What is a test?
A pedagogical test is a tool designed to measure a student's learning, and consists of a system of test tasks, a standardized procedure for conducting, processing and analyzing the results.
Tests can be divided into two categories - adaptive and traditional tests.
Adaptive test
All candidates start with an easy or medium question. The one who answers correctly receives the next question, which is more difficult; if the answer was wrong, the difficulty level of the next question will be lower. The process continues until the testing system determines the level of knowledge of the candidate.
Traditional test
A traditional test contains a list of questions and various answers. Each question is worth a certain number of points. The result of the traditional test depends on the number of questions that were answered correctly.
Types of test tasks:
1. Tasks with a choice of answers (closed task).
A) Questions with a choice of one correct answer.
When typing, words are separated from each other ...
A) a colon b) a comma; c) a space; d) dot.
B) Tasks with the choice of one wrong answer.
The operation does not have the sign by which the rest of the operations presented in the list are selected ...
A) saving the text; b) text formatting; c) deleting a fragment of text; d) moving a fragment of the test; e) copying a fragment of text.
2. Tasks for establishing compliance.
Set a match.
3. Tasks with the choice of several correct answers.
Using the ten-finger blind method leads to...
A) reducing the tension on the fingers; b) decrease in print speed; c) reducing the number of typos and errors; d) rapid fatigue of the fingers.
4. Tasks with an open answer.
There are two ways to master the keyboard when typing with a touch ten-finger method: 1._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Test
A test task is an integral part of a pedagogical test that meets the requirements of manufacturability, form, content and, in addition, statistical requirements:
- known difficulty;
- sufficient variation in test scores;
- positive correlation of task scores with scores for the entire test
Types of tasks in the test
Closed:
- assignment of alternative answers;
- multiple choice tasks;
- assignments to restore compliance;
- tasks to establish the correct sequence.
Open:
- tasks of free presentation;
- add-on tasks.
Functions
Testing in pedagogy performs three main interrelated functions: diagnostic, teaching and educational:
- Diagnostic function is to identify the level of knowledge, skills, abilities of the student. This is the main and most obvious testing function. In terms of objectivity, breadth and speed of diagnosis, testing surpasses all other forms of pedagogical control.
- Teaching function testing is to motivate the student to intensify the work on mastering educational material. To enhance the learning function of testing, additional measures to stimulate students can be used, such as the distribution by the teacher of an approximate list of questions for self-preparation, the presence of leading questions and tips in the test itself, and joint analysis of the test results.
- educational function manifests itself in the frequency and inevitability of test control. This disciplines, organizes and directs the activities of students, helps to identify and eliminate gaps in knowledge, forms the desire to develop their abilities.
Advantages and disadvantages
Compared to other forms of knowledge control, testing has its advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
- Testing is a more qualitative and objective method of assessment, its objectivity is achieved by standardizing the procedure for conducting, checking the quality indicators of tasks and tests as a whole.
- Testing is a fairer method, it puts all students in equal conditions, both in the control process and in the evaluation process, practically excluding the subjectivity of the teacher. According to the English association NEAB, which deals with the final assessment of students in the UK, testing can reduce the number of appeals by more than three times, make the assessment procedure the same for all students, regardless of place of residence, type and type educational institution in which students are involved.
- Tests are a more voluminous tool, since testing can include tasks on all topics of the course, while the oral exam usually has 2-4 topics, and the written one - 3-5. This allows you to reveal the knowledge of the student throughout the course, eliminating the element of chance when pulling out a ticket. With the help of testing, you can establish the level of knowledge of the student in the subject as a whole and in its individual sections.
- The test is a more accurate tool, so, for example, a test assessment scale of 20 questions consists of 20 divisions, while the usual knowledge assessment scale has only four.
- Testing is more efficient from an economic point of view. The main costs during testing are for the development of high-quality tools, that is, they are of a one-time nature. The cost of conducting the test is much lower than with written or oral control. Testing and monitoring the results in a group of 30 people takes one and a half to two hours, an oral or written exam - at least four hours.
