Rating Scale Administration
Characterizing the test participants is an important aspect of any psychological, psychiatric or neurological assessment. One of the most common ways to do this is by using self-report questionnaires. In these, the participant is asked a series of questions or shown as series of statements, and asked whether they agree or disagree, or to rate how well these statements apply to them. Many different self-report scales have been described, generally using a pencil and paper format. WiltonLogic has developed a simple and flexible way to administer self-report questionnaires on the computer and record the answers using a mouse or touch screen technology. In our procedures, if the participant clicks on the statement it is read out to them, so that participation is not compromised by poor reading skills. Computerisation of the tests also permits accurate collation of the results, and calculation of total and sub-scale scores. These self-report instruments can be packaged together with WiltonLogics objective tests. This software will also work well scales which collect data from other assessors, such as physicians, teachers or family members.
In the example shown here, the participant must answer how well a series of statements apply to themselves using a 4-point scale. Many IRBs require that the participant is given the option to decline to answer individual questions without necessarily terminating the entire assessment. A button has been added allowing the subject to decline to answer. Pressing the central button then confirms this and moves on to the next question. Declining to answer is assigned a specific code in the data report.