Abstract

Tests represent one of the main tools of the work of the psychologists. However they meet a series of difficulties that are particularly evident in the Italian context. In particular the present intervention examines the following twelve critical issues: the insufficient recognition of the importance of tests; the low prestige of test research; the recognition of the tools in a scientific community that is based on English; the scarcity of funds for standardization of tests; the precarious modalities for the standardization of the tests and technical biases; problems with procedures of standardization; the difficulties with tools aimed at specific populations; the need for realistic standards; the problems relating to the training of users; the conditioning by publishers; the adaptation of the tests to the telematic mode; the use (and teaching) of tests concerning nonpsychologists. An answer to these questions, together with a theoretical and epistemological review of the meaning and value of psychological tests, would favor their better integration into the assessment procedures typical of the psychological profession