- Testing is a softer tool, they put all students on an equal footing, using a single procedure and common assessment criteria, which leads to a decrease in pre-examination nervous tension.
Flaws
- The development of high-quality test tools is a long, laborious and expensive process. Standard sets tests for most disciplines have not yet been developed, and those developed are usually of very low quality.
- The data obtained by the teacher as a result of testing, although they include information about knowledge gaps in specific sections, do not allow us to judge the reasons for these gaps.
- The test does not allow to test and evaluate high, productive levels of knowledge related to creativity, that is, probabilistic, abstract and methodological knowledge.
- The breadth of coverage of topics in testing has and reverse side. The student during testing, unlike the oral or written exam, does not have enough time for any in-depth analysis of the topic.
- Ensuring the objectivity and fairness of the test requires the adoption of special measures to ensure the confidentiality of test items. When re-applying the test, it is desirable to make changes to the tasks.
- There is an element of randomness in testing. For example, a student who did not answer a simple question may give the correct answer to a more complex one. The reason for this can be both an accidental mistake in the first question, and guessing the answer in the second. This distorts the test results and leads to the need to take into account the probabilistic component in their analysis.
Literature
- Avanesov V. S. Composition of test tasks. - M., Testing Center, 2002.
- Zorin S.F. Development automated system control of students' knowledge in the discipline "Enterprise Economics". MGVMI, 2007.
- Mayorov A.N. Theory and practice of creating tests for the education system: How to choose, create and use tests for educational purposes. M: Intellect-Centre, 2002.
- Morev I. A. Educational Information Technology. Part 2. Pedagogical measurements: Tutorial. - Vladivostok: Dalnevost Publishing House. un-ta, 2004.
- Neiman Yu. M., Khlebnikov V. A. Pedagogical testing as a measurement. Part 1. - M .: Testing Center of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, 2002.
- Chelyshkova M. B. Theory and practice of constructing pedagogical tests. Uch. Benefit. - M.: Logos, 2002.
External links
Software for testing- Center for Educational Testing at the Cherkasy National University named after. B. Khmelnitsky
- Center for Educational Communications and Testing of Vocational Education
- Federal Internet Exam in the Field of Vocational Education
- MyTest 3 program for creating and conducting computer testing, collecting and analyzing results, grading according to the scale specified in the test
- The Tests 2009 program is a flexible and convenient system for organizing test knowledge control
- Internet Service Master-Test for testing
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .
See what "What is a test" is in other dictionaries:
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Strassen is a probabilistic primality test discovered in the 1970s by Robert Martin Nightingale together with Volker Strassen. The test always correctly determines that a prime number is prime, but for composite numbers with some probability ... ... Wikipedia
Luc Lemaire's test is an efficient primality test for Mersenne numbers. Thanks to this test, the largest prime numbers have always been Mersenne numbers, even long before the advent of computers. Contents 1 History 2 Test 3 ... Wikipedia
Probabilistic polynomial primality test. The Miller Rabin test allows you to effectively determine whether a given number is composite. However, it cannot be used to rigorously prove that a number is prime. Nevertheless, the Miller Rabin test is often ... ... Wikipedia
Rabin's probabilistic polynomial primality test. The Miller Rabin test allows you to effectively determine whether a given number is composite. However, it cannot be used to rigorously prove that a number is prime. Nevertheless, the Miller Rabin test is often ... ... Wikipedia
rorschach spot test- (ink stain test) one of the projective methods, belonging to the group of structuring methods. It was created by the Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach in 1921, who was one of the first to note the connection between fantasy-like products and personality type. He is in… … Great Psychological Encyclopedia
TEST Nt by Sholpo-Luzyanina- - test for assessing the thermal nature of remanent magnetization from the coercive spectra of magnetization from the natural (EC) and zero (NC) states of the sample. Nt \u003d Hx / Ho, where Hx is the distance between the straight sections of the coercive spectra or ... ... Paleomagnetology, petromagnetology and geology. Dictionary reference.
