Note: List of possible Viva Questions and other points that you need to learn for Psychology practical

examination. However, this is not an exhaustive list of questions and material. Any other thing related
to psychological testing processes, any of the tests, case profile and contents from NCERT can be
asked by the examiner.
1. What is the field of psychology called that is concerned with creating/ developing psychological
assessments? PSYCHOMETRICS
2. What is PSYCHOMETRICS?
(PSYCHO- coming from psychology
METRICS- coming from measurement)
• Psychometrics is the field of study in psychology concerned with the theory, technique and methods
of psychological measurement. It aims at the construction/development and standardization of tests.
• The expert who carries out this work is called a psychometrician.

3. We ADMINISTER a Test. (But we CONDUCT an Experiment). Hence, kindly use the

terminology thoughtfully.
4. Individual who administers a test: Test Administrator
5. Individual on whom test is administered: Subject/ Participant
6. Participant of Case Profile is called- Case
7. Questions/Problems/ Statements on a Psychological test: Test Items
8. What is a psychological test?
It is a standardized and objective instrument used to measure a psychological attribute in an individual
either quantitatively (in form of numbers, like in SPM, SCAT, SCQ, etc.) or qualitatively (in form of
descriptions, like in projective tests).
Purpose/ Uses/ Role of Psychological Tests:
• to compare same individual on two or more than 2 attributes (any trait/ ability or skill), for example,
how well does a person perform on the verbal and mathematical aptitude tests.
• to compare two or more individuals on the same attribute. For example, how 2 persons differ in their
IQ levels.
9. What do you mean by standardized?
Standardized test means that the test is administered and scored in a consistent or same manner. It
is designed to communicate the same meaning to everyone who uses that test, for example,
instructions and questions (as they are worded); the conditions for administering, scoring
procedures, and interpretations drawn- all are pre-set or predetermined.
10. What do you mean by objectivity?
If 2 (or more) researchers administer a psychological test on the same group of people, then, both
of them come up with more or less the same values/results for each person in the group.
11. How are psychological tests different from ordinary tests that may be available online?
Psychological tests are standardized and we may trust their results because these tests are based
on research. Other ordinary tests are not standardized.

12. Why do we use psychological tests? (Many uses, some of which are following:)
• selection and placement of individuals for suitable tasks or jobs, like an extravert individual is suitable as
a salesperson;
• training: to assess changes in individuals before and after training programs. (e.g., in job setups)
• diagnosis and treatment planning: to identify the condition an individual is suffering from, e.g., unstable
emotions (neurotic tendencies), anxiety, adjustment issues, schizophrenia etc.
• comparison: to identify differences between individuals (e.g., to compare abilities of two persons)
• classification: by identification of differences, similar individuals are classified and intervention can be
made. E.g., intervention for children identified with mild or moderate intellectual disability.
• guidance and counseling: to identify strengths and weaknesses of individuals (like aptitude, interests etc.)
and to make predictions regarding adjustment in future.
• self- knowledge: feedback helps test takers to mould their paths for betterment and right choices.
• improving classroom instruction: modification of instruction methods by assessing whether students’
learning is benefited.

13. What are the different types of psychological tests on the basis of Language/ Nature of
Items/Contents? Give examples of each.
• Verbal tests: use language, for example, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Maudsley Personality
Inventory, Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale, Differential Aptitude Test etc.
• Non- verbal tests: use figures, illustrations, pictures. Rely on little or no use of language. These are useful
for a number of populations, such as non-native speakers from a different culture, children with poor
expressive abilities etc. Examples are: Raven’s Progressive Matrices test (a scale for measuring
intelligence), Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFIT).
• Performance tests: involve manipulation of objects given, like Kohs Block Design test, Cube Construction
test for measuring intelligence

14. What are the different types of psychological tests on the basis of Administration? Give examples
of each.
• Individual tests: Need one to one administration. Rorschach inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test for
assessing personality are individual tests.
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test, Kohs Block Design test, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale(WAIS),
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for children (WISC) – all of them are individual tests to assess intelligence.
ADVANTAGE OF INDIVIDUAL TESTS: THEY ENABLE RAPPORT FORMATION WITH EACH
INDIVIDUAL SUBJECT TO OBTAIN DATA.
LIMITATION: THEY ARE HIGHLY TIME CONSUMING.

