Interpreting Aberrant Responses in Educational and Psychological Assessments

This paper reviews studies of aberrant responses and response processes in educational and psychological assessments. We examine the research literature on aberrant responding, from the early work of Lee Cronbach (1946, 1957) to recent interpretations of response processes in digital tests and questionnaires. We contrast approaches that portray aberrant responses as a de-facto threat to test integrity and validity (as something to be detected and removed from test data), with an alternative perspective informed by the work of Lee Cronbach, which interprets anomalous and unexpected responses as a source of formative insight, that can be used to improve understanding of test content and design, and the diverse ways in which tested populations engage with tests and questionnaires. We argue that the latter approach provides an improved theoretical and ethical foundation for psychometrics, the analysis of data on response processes, and the development of diversity-oriented response models.

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