In computer science, the Agrawal Kayal Saxena test (or AKS test) is a polynomial deterministic primality test proposed by the Indian scientist Manindra Agrawal (English) and his two students Niraj Kayal (English ... Wikipedia
This article provides an extended list of questions (and answers) that potential employer can ask testers software. The article is structured in a question-answer format, and, in particular, contains questions regarding test automation, certification ISTQB and CSTE and much more, which makes it possible to assess the level of preparation. We hope that after reading the article, you will be able to prepare for any interviews, or at least answer questions more confidently.
AT. What is dynamic testing?
O. This is testing by executing a code or program with different input values and validating the results.
AT. What is GUI Testing?
O. GUI (Graphical User Interface) Testing: The interface of the software is tested to ensure it meets the requirements.
AT. What is formal testing?
O. Verification of software, according to the test plan, test procedures and related documentation, taking into account the wishes of the client.
AT. What is risk-based testing?
O. The most important parts of the system are determined, then the order of their testing is established, then the actual testing follows.
AT. What is early testing?
O. Testing is done as early as possible to catch defects early in the SDLC. This allows faster detection and elimination of defects, saving costs.
AT. What is exhaustive testing?
O. Functionality testing using invalid and valid input data and preconditions.
AT. What is defect accumulation?
O. Even a small module or functionality can contain a number of defects, so it is necessary to pay more attention to testing the functionality.
AT. What is the pesticide paradox?
O. If existing test cases fail to detect defects, it may be worth adding/revising the test cases so that more defects can be found.
AT. What is static testing?
O. Code verification manually without a program. In this process, problems are found in the code as it is reviewed and compared against requirements.
AT. What is positive testing?
O. Testing that is performed on an application to determine how well the system is performing. This approach is more commonly known as the "pass test".
AT. What is negative testing?
O. Testing negative scenarios in software: whether the system throws an error when it should or should not.
AT. What is end-to-end testing?
O. Testing the overall functionality of the system, including data integration in modules.
AT. What is Exploratory Testing?
O. This is a study of the application to get an idea of its functionality, adding (or) changing existing test cases for better testing.
AT. What is Monkey Testing?
O. Testing an application without any plan, testing selective places to find some complex system failures, and then the defects that led to it.
AT. What is non-functional testing?
O. Validation of various non-functional aspects of the system, such as user interfaces, compatibility, performance, etc.
O. Checking how easy it is for end users to understand and manage the application.
O. It is checked how well all security conditions are implemented in the application.
O. Analysis of the effectiveness of various characteristics of the system - response time, overall performance in order to establish how quickly the system works under load.
AT. What is load testing?
O. Analysis of the functionality and performance of the application in different conditions.
AT. What stress-testing?
O. Checking the stability of the system in conditions of exceeding the limits of normal operation. Or reducing system resources and maintaining the load on certain level to see how the application behaves.
AT. What is a process?
O. A process is a set of practices to achieve a specific goal; may include tools, methods, materials, and people.
AT. What is configuration management?
O. The process of finding, organizing and controlling changes in software development. Or a methodology for monitoring and managing a software development project.
O. Drafting:
- test plan
- Test scenarios
- test cases
- Execution of test cases
- Checking the results
- Reporting defects
- Defect tracking
- Closing Defects
- Test release
AT. How is CMMI stands for?
O. Capability Maturity Model Integration (Model of a maturity of development processes).
AT. What is program analysis?
O. Informal analysis of the source code of the program in order to identify defects and verify programming techniques.
O. Testing individual programs, modules or code elements.
AT. What is integration level testing?
O. Testing of relevant programs, modules (or) units of code.
AT. What is System Level Testing?
O. Testing of the entire computer system for all modules. This kind of testing can include functional and structural testing.
AT. What is alpha testing?
O. Testing the entire computer system before the User Testing (UAT) phase.
AT. What is UAT?
O. Testing of a computer system by a client to check if the system meets requirements.
AT. What is a test plan?
