Psychometrics is the theory and technique of the psychological measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. The field is concerned with the study of differences between individuals, and also the differences between groups. Psychometrics research focuses on 2 major areas:
ETS staff includes internationally distinguished scientists in the fields of psychometrics and statistics who ensure that all ETS assessments are reliable, valid and fair, and adhere to rigorous quality standards.
Validity refers to the appropriateness, meaningfulness, and usefulness of the specific inferences made from test scores. Test validation is the process of accumulating evidence to support such inferences . Essentially, a valid test measures what it is intended to measure. Validity is one of the most important attributes of assessment quality. ETS quality processes provide empirical evidence to show that each assessment does indeed measure what it is intended to measure.
Fairness requires treating people with impartiality regardless of personal characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity or disability that are not relevant to the intended use of the product or service. With respect to assessments, fairness requires that construct-irrelevant personal characteristics of test takers have no appreciable effect on test results or their interpretation. ETS is responsible for the fairness of the products or services that it develops and for providing evidence of its fairness.
Reliability is defined as the proportion of the variance in observed test scores in a population that can be attributed to variation in true scores. In essence, it refers to the extent to which the scores obtained on a specific form of assessment, administered at a particular time and scored by a particular evaluator can be generalised to scores obtained on other forms of assessment, administered at other times and scored by other evaluators. ETS assessments are rigorously tested to check that they are reliable and as free as possible of errors caused by random variation in external factors.
ETS focus on research and our quality based approach forms the core of our value proposition. By following standards of quality and fairness, ETS assures our clients of objectivity in assessment.