Lamont, Alexandra (2009) An Eight-Subtest Short Form of the WAIS-III Using the Reliable Approach to Psychological Testing (RAPT) Methodology. Coursework Masters thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
The measurement of intelligence has played a dominant role in assessment research and has a long history, with some of the most influential measures being those developed by David Wechsler. Wechsler integrated a number of diverse ideas about intelligence prevalent at the time, suggesting that intelligence was not a unitary concept but composed of specific independent abilities. His intelligence tests reflect this in that they comprise a number of subtests designed to measure both an individual’s overall level of functioning together with specific verbal and visual abilities. However, the WAIS-III is a time-consuming test to administer, taking on average 60 to 90 minutes or more. This has the effect of reducing its usefulness in populations where fatigue, low motivation, or poor attention and concentration impede assessment. Subsequently, in the current climate of time-limited and costeffective provision of services, the development of short forms has flourished. This is nowhere more noticeable than with the Wechsler scales, and in particular the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales (WAIS). The WAIS-III, while recently superseded by the WAIS-IV released in November 2008, is arguably the mostly commonly used test of cognitive functioning. However, in developing and using short forms, many clinicians and researchers make the error of assuming that the tables provided for the WAIS-III long form are suitable for use with a short form. In addition, they frequently fail to fully evaluate the psychometric properties of the short form, particularly those of reliability and validity. The current study was undertaken to develop a short form of the WAIS-III in which a methodology, the Reliable Approach to Psychological Testing (RAPT), was used to construct a semiflexible battery that combined good psychometric properties with pragmatic concerns and clinical utility. In selecting a short form, a number of key criteria were examined, including the optimal number of subtests, the reliability and validity of the short form, the impact of demographic variables and administration times. Consideration of these criteria led to the construction of an eight-subtest short form (8-SF) to which the RAPT algorithms were specifically applied. Since a fundamental error of short forms is the use of the norms from the full length WAIS-III, resulting in inflated error, tables specific to the 8-SF were provided to assist clinicians in looking up IQ and Index scores when using the short form. The 8-SF demonstrated psychometric properties comparable with the full version of the WAIS-III, while significantly reducing administration time. The short form was evaluated against established criteria from the research literature and specifically addressed a number of the reported flaws in short form construction. In addition, the 8-SF possessed good clinical utility, as illustrated through an analysis of operating characteristics which showed that the 8-SF was able to detect pathology at a rate comparable to the full WAIS-III.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Coursework Masters) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Graeme Senior |
| Qualification: | Doctor of Psychology (Clinical) |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Nov 2025 03:41 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Nov 2025 03:41 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52483 |
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