O. A document describing the scope, approach, resources, and schedule of testing, which identifies the test items, individual pieces of functionality, test tasks, the people who will conduct the specific tests, and any risks that require additional planning.
AT. What is a test script?
O. Identification of all possible test areas.
AT. What is ECP (Equivalence Class Partition)?
O. Method for generating test cases.
AT. What is a defect?
O. Any imperfection in the operation of the software. Or when the expected result doesn't match actual work applications.
AT. What is criticality?
O. Defines the defect level from a functional point of view, i.e. how critical the defect is to the application.
AT. What is a priority?
O. Indicates the urgency of fixing the defect.
AT. What is retesting?
O. Retesting the application to see if the defects are fixed.
O. Verification of existing functional and non-functional areas after individual parts of the application have been changed or new functionality has been added.
AT. What is recovery testing?
O. The ability of the system to cope with some unexpected situations is checked.
AT. What is Globalization Testing?
O. The ability to run the application regardless of its geographical and cultural environment is being tested. The possibility of changing the language, date, format and currency is checked if the application is developed for users from several countries.
AT. What is localization testing?
O. Checking if the application is suitable for a particular local user group, cultural and geographical conditions.
AT. What is Installation Testing?
O. The ability to successfully install the software is checked, in accordance with the installation documentation.
AT. What is removal testing?
O. Checking the possibility of uninstalling the software.
AT. What is compatibility testing?
O. The compatibility of the application with other software and hardware is checked.
AT. What is a testing strategy?
O. This is the part of the test plan that describes how testing is done and what types of testing need to be done.
AT. What is a test case?
O. A test case is a set of specific steps by which the functionality of the system is tested.
AT. What is a business process validation test case?
O. This test case is compiled in order to test certain condition or requirement.
AT. How is a good test determined?
O. A test case that has a high defect detection priority.
AT. What is use case testing?
O. Such testing determines whether the software has been designed according to the use case.
AT. What is the age of the defect?
O. The time between the discovery date and the defect closure date.
AT. What is a Showstopper Defect?
O. A defect that forces the testing process to stop.
O. This is the last stage of STLC. Management prepares test reports, explains project statistics based on available data.
AT. What is Bucket Testing?
O. Bucket Testing, or A/B testing. The most commonly studied effect of different design is a metric for websites. Two versions of the site run on one or more web pages to determine the difference in clicks.
AT. What are test start and end criteria?
O. Start Criteria - A process that must be present at the beginning of the system. It could be:
- SRS-software
- Use case
- Test case
- Test plan
The completion criterion determines the readiness of the application for release. It could be:
- Test report
- Metrics
- Test Analysis Report
AT. What is currency testing?
O. This is a complex user testing of simultaneous access to the application, to verify the impact on the code, module or database. Mainly detects deadlocks in the code.
O. Web application testing is done on a website to check loading, performance, security, functionality, interface, compatibility, and other usability related issues.
O. Element testing (or side testing) allows you to check the operation of individual modules of the source code.
AT. What is interface testing?
O. Interface testing checks the interaction of individual modules. Most commonly used to test the user interface of GUI applications.
AT. What is gamma testing?
O. Gamma testing is carried out when the software is ready for release, compliance with the requirements is checked.
Translation: Olga Alifanova
If you had to answer the question "What is testing?" what would you say? This concept is quite difficult to cram into a couple of short sentences.
Plus, many misunderstand what testing is, what testers do - even among the testers themselves. Testing as a skill and as a profession is constantly evolving. In this article, we look at what testing is and is not.
What does testing consist of?
Investigation
Investigation is defined as "observation or study by close observation and systematic study".
The testing process should be an investigation. We don't always know what we'll get as a result, but our task is to find out information that will help people make decisions. This is not just a comparison of the operation of the system with the specification, which spells out the expected result. We must think critically, ask difficult questions, take risks, notice what at first glance seems insignificant, but upon careful analysis turns out to be important and requires further study.