• Group tests: Can be administered on an entire group of subjects. Examples are Maudsley Personality
Inventory, Self- Concept Questionnaire, Group Test of Intelligence by Prayag Mehta, Group test of
General Mental Ability by S. Jalota, Bell’s Adjustment Inventory etc.

Advantages of group tests Disadvantages of group tests

*can be administered to very large numbers * administrator has less opportunity to obtain
simultaneously cooperation and maintain subject’s interest
*scoring typically more objective *not readily detected if subject is tired, anxious,
*large, representative samples often used leading to unwell
better established norms *evidences indicate that emotionally disturbed
children do better on individual than group tests
*examinee’s responses are more restricted
*not as flexible as individual tests.

15. What are the different types of psychological tests on the basis of item difficulty? Give examples
of each
• Speed Tests: all items are of uniform level of difficulty and it is a challenge is to complete all of them in
the stipulated time period. Example: Test of Clerical ability (a subtest in Differential Aptitude Test Battery)
• Power Tests: the items in such tests are in an increasing order of difficulty. Although there is considerable
time duration to complete all of them, but the real challenge is to answer all of the items since they get
increasingly difficult. E.g., Raven’s Progressive Matrices test

16. What is the difference between testing and assessment?

Assessment is comprehensive activity to understand and evaluate psychological attributes of a person.
It may use multiple methods like interviews, case studies, self report measures, psychological testing
etc. Finally, all information is compiled for making prediction about an individual.
However, Testing is one of the ways for conducting psychological assessment. It is a limited venture
comprising of administering, scoring and interpreting the test results.

17. What is the difference between a test and an experiment? (VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION)
TESTS EXPERIMENTS
• Test is a standardized tool to measure a • Experiment is a controlled setup created
psychological attribute like to study cause effect relationship
intelligence, anxiety etc. between 2 or more variables, like effect
of meditation on memory.
• They allow us to understand where a • We need to begin experiments with a
person stands with respect to rest of the tentative answer/ solution called
population. We do not hypothesize hypothesis, which we need to check.
anything.
• Tests are developed by trained • Experiments can be planned and
psychometricians based on rigorous designed by any researcher with the
research. Those using these tests must required knowledge.
be trained in administering, scoring and
interpreting tests too.

18. Which tests have you learnt?

• Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices (known as RSPM or SPM or RPM) for measuring
intelligence
• Self- Concept Questionnaire (SCQ) for measuring self-concept
• Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI) for measuring aspects of personality-
Extraversion/Introversion and Neuroticism/Emotional Stability
• Sinha’s Comprehensive Anxiety Test (SCAT) for measuring anxiety
• Bell’s Adjustment Inventory (BAI) for measuring adjustment
19. What is a questionnaire?
A questionnaire is a self-report method for collecting information about the typical behavior or
performance of participants. It consists of a predetermined set of close-ended questions printed on
a paper that a respondent reads and marks the answers for.
Any data pertaining to a participant can be collected using standardized questionnaires, like the
demographic details, opinions, values, interests, beliefs etc. of a participant. For example, Self
Concept Questionnaire.

20. What is a scale or rating scale?

A scale is commonly used in self- report measures with respect to attitudes or constructs or behaviors
for which there is not a correct response. They demand the levels to which participants agree on a
particular statement that is presented to them, e.g., on a scale of 1-5, a participant will report his/her
level of agreement on a statement. For example, rating scales to mark answers on SCQ and BAI.

