The art of assessment in psychology: Ethics, expertise, and validity

Psychological assessment is a hybrid, both art and science. The empirical foundations of testing are indispensable in providing reliable and valid data. At the level of the integrated assessment, however, science gives way to art. Standards of reliability and validity account for the individual instrument; they do not account for the integration of data into a comprehensive assessment. This article examines the current climate of psychological assessment, selectively reviewing the literature of the past decade. Ethics, expertise, and validity are the components under discussion. Psychologists can and do take precautions to ensure that the “art” of their work holds as much merit as the science. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 55: 631–641, 1999.