Study
Exploratory testing is defined as simultaneous learning, test design, and test execution. The tester explores the application, learns new information, learns, finds something new to test along the way. He can do this alone or in a pair with another tester (or maybe a developer).
Testing should not be perceived as running a list of ready-made tests or test cases that give a solid "pass / fail" result. If you have a user story or set of requirements, of course it's important to keep them in mind. However, it may be useful to reformulate the acceptance criteria as "rejection criteria". When acceptance criteria are not met, the product is not accepted, but if they are in order, this does not mean that the software does not have bugs.
Checks and verification should be combined with research and investigation, as well as questions like "What if ...", to which you may not know the answer until you try, and the answers to which are not covered by your ready-made cases.
Risk reduction
One of the reasons we test is to look for defects, risks and other information about the product that allows us to act so that the end user is not harmed. We can:
- Fix bugs.
- Reevaluate and change the original requirements.
- Help the user with the product.
- Create user documentation.
- Communicate information about existing problems to interested parties.
It is simply impossible to eliminate all possible bugs that a user may encounter, no matter how complex your software is. However, by testing, we reduce the risk that the user will encounter them - or the severity of the consequences of such an encounter.
Value
Testing is a valuable part of software development but is often underestimated due to its unpredictable and creative nature.
The result of a developer's daily work is code, analytics is requirements or documentation, but the result of a tester's work can be quite difficult to measure. It is often difficult for testers to talk about their plans, their progress and results. Those who do not understand testing, as a result, have a poor understanding of what was done, how, and why. As a result, it is difficult to understand the value of testing. There are many companies in the world that develop software without any testers at all.
The lack of a scoring result produced by testers is one of the reasons why some people prefer to use test cases as a way of measuring - they can be easily counted. But the value of testing is much more than test cases. Exploratory testing may not result in a set of clear cases, but the tester finds more interesting bugs by stepping back from hardcore scenarios.
This is partly why people like metrics that take into account the number of bugs introduced, cases written and completed, and other things that can be counted. Some projects use these metrics to measure the quality of the product, as well as the quality of the work of developers and testers. These metrics focus on the wrong things and can fool you.
Testing is valuable at all stages life cycle development, not just when the code is being written. Here's what else to test:
- Requirements
- Design
- Assumptions
- Documentation
- infrastructure
- Processes.
The task of the tester is to ask questions, to explore, to think critically about these things. As a result, what could become a bug in the development process can be caught much earlier.
Communication
Communication is a huge part of a tester's job. Testers provide quality information software product, so it is very important to convey this information accurately so that interested persons made the right decisions.
A person can start working as a tester with weak technical skills, but if he is strong in communication and can clearly convey his idea, this is much more important.
Testers should use the right words and phrases correctly so that they are not contradictory - this reduces the risk of misunderstanding. What you meant to say is not necessarily what you ended up saying, and often people make assumptions and end up taking the wrong action because the communication was poor or lacking.
We need to communicate regularly with people in different roles, positions, and knowledge about the product.
- With developers, asking them questions and learning more about the product they are building. The developers help us understand the technical aspects, and we explain to them what kind of bugs we found and how to reproduce them.
- With product owners to understand requirements, ask questions about use cases, and share information about those use cases so they can make decisions about product releases.
- with testers. If you work in a team of testers, it is very important to communicate with colleagues, discuss problems with them and make decisions. You may need to train a beginner or junior, and it is very important to clearly explain their tasks to them and help them if they are having a hard time.
- With users and customers to make sure their expectations and their concerns are properly understood. If you are helping them solve a problem, you should be able to explain how to get rid of it step by step so that the other person understands you perfectly.
- With managers to communicate what has been done and what remains to be done, to inform them about the risks and their consequences, as well as the time frame. If you suggest improvements, be clear about your ideas and their impact on the product.
Written communication is just as important as oral communication. Creating brilliantly written, extensive documentation that no one needs is a breeze. We need to make sure we use the right way of communicating in each case, whether it's a person, a process, or a project.