21. What is an inventory and how is it different from a psychological test?

The term “test” most frequently refers to tools for measuring abilities or qualities for which there
are clearly right and wrong answers, for example, Intelligence Tests like Raven’s Progressive
Matrices Test, Culture Fair Intelligence Test or Aptitude Test.
However, in an inventory, there are no right or wrong answers, for example, in personality traits
and vocational tendencies, there cannot be anything right or wrong, for example, Maudsley
Personality Inventory. An inventory reveals the information about individuals' social traits,
motivations, strengths and weaknesses, and attitudes. A personality inventory is a self-assessment
tool often used by the career counselors and other professionals to learn about people’s personality
types. For example, Maudsley Personality Inventory.
While taking a test, the subjects are simply instructed to do their best; however, in completing an
inventory, they are instructed to represent their typical reactions that describes them well.

22. What is a battery?

Test Battery is group/ series/ set of several tests designed to be administered as a unit. These series
of tests give a comprehensive assessment of a particular attribute. Since psychological attributes are
complex or multidimensional, test batteries can give us multidimensional measurements by
measuring different facets or dimensions of the same attribute. For example, Differential Aptitude
Test battery is a set of independent sub-tests which measure the multidimensional nature of
‘aptitude’, such as numerical, spatial, spelling and language aptitude etc.
23. How do we know that a test is standardized/ authentic/genuine and can be trusted upon?
OR
What are the steps or components in the construction of a psychological test? (answer: Reliability,
Validity and Norms that make a test a standardized tool)

24. What is reliability? Why is it needed? What are its types?

Reliability is the Consistency or reproducibility of scores. This means individuals scoring high
on one set of items also score high on an equivalent set of items and those scoring low on one set
items also score low on an equivalent set of items. A statistical method of correlation is used to find
this consistency.

A test which is not consistent is not useful to measure psychological attributes as it yields different
measurements about an individual every different time it is administered.

Types of Reliability:
1. Test-Retest Reliability (gives temporal (or time based) stability coefficient) tests the extent to which
participants retain their test scores over a given period of time, usually around 15 days.
Same participants are given same test after a gap of 15 days. High correlation between the scores
indicates high ‘test- retest’ reliability. However, practice and memory effects may distort the
reliability coefficient because tests have identical items.

2. Split half Reliability (or internal consistency reliability)

A test is divided into two equal halves by odd even division method and correlation is computed
between the scores obtained on these two halves of the test. High correlation suggests high
reliability. (Division or Splitting of a test into two equal halves us carried out after obtaining the
responses from the participant on the test)
➢ First half and second half splitting of test is not acceptable because in power tests, difficulty
level of items increases which would yield incorrect reliability.

Split half reliability is the extent to which all the test items measure the same function or attribute.
This means, all items on the test must be measuring either personality (if it is a personality test) OR
anxiety (if it is anxiety test) OR intelligence (if it is an intelligence test).
Similarly other methods of computing Reliability also exist. For example, Alternate Forms Reliability and
Inter- Scorer Reliability etc.
25. Which factors can distort reliability of a psychological test ?
Guessing on test items done by the participants, environmental disturbances like noise, excessive
heat or cold, momentary distractions like sudden loud sound etc.

26. What is validity? Why is it needed? What are its types?

Validity is the extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure. For example, in the
name of mathematical ability, it should assess mathematical ability only and not the language
proficiency.

There are different types of Validity, for example,

1. Content validity
It is concerned with the relevance of content on the test or the test items which correctly and
adequately measure a particular trait or skill.

2. Criterion Related Validity

To know whether a newly constructed test is valid, it is compared with another already existing
valid test (criterion). The criterion must be measuring the same attribute (say intelligence or
anxiety etc.) as that of the new test constructed. High correlation between the two tests suggest
high criterion related validity.
Several other methods to compute validity also exist, such as Construct validity.

27. Which factors affect validity of the test?

• ambiguous directions or instructions given to the subject by test administrator which are interpreted
differently;
• Socio-cultural differences which make one test valid in one culture but different in another culture;
• Inappropriate items being added to the test (vague, irrelevant items not measuring the attribute)

28. What is the relationship between reliability and validity of a test?

A test which is not reliable cannot be valid. Reliability is self- correlation or efficiency of a test. A
test which doesn’t correlate with itself and is not consistent cannot correlate with other outside
criteria. Poor reliability yields poor validity.

