1. On the impact of Anglo-American psychology on test construction in other languages:
A case example from the German-speaking countries
ZPID – Institute for Psychology Information
Saskia Naescher, Gabriel Schui & Günter Krampen Leibniz-Institute
 naescher@zpid.de University of Trier
With reference to the recent anglicization of psychology publications from the German-speaking countries (cp. Fig. 1) 30%
the impact of Anglo-American test developments on German psychological tests is analyzed. Research questions:
1) Whether the Anglo-American dominance in psychology research also led to an increase in German-language
25%
adaptions of Anglo-American tests and a decrease of original German test developments. 20%
2) Whether the relative frequency of tests with German and Anglo-American origin differs depending on whether the
tests are published or not.
15%
3) Whether there are proportionally more or fewer German measures of Anglo-American origin in specific psychological 10%
subject classifications. 5%
Method 0%
- Bibliometric method: Analysis of PSYNDEX Tests database, containing 6,359 records of psychological tests from
1951-1960 1961-1970 1971-1980 1981-1990 1991-2000 2001-2010
the German-speaking countries (1,485 published tests). Fig. 1: Percentages of psychology literature publications in
English language with German authorship from 1951-2010
- Limiting criteria: Tests released or published in German-speaking countries between 1951 and 2010, (PSYNDEX Literature)
categorized as (a) original German test developments, if the country of origin was Austria, Germany or
Switzerland, or as (b) German adaptions of Anglo-American tests, if the country of origin was Australia, Canada,
400
England, Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, North America, the United Kingdom, or the United States.  A 350
total of 4,734 original German test developments (1,141 of them published) and 1,317 German adaptions of 300
Anglo-American tests (258 of them published) were analyzed. 250
- Counting of the number of unpublished and published psychological tests of German vs. Anglo-American origin 200
to generate time series of data in decades. 150
Results 100
50
Question 1) Apart from the overall increase of 0
psychological tests from German-speaking countries
1951-1960 1961-1970 1971-1980 1981-1990 1991-2000 2001-2010
(a) (b)
since the 1970s (cp. Fig. 2), there is a proportionally German-language test developments Adaptions of Anglo-american tests German-language test developments Adaptions of Anglo-american tests
Fig. 2: Number of published psychology tests with German
higher increase of German adaptions of Anglo- authorship from 1951-2010 (PSYNDEX Tests)
American tests than of German test developments
22% 18%
Number of tests (published & unpublished)
during the last two decades (cp. Fig. 4 & 5 and according to classification
Table 1). 13. Sociographic & other measures
12. Behavior Scales
Time period (a) % (b) % 78% 82%
11. Clinical Tests
1951-1960 24 22 10. Projective Measures
1961-1970 18 11 Table 1: Percentages of (a) 9. Personality Tests
1971-1980 15 13 published and unpublished and Fig. 3: Percentages of original German test developments and adaptions 8. Interest Inventories
1981-1990 17 18 (b) published German of Anglo-American tests in (a) published and unpublished German
psychology tests of Anglo-
7. Attitude Tests
1991-2000 25 24
psychology tests and (b) published German psychology tests
2001-2010 27 20 American origin 6. Scholastic Achievement Tests
5. Sensorimotor Measures
4. Achievement & Aptitude & Ability Tests
Number of new test publications
3. Creativity Tests
300
266
1600
1383
Number of new tests
2. Intelligence Tests
1400 250 272 268
1. Developmental Measures
1200
200
211 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
1000 1154 German-language test
German-language test developments
1077 developments Adaptions of Anglo-american tests German-language test developments
150
800
852
600 451 85
404 100
400 243 86 38 47
66
Fig. 6: Number of unpublished and published psychology tests of
198 Adaptions of Anglo-american
German vs. Anglo-American origin according to subject
Adaptions of Anglo-american
153 50
70 tests 38 11 tests
200
44
classification
11
0 0
22
Number of published tests according to classification
Years
Years 13. Sociographic & other measures
12. Behavior Scales
Fig. 4: Number of German test developments vs. German- Fig. 5: Number of German test developments vs. German- 11. Clinical Tests
language adaptions of Anglo-American tests in published language adaptions of Anglo-American tests in published 10. Projective Measures
and unpublished German psychology tests from 1951-2010 German psychology tests from 1951-2010 (PSYNDEX Tests)
(PSYNDEX Tests)
9. Personality Tests
8. Interest Inventories
Question 2) The fraction of German adaptions of Anglo-American tests is slightly lower in published 7. Attitude Tests
psychology tests than in unpublished tests (cp. Fig. 3). This effect is particularly noticeable during the 1960s 6. Scholastic Achievement Tests
and the last decade. 5. Sensorimotor Measures
Question 3) The percentage of German adaptions of Anglo-American tests of all German measures is very low
4. Achievement & Aptitude & Ability Tests
within the classification categories „Creativity Tests,“ „Interest Inventories,“ „Achievement & Aptitude &
3. Creativity Tests
Ability Tests,“ and, with less than 5%, particularly low in „Scholastic Achievement Tests.“ In contrast, the
2. Intelligence Tests
1. Developmental Measures
percentage is