Potential infinity
In fact, we always test only a sample. Each non-trivial product has an unimaginable number of parameters with a large number of possible values. How do you know that you are testing important values? We cannot test everything.
Part of our job is to make decisions about what to test, understand the implications of only that being tested, and be able to justify our choices.
What testing does not include
Simplicity
Testing is often thought of as something anyone can do. Perhaps, to some extent, this is true - anyone can research a product, ask questions about it, run a test case step by step, or check if a product meets a list of requirements. But to do it well and systematically, you need real skill.
We are often told to "write cases so that any fool can run them", and this gives the false impression that testing is very simple. We stupidly write tests according to acceptance criteria, don't we? But freesearch testers know this is not the case.
Even checks are not such a simple matter. We make tough decisions about where these checks are needed and which ones to automate. These solutions require an understanding of automation frameworks, programming skills, knowledge of how the API works, and knowledge of tools like Selenium. In summary, we have to understand a decent set of technologies. In addition, we need to know what needs to be automated and what should not be allowed to autotest.
Automation
"We don't need manual testers anymore - we can automate everything!" We've all seen variations of this phrase on Twitter, forums, and articles. Testing is an exploratory, detective activity and cannot be replaced by automated checks. A computer is not technically capable of examining a product in the way that a human does.
We can automate certain checks, but the computer and the person will run them in different ways. A living person will notice a lot of things that a machine will never pay attention to, and will listen to his feeling "something is wrong here" - and, accordingly, will give feedback not only for a specific check, but for everything noticed in the process. The computer will only do what it is told to do. Automated checks are very valuable for a test strategy, but this moment unable to replace live testers, because people and machines do fundamentally different things.
Testers use tools, including automated tests, to support their work. Special tools help us generate data, automate routines, and analyze test results. They need to be owned to make life easier for yourself, and not to replace manual labor fully.
Quality improvement
Testers don't do anything that directly improves the quality of the product. By running the test, we do not affect the code in any way - therefore, the quality of the software remains unchanged. Only after the developers fix bugs, the quality of the product can change. We cannot "test" quality into a product.
Testing is not the only area of software development that takes product quality into account. It needs to be monitored at all stages of the life cycle, and all members of the development team are responsible for it. Testers can use their specific skills to collaborate with colleagues, but we are not the only ones responsible for quality - this is a headache for the whole team!
Neither testers nor developers fixing bugs can conclude that the quality of the product has improved as a result. We can't test everything, so there are always scenarios that we haven't tested that are fraught with bugs. The quality can deteriorate due to changes or something unknown to us - we don't even suspect that we have problems until something happens that reveals them. And even if testers can confidently say that the product is ready for release, end users can reject it - for example, because of crooked requirements. Everything depends on the point of view.
Quality is defined as "value to a person whose opinion matters". It is difficult to measure, and therefore it is rather difficult, even impossible, to state with certainty that testing at any stage improves the quality of a product.
Fixed, unimaginative activity subject to strict rules
The most interesting bugs are often found through exploratory testing. Running the same tests over and over again is unlikely to give you a lot of new interesting information - and, in all honesty, it's pretty boring to run them manually.
There are no best testing practices applicable to absolutely any project. You have to figure out what works best in your context and in your field.
Thinking about new creative ways to test is a very exciting part of our job. The ability to experiment, look for the best tools, learn new skills and technologies, and do what works best for our project helps us to constantly improve and keep our skills in shape.
Vital for product success
A project can be quite successful without testers – there are many examples of this. However, even in the absence of testers as such, testing is still performed by someone at one stage or another of the life cycle. Developers test their own code, and customers test requirements. The end user sometimes tests the product before release. People can test without even realizing that they are doing it.
never ends
Testing infinity refers to the inability to test everything and everyone in the application. There are no realistic ways to test all combinations, user actions, external conditions, data values, or paths through code. In this regard, testing is indeed an endless process. It should be taken for granted that there will always be something untested. Most projects are tightly constrained by time, budget, and resources, and testers must work within these constraints to test as efficiently as possible.