29. What are norms? Why are they needed?

Norm is the normal or average performance of the group on a psychological test.

An individual’s performance is taken on any psychological test in terms of raw scores. These raw
scores carry no meaning in themselves. They might be expressed differently for different tests, for
example, number of correct responses, number of trials taken to arrive at the correct response, time
taken to arrive at a response etc. Hence, these raw scores do not allow any meaningful comparisons,
for example, a score of 40 on arithmetic reasoning test and a score of 30 on history test cannot be
compared meaningfully to arrive at a meaningful conclusion. It is like comparing apples with
oranges.

Hence, we need norms to make sense of the raw scores. For this, the score can be compared with
the Norms, which are the interpretive data that help us in interpreting the raw scores.
If a person scores ‘X’ on a test, and ‘A’ is the Norm (or average score of population), then:
• if X<A, it means X is below the ‘typical/ standard/ normative/ average’ performance of
population.
• if X=A, it means X is a typical/ standard performance (as that of the population).
• if X>A, it means X is superior to the typical performance of the population.

30. What are the types of norms?

Types of Norms
• Age equivalent Norms: Average performance of the population of a ‘certain age’ on the test, for example,
average performance of a sample of 11 year old children on test of mathematical reasoning.
• Grade- equivalent Norms: Average performance of the population of a certain grade or class, for example,
5th grade students.
• Percentile Rank Norms: Indicate the percentage of population which lies below a particular raw score.
e.g., P45 would mean 45% of the population lies below a score obtained.
• Standard Score Norms: Norms based on different types of standard scores & have their own distribution
curve, mean and standard deviations Such as STEN Scores- Standard Ten Scores, STANINE Scores-
Standard Nine Scores
31. What are the shortcomings of psychological tests?
• invasion of privacy, personal and sensitive information, if used without consent.
• can permanently categorize or label persons, e.g., as gifted and retarded.
• create anxiety in participants and affect their performance if rapport and instructions are improperly
transacted.
• can measure only a limited aspect of behaviors of participants.
• many tests do not entertain atypical and creative responses and thus pose discrimination.
Responsibility of test constructor: Specify necessary and appropriate use of test, instructions, reliability,
validity and norms, scoring and administration standards
Responsibility of test users: Use tests in right circumstances to avoid it hurting the subject through
inappropriate use. Be aware of consequences of tests and its unfair administration. Only trained individuals
must get access to tests. Tests should not be available online for free.
32. Why do you ask for the details of the person on whom you are administering the test?
The details of the subject are a basis for analysis of the results. Many a times, norms are based
on age group, grade, gender and other such factors. Also, the subject’s context like knowing
socio-economic status, region etc. has the potential to help in the interpretation of the test results
as environment affects several psychological attributes of a person.

33. What is formation of rapport? Why is it done?

If a subject is fearful, anxious, or intimidated, she/he cannot provide the typical or right
responses about herself or himself. Hence, rapport must be formed with the subject. Rapport is
a state or a relation where two individuals can trust, connect, and communicate with one another
well. This is done through mutual attention, light conversation, positivity, a welcoming and
respecting body posture, non- evaluative expressions and a healthy eye contact. This type of
relationship is one that the therapists also attempt to cultivate with their clients. Along with the
therapists, rapport building is also a key to build a trusting relationship when collecting data in
testing and other research methods. This ensures that the subject or the research participant is
comfortable and at ease that facilitates collection of data.

34. What is the importance of giving instructions in a test?

Instructions are important to give so that the subject has a prior idea about what to do in a test.
Also, since tests are standardized instruments, it is essential that the way they are worded and
interpreted remains the same for all individuals. Hence, the instructions are transacted in the
same way they are given in the test manual or response sheet. Changing them would distort their
sense.

