Page "Psychological testing" Paragraph 30

Although most psychological tests are " rating scale " or " free response " measures, psychological assessment may also involve the observation of people as they complete activities.

This type of assessment is usually conducted with families in a laboratory, home or with children in a classroom.

The purpose may be clinical, such as to establish a pre-intervention baseline of a child's hyperactive or aggressive classroom behaviors or to observe the nature of a parent-child interaction in order to understand a relational disorder.

Direct observation procedures are also used in research, for example to study the relationship between intrapsychic variables and specific target behaviors, or to explore sequences of behavioral interaction.