Part of a tester's job is making decisions about what to test and understanding the implications of those decisions and the risks associated with them.
Testing is completed when management has enough information to help them decide if the product is ready for release.
Testing is much, much more
I have listed only some aspects of what testing is. This article could be much longer! There is no single definition of what is meant by testing, and it is simply impossible to cram everything that testers do into one sentence! If you search for a definition of testing on the Internet, you can come across phrases like "search for bugs in applications" - but as we have already found out, this is not only and not so much a search for bugs.
a system of tasks that measure the level of development of a certain psychological quality (property) of a person. D. Cattell is considered to be the ancestor of T.; F. Galton made a great contribution to its development.
Great Definition
Incomplete definition ↓
TESTS
English lest - test, sample), standardized tasks designed to be measured in comparable quantities individually psychol. personality traits, as well as knowledge, skills and abilities; one of the main methods of psycho-hol. diagnostics. T. represent model situations, with their help characteristic reactions of the individual come to light, to-rye are considered set of indicators of the studied attribute. Research by means of T., as a rule, is limited in time and is characterized by existence of normative criteria of an estimation of results. Relates, the simplicity of the testing procedure does not exclude complex processing of the results (often in quantities, indicators using mathematical methods). T. can be classified according to dec. grounds - according to the purpose of application (professional selection, clinical diagnosis, clarification of interests, preferences, etc.), according to the form of conduct (individual and group), according to content (T. general giftedness, T. special abilities, etc.). d.). Distinguish T. verbal and non-verbal, analytical and synthetic. According to the material used, there are distinguished T. blank (performed with a pencil and paper), subject (T. operating with certain objects, for example, T. adding figures from parts). and hardware (requiring special technical equipment). According to the degree of homogeneity of tasks, T. can be homogeneous (the tasks in them are of the same type). and heterogeneous (tasks differ significantly). Fundamentally, the division of T. according to the scope of the mental. properties: on this basis, T. personality and T. intellect are distinguished. There are.n. so-called. T. success (ped. T.), aimed at assessing knowledge, skills and abilities. However, the compilation of T. is built according to a single scheme: the definition of the goals of T., the compilation of the original. variant T., its approbation and correction, development of a system for interpreting the results. The quality of T. is determined by their reliability (stability of test results), validity (compliance of T. with the goals of diagnosis), differentiating power of tasks (T.'s ability to subdivide those tested according to the severity of the characteristic being studied). The use of T. is justified only within the narrow limits of that practical. tasks for which they are created and in relation to which they are checked.
Early publications devoted to the problem of identifying individual differences (based on mental retardation) belong to J. E. D. Esquirol and E. Seguin. In ped. diagnostic practice. tasks of the T type were first used in 1864 in Great Britain by J. Fisher to test the knowledge of students. He created a graduated book containing questions and a series of answers to each of them; The student was required to choose the correct answer. In con. 19th century F. Galeton, who is considered the founder of testology, developed and widely applied a number of tasks to assess the individual characteristics of a person. Galton believed that by measuring elementary sensory indicators, one can obtain data on the intellectual level of a person. Since 1892 Galton jointly. with J. Sally began to use T. for ped. goals. Theoretical Galton's views mean. degrees determined the subsequent development of T. For the first time, the term "T." introduced by Amer. psychologist J. M. Cattell (1890). He created a series of T., measuring the intellectual level. Cattell also called tests the methods created by E. Kraepelin, G. Munsterberg, G. Ebbinghaus and others. However, all methods of this kind differed in specific. sensory orientation and the allocation of only elementary functions in them. A new stage in the development of T. was the creation in 1905 by A. Binet of an intelligence scale for examining children aged 3 to 11 years (the Binet-Simon scale). The scale included 30 tasks diff. difficulties and was intended for the diagnosis of mental retardation. As a result of Binet's work, the idea was put forward of the possibility of grading and measuring mental development, and, consequently, determining individual differences within the normal range. In the second edition of the scale (1908). the age range has been expanded to 13 years, the number of tasks has been increased, and the concept of mental age has been introduced. This edition was widely used and served as the basis for the creation by L. M. Theremin at Stanford University (USA). so-called. The Stanford-Binet scale is the most commonly used tool in intellectual testing. Binet tests were also modified by Bobertag in Germany, S. Bert in Great Britain, A. M. Schubert in Russia, etc. In 1911, V. Stern introduced the concept of intelligence quotient (IQ), measuring IQ remains one of the goals to this day. testing. The improvement of T. is associated with the name of Ch. Spearman, who developed the main. methods of correlation analysis for standardization of T. Personality research in line with depth psychology gave rise to the so-called. projective (projective). T. Their peculiarity lies in the assessment of the individual's personal characteristics according to involuntary reactions - the generation of free associations, the interpretation of random configurations (T. Rorschach), the description of pictures with an indefinite plot (T. Tat), drawing on the topic (T. Mahover, etc.).
