Guidelines for the Assessment Process (GAP): A Proposal for Discussion

Summary: Current existing or proposed standards and guidelines in the field of psychological assessment are confined to psychological tests and psychological testing. But tests constitute only one category of psychological assessment procedures, and testing is only one of many available strategies or classes of actions in the course of the assessment process. Tests and testing are closely linked to a certain approach to psychological assessment, i. e., the psychometric one. This is one reason why it is relatively easy to formulate and establish standards or guidelines in the case of psychological tests and testing. The much more comprehensive assessment process is an indispensable part of any approach to psychological assessment, even of those that do not use psychometric tests. This makes the formulation of guidelines for the assessment process an ambitious and very difficult enterprise. But it can be done, at least at the level of recommendations that could help the assessor to cope with the complexities and demands of assessment processes in various contexts of psychological assessment. The European Association of Psychological Assessment (EAPA) decided to sponsor the development of Guidelines for the Assessment Process (GAP), setting up a Task Force for this specific purpose. The GAP introduced in this paper are intended as a first proposal to initiate a broad discussion about how to improve the practice of psychological assessment and the education and training of psychological assessors.