35. What is an introspective report and why is it collected?

Introspective report is written by the subject about his/her experiences of being through the
process of psychological testing. It can serve as a window to the interpretation of the test results
by informing the administrator about the experiences, feelings and thoughts of the subject. This
can be an add-on to the interpretation of test results.
36. What is the behavioral report and why is it written?
The test administrator writes the behavioral report by observing the subject on whom the test is
administered. It is the record of observable behaviors that the subject exhibited during the
process which can help in interpreting or supporting the test results.

37. Are there any ethical guidelines while administering a test?

Voluntary participation, informed consent, privacy of the participant, confidentiality of the data
obtained, sharing the results with the subject, debriefing to the subject after the study is over- if
deception was used or something was hidden. (Refer to pages 40 and 41 of NCERT class 11th)

PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS ADMINISTERED

1. Raven’s Progressive Matrices Test or Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices Test
• Assesses- Intelligence (and abstract reasoning)
Please note that anything from Ch-1-Intelligence can be asked by the examiner.
• Who has developed this test? John. C. Raven
• How is the test administered? Individual OR Group (both) Administrable
• What is its Content Type? Non-Verbal
• Is it speed or a power test? Power Test as the order of difficulty increases
• Is it Culture Fair or Culture biased? It is Culture Fair (since no language is used, rather abstract
patterns)
• What are its other Versions: Colored Progressive Matrices, Advanced Progressive Matrices
• What does the term ‘Progressive’ suggest?- It suggests that the level of difficulty keeps on increasing
with the number of items (a power test)
• What does the term “Matrix” or “Matrices” mean? It means an abstract figure or a pattern.
• How many sets are there in the test? 5 sets- A, B, C, D AND E (A is the easiest and E is the most
difficult)
• Number of items in each set: 12
• Total Number of items in the test administered: (5 sets X 12 items each)= 60 Items
• Time needed: Flexible time limit; subject instructed to work at their pace and not to hurry.
• Reliability- Split half, Equivalent forms and Test- Retest reliability methods
• Validity- Construct and Criterion Related Validity
• Scoring Procedure- Manually using the scoring key provided in the instruction manual
• Norms- Percentile Rank norms
• What are percentile rank norms? They tell us the percentage of the population that lies below a
particular score. E.g., 75th percentile indicates 75% of the population lies below a participant.
Standard Progressive Matrices: These were the original form of the matrices, first published in 1938. The
booklet comprises five sets (A to E) of 12 items each (e.g., A1 through A12), with items within a set
becoming increasingly complex, requiring ever greater cognitive capacity to encode and analyze
information (HENCE THE TERM, ‘PROGRESSIVE’). All items are presented in black ink on a white
background.
Other Versions:
Colored Progressive Matrices: Designed for children aged 5 through 11 years-of-age, the elderly, and
mentally and physically impaired individuals. This test contains set A, Ab and B- sets A and B from the
standard progressive matrices test. Most items are presented on a colored background to make the test
visually stimulating for participants. If a subject exceeds the assessor’s expectations, the subject can be
provided with the sets C, D, and E of the standard progressive matrices test to attempt.
Advanced Progressive Matrices: The Advanced Progressive Matrices version (APM) was designed as a
harder version of the Standard Progressive Matrices test (SPM) and is used to assess applicants for
supervisory, managerial, technical and executive level roles. This test is appropriate for adults and
adolescents of above-average intelligence. It contains 48 items, presented as one set of 12 (set I), and another
of 36 (set II). Items become increasingly complex as progress is made through each set.

2. Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI)

Tests- Personality (learn definition from your Ch-2)
Please note that anything from Ch-2- Personality can be asked by the examiner.

