Critique of tests used in couples relationship - Essay Example

Tests help analysts to develop guidelines and road maps on the best way to carryout therapeutic sessions that are going to yield positive results after counseling. Psychological tests help couples learn about each other in a way that is only possible through this approach. Information garnered about each other through a counseling session with a psychologist helps couples understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses that serve to strengthen their relationship. This paper seeks to highlight on tests and tools used in couples’ relationships.

Wilson et al (2005) used the behavioral self-regulation for effective relationships scale (BSRERS) as a test in a research study. The research study was meant to assess how much couples work at their relationship. The central aim of the experiment was directed at the behavioral self-regulation for effective relationships scale. The BSRERS was developed by ensuring that the items incorporated into the test reflected the meta-competencies of self-appraisal or relationship behavior and influences (Wilson et al, 2005).

The viability of the test was fortified by the fact that the test was conducted in a two pronged approach which included a self-report and a partner-report. This approach facilitated the accountability of the test to be credible because each individual test served to act as a confirmation for the viability of the test. Various measures were used by the research team, and one of them is the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS). The DAS is a 32-item scale that is characterized by having well-established validity and reliability that is used to assess relationship satisfaction in couples (Wilson et al, 2005).

The depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS) was used to measure for depressed mood in newlywed couples. The appropriate consideration that could have helped cater for external variances and confounds might have been overlooked and negatively affected the inferences accrued from the results. Construct validity is very vital to an experiment’s results because it determines the credibility of the results and the inferences made from these results. The construct validity of the BSRERS-Self and BSRERS-Partner were evaluated using the separate exploratory factor (EFS) (Halford et al. 2007). The EFS was calculated and evaluated for both male and female responses, which led to their merging into a single entity.

The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure for sampling adequacy was high an indication that the data set used was adequately factorable (Halford et al, 2007). These evaluation tests were conducted to ensure that the construct validity of the results was credible which contributed to ascertaining of the experiment’s overall construct validity, and not only for the test and measures used. The researchers conducting this research study were aware of the limitations of the tests they used to garner postulates that could be used to address their research question.

This was illustrated by the admission of the failure of establishing the test-retest reliability of the BSRERS (Wilson et al, 2005). The reliability of the tests and measures used is illustrated by the inferences made upon the results garnered from the experiment. The replicable cross-sectional association between relationships illustrated this. Factors used in the tests and measures indicated high internal consistencies, stability over time and convergent