Deciding to adopt revised and new psychological and neuropsychological tests: an inter-organizational* position paper

AbstractObjective: Neuropsychological tests undergo periodic revision intended to improve psychometric properties, normative data, relevance of stimuli, and ease of administration. In addition, new tests are developed to evaluate psychological and neuropsychological constructs, often purporting to improve evaluation effectiveness. However, there is limited professional guidance to neuropsychologists concerning the decision to adopt a revised version of a test and/or replace an older test with a new test purporting to measure the same or overlapping constructs. This paper describes ethical and professional issues related to the selection and use of older versus newer psychological and neuropsychological tests, with the goal of promoting appropriate test selection and evidence-based decision making. Method: Ethical and professional issues were reviewed and considered. Conclusions: The availability of a newer version of a test does not necessarily render obsolete prior versions of the test for purposes that ...