• Author- Based on the work of British psychologist Hans Eysenck (who also made the Eysenck
Personality Questionnaire) to measure two dimensions of personality-Neuroticism and
Extraversion.
• Why is it called Maudsley Personality Inventory when it has been developed by Eysenck?
• The name is after the Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill, London, where Eysenck used to work.
Maudsley Hospital was in turn named after the English psychiatrist Henry Maudsley (1835–1918)
who founded it.
• How many scales are there on this test?- 2 Short scale and Full Scale.
• Short scale is the first side of response sheet with12 items: 6 items for each scale- Neuroticism and
Extraversion and Full Scale that has a total of 48 items (24 items to assess Neuroticism and 24 to
assess Extraversion)
• What method has been used to compute Reliability? Split half and Kuder- Richardson Reliability
methods
Kuder- Richardson Reliability Method has been given by Kuder and Richardson to estimate internal
consistency of a test. This method is used only when there is a dichotomy in the responses obtained,
that is, ‘right- wrong’ type or ‘yes –no’ type answers which can be scored as 0 or 1.
• Is it a verbal, non verbal or performance test? MPI is Verbal in nature.
• Is it a timed test? No
• How has validity been computed? Criterion related Validity
• Scoring Methods- Scoring Key or Stencil is placed on the response sheet and aligned to compute
scores for each of the two dimensions
• What kind of Norms have been used? Sten Score Norms (Standard ten scores)
• What is Neuroticism? It is a tendency of emotional instability- getting easily anxious, fearful,
irritated, angry etc. and taking long to restore a normal mood.
• How is Neuroticism different from Psychoticism? Neuroticism is emotional instability whereas
psychoticism is a tendency to violate social norms, being hostile, egocentric, and antisocial.
Psychoticism is linked with psychological disorder.

3. Self- Concept Questionnaire (SCQ)

Please note that anything from Ch-2-Self and Personality can be asked by the examiner.
Assesses- Self Concept The way an individual thinks about himself. It is the set of perceptions,
ideas or understanding one has of himself. Self- concept can also be referred to a self-schema or
a mental representation of self, which an individual is aware of. This understanding is influenced by
an individual's experiences, attitudes, habits, beliefs and ideas.

o Author- Dr. Raj Kumar Saraswat

o How many dimensions does it assess? 6
o Name all dimensions. Physical, Social, Temperamental, Educational, Moral, Intellectual
o If a psychologist wants to assess emotional self concept of a person, which dimension should be
considered? Temperamental
• Administration: Individual OR Group Administrable
• What kind of test is this- Verbal, Non verbal, or performance? It is verbal in nature.
o Total Items: 48
o Reliability- Test-Retest Method
o Validity- Content and Construct Validities
o Scoring Method-Assigning points 5,4,3,2,1 to all five alternatives given
o Norms- Norms given for directly interpreting raw scores
o How is self concept different from self esteem? Self concept is how a person looks at self, but self
esteem is the value or worth attached to self.

4. Sinha’s Comprehensive Anxiety Test (SCAT)

Please note that anything from Ch-3 Meeting Life Challenges and Ch-4 Topic: Anxiety
Disorders can be asked by the examiner.

• Assesses- Anxiety
• What is the difference between stress and anxiety?
• Although the symptoms in both stress and anxiety are same, such as, sleeplessness, exhaustion,
excessive worry, lack of focus, and irritability, along with physical symptoms like rapid heart rate,
muscle tension, and headaches, but, stress and anxiety are different from each other.

Stress is the reaction to a trigger in the environment, such as a positive event, a threat or harm (stress
causing factor) in the environment. However, it is generally a short-term experience. On the other
hand, anxiety is essentially a feeling of fear, angst, apprehension and worry. It is a sustained mental
condition which can be triggered by stress and may persist for a longer period of time even when
the stressor is no longer present. However, it is not necessary that an individual who experiences
stress also experiences anxiety.

