 10 of this Handbook, applied psychology and the place
of assessment in it changed dramatically during the second
half of the twentieth century. Practicing psychologists em-
braced many new roles as therapists and consultants, and
their primary work settings evolved from a narrow range of
institutions into a broad panoply of attractive opportunities in
independent practice and in forensic, health care, governmen-
tal, and other agencies that came to appreciate the knowledge
and skills that psychologists can bring to bear. Consonant
with these new directions in practice, assessment came to
play a lesser part than before in what applied psychologists
did, and many practitioners chose not to include assessment
among the services they offered.
Despite reducing the predominance of assessment, how-
ever, these practice changes did not bring bad times with
them. To the contrary, the beginning of the twenty-first
century is in many respects the best of times for assessment
psychology, which more than ever before is a progressive,
dynamic, intriguing, challenging, and potentially rewarding
field of scientific and professional endeavor. A recent survey
by the American Psychological Association Practice Direc-
torate has indicated that, after psychotherapy, assessment is
the second most frequent service provided by psychologists
across various practice settings. Respondents to this survey
working in independent practice or in health care or govern-
ment settings reported spending 15% to 23% of their time
doing assessment, and there appears to be a stable cadre of
persons in both academic and practice positions who identify
themselves primarily as assessment psychologists (Phelps,
Eisman, & Kohout, 1998). Organizations like the Society for
Personality Assessment with more that 2,500 members and
the National Academy of Neuropsychologists with more than
3,000 members are flourishing, as are practice specialties in
which assessment plays a central role, including not only
neuropsychology but forensic psychology and school psy-
chology as well.
The thriving test publishing business bears further witness
to widespread use of many different kinds of assessment
methods. There is a steady stream of new instruments, revi-
sions of older instruments, updated normative reference data,
and advances in computer-based test interpretation with
which assessment psychologists must keep current. Compe-
tence in assessment cannot be maintained by employing
yesterday’s methods; only by incorporating rapidly emerging
improvements in assessment methods can practitioners meet
ethical standards for competent practice (see Weiner, 1989).
The present-day vigor of assessment psychology is re-
flected not only in its applications but in a burgeoning litera-
ture as well. There are more quality journals, textbooks, and
handbooks concerned with assessment available now than
at any time in the past. The subscriber-selected journals
presently abstracted in the American Psychological Associa-
tion’s PsycSCAN: Clinical Psychologyinclude in alphabeti-
cal order Assessment, Journal of Clinical and Experimental
Neuropsychology, Journal of Clinical Neuropsychology,
Journal of Personality Assessment, and Psychological
Assessment, and also widely referenced are the journals
Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, Behavioral Assess-
ment,andJournal of Behavioral Assessment. The literature
includes an international array of publications as well (e.g.,
theEuropean Journal of Psychological Assessment,official
organ of the European Association of Psychological Assess-
ment, and the International Journal of Testing, official
organ of the International Test Commission), and published
research findings are constantly expanding knowledge con-
cerning the psychometric foundations of psychological as-
sessment methods and the benefits that derive from their
appropriate use. Noteworthy in this latter regard are detailed
reports by the previously mentioned American Psychological