In the USA, Great Britain, France T. were widely used at reception in cf. and higher uch. institutions, when distributing military personnel by type of service, when hiring, etc. In the UK, for a number of years, test results served as the main. criterion in the distribution of schoolchildren by streams, which limited the possibilities of education for the majority even in ml. school age. However, due to the fact that most of the test methods were based on the theoretical. beliefs about the innateness and immutability of human abilities, testing almost universally led to biased assessments of individual characteristics and, wittingly or unwittingly, served as the basis for social and racial discrimination. This led to widespread criticism of T. and the restriction of their use. In crust, time in zarub. psychology, attempts are being made to reassess the prognostic. opportunities T. Research is being conducted to identify the relationship between personality traits and mental development. Traditional T. intelligence give way to diagnostic. research of abilities for creative, productive thinking (creativity).
In Russia, T. began to be used in the beginning. 20th century One of the first techniques of an oyl is offered by G. I. Rossolimo (1910), to-ry developed system psihol. profiles - graphic representation of test measurements mental. processes. A. P. Boltunov (1928). on the basis of the adapted Binet-Simon scale, a "measuring scale of the mind" was created. M. Yu. Syrkin (1929). belongs to the study of the ratio of test indicators and social factors.
IN THE USSR. T. received the most. widespread in the 20-30s. In 1925, with ped. Department of the Institute of School Methods. work was organized by a test commission, which compiled and released on the basis of Amer. samples standardized T. for school. Center, pedology, MONO laboratory has developed its own scale for measuring the mental development of children, T. for taking into account skills in reading, counting and writing, T. group test of mental endowment. However recognition of T. osn. method of diagnostics, shortcomings of standardization of T. and their incorrect use led to erroneous conclusions and forecasts.
After the decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. dated 07/04/1936 "On pedological perversions in the system of the People's Commissariat of Education" an official was imposed on the use of tests. prohibition, which for a long time slowed down the development of psycho-diagnostic. research. In a crust, T.'s time find application for the purpose of the prof. selection (identification of psychol. characteristics that are significant for mastering the corresponding profession), psychopathological. diagnostics, within the framework of psychol. counseling in the establishments. With the help of some T. it is possible to assess the degree of readiness of the child for school. learning. Repeated use of T. in the learning process contributes to a more adequate assessment of its effectiveness.
For certain purposes, psychol. T.'s diagnostics are an acceptable method. At the same time, however, it must be taken into account that the indicators of T. illustrate only the current state of the characteristics under study, without revealing the features of their formation. The forecast on the basis of T. is limited; test results that deviate from the norm should serve to determine the ways of correction and formation of cognitive abilities, personality traits. etc. It has been experimentally shown that although there is a division of T. into T. of success (measuring knowledge, skills, skills). and T. abilities, the implementation of the latter also means. degree is determined by the level of formation of the activity underlying the test tasks. In a broader sense, T. reveal the degree of involvement of the individual in the culture of society, which does not really depend on innate qualities. Thus, in ped. T.'s practice should be used only in combination with an analysis of concrete-ist, conditions for the formation of personality.
Incomplete definition ↓