• Author- A. K. P. Sinha and L.N.K. Sinha

• Administration: Individual OR Group Administrable
• Content Type: Verbal
• Reliability- Test-Retest Method, Split Half (or internal consistency) methods
• Validity- Criterion Related Validity
• Scoring Method- Reverse scoring: Score of 1 assigned to ‘Yes’ and score of ‘0’ assigned to ‘No’
• Norms- Percentile Rank norms (explained above)
5. Bell’s Adjustment Inventory (BAI)
• Tests- Adjustment (process of finding and adopting modes of behavior suitable to the environment
to create harmonious relationship between individual and his environment)
• Author- Dr. R. K. Ojha, 1968 (based this test on Bell’s Adjustment Inventory, 1934)
• Reliability- Test-Retest Method
• Validity- Criterion Related Validity
• Scoring Method- Score of 1ascribed to ‘Yes’ and score of ‘0’ ascribed to ‘No’
• What does high score indicate? It is a reverse scored psychological test. A high score indicates low
adjustment.
• Norms- Norms given for directly interpreting raw scores.
• Why is it the Indian adaptation? Since different cultures are varied, a test developed in the foreign
culture cannot be used to assess adjustment in the Indian context. Hence, Dr. R.K. Ojha has adapted
the BAI to the Indian context.

COMORBIDITY (can be asked) is the state when an individual exhibits more than one
psychologically abnormal condition- like learning disorder and ADHD together.
Questions from your project

• Tell me about your project.

• How was the experience of carrying out a research?
• What is the learning from your case project?
• What is a case study? In depth and exhaustive study of a person, group, event, or institution(s) which
are seen as unique, but sharing certain characteristics. The study is done by using multiple research
methods.
• Did you perform a case study or a case profile?
• Case Profile
• What is the difference between a Case Study and a Case Profile
A case profile is a record of general information about the case like his/her psychological or
behavioural characteristics, preferences etc. It is like a descriptive outline about the individual who
is the focus of study. To create this outline, different kinds of data collection methods are used.
However, this outline obtained by creating a case profile is a narrower concept as compared to the
case study.
This is because a case study captures the in- depth details and nuances of the problem or the
challenges which the case exhibits, the possible causes behind those problems or issues, the study
of the problem and its details, the management or treatment of the problem and finally, the analysis
of the data obtained which allows us to draw some conclusion or inferences about the case. Hence,
a case profile is entailed within a case study. The development of a case profile takes less time than
developing a case study which is a wider and more extensive concept. In psychology, some famous
case studies are those carried out by Sigmund Freud, for example, Little Hans, Rat man and Wolf
man, on which psychodynamic theory of personality has been based. Moreover, Jean Piaget studied
his own three children in detail to give his theory of cognitive development.
• What are the advantages of a case study method?
• What are the shortcomings of a case study method?
• Why do we use more than one data collection tools in making a case study or case profile? (to get
as rich data as possible for an in depth understanding of the case in hand)
• Tell me about your participant.
• What is the basis for selection of the participant you chose? (This question deals with how you select
a sample out of a large population). ANSWER: On the basis of convenience sampling (also known
as grab sampling, accidental sampling, or opportunity sampling) which allows the sample to be
drawn from the part of the population that is close to hand and is easy to reach or contact.
• What are the data collection tools that you used for an in-depth study of your case? (Tools like
interview schedule, and psychological tests like SPM, SCQ, MPI, BAI, SCAT)
• What is an interview? (a conversation with a purpose to collect data by asking questions and seeking
answers to them from the participant)
• What are the types of an interview? Which type of interview did you use? Give examples of the
questions you asked from your participants. (Used SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS)
• How did you record the responses and collected other data from your participant? (Recorded the
interview, jotted important points during observation, clicked and collected pictures with the consent
and permission from the participant)
• Why did you interview your participant’s family members, friends and teachers? (for an adequate
data to arrive at an in depth understanding of the participant)
• What did you get to know about your participant from the interviews you conducted?
• What is an observation?
• How is a person observing his surroundings differ from a psychologist carrying out an observation?
(Selection, recording and analysis of data; Also, psychologist engages in a keen observation of the
physical setups or environment and the behaviors)
• What are the types of observation? Which type of observation did you use? Explain how. (Class11th
chapter-2)
• What did you get to know about your participant from the observations you carried out?
• What are the ethics that you followed in your project?
• Why is it important to follow ethics in research?
• What is research? systematic work or investigation undertaken to increase knowledge about a less
understood process, event or phenomenon. It is a journey from the known to the unknown and it
aims to describe, explain, predict, and control the observed phenomena.