A clinician's guide to work-related assessments: 3 – Administration and interpretation problems

Abstract

This paper is the third of a series aimed at providing clinicians with a guide to assist them in using work-related assessments appropriately. The major administration and interpretation problems facing clinicians using work-related assessments are described in detail. Administration problems are: (1) insufficient evidence of reliability and validity; and (2) potential examiner bias. Interpretation problems are: (1) inappropriate use of norm and criterion-referenced data; (2) inappropriate statistical manipulation of results; (3) difficulty in determining end-point; and (4) difficulty determining sincerity of effort. Companion papers describe the purposes of work-related assessments, and design problems in detail.