Improving Test Quality in the Netherlands: Results of 18 Years of Test Ratings

Tests belong to the toolbox of most psychologists and are intensively used in many countries. Despite this popularity it appears we still know little about their quality. This article gives the description of the Dutch rating system for test quality and analyses the results of test ratings from the past 18 years. The rating system evaluates the quality of a test on 7 criteria: Theoretical basis and the soundness of the test development procedure, Quality of the testing materials, Comprehensiveness of the manual, Norms, Reliability, Construct validity, and Criterion validity. The results show a steady increase in average test quality that can be attributed to two processes. First, new tests are generally of higher quality than tests that have fallen into disuse and, secondly, the quality of existing tests is improving through maintenance and revision. However, optimism should be tempered because the quality of the norms and the (lack of) research on criterion validity still appear to be a matter of concern.