Frequency of Clerical Errors in Piat Protocols as a Source of Examiners' Variance

Abstract

The type and frequency of a variety of clerical errors were investigated in 192 protocols of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test. 80% of the examiners, who were 8 special educators, 1 Master's-level psychologist, and 1 Ph.D.-level psychologist, made at least one error each. Over half (57%) of the protocols examined had at least one error, the most common one being the transformation of the raw scores to percentiles. Despite the high frequency of errors the grade placements were not significantly affected, alleviating the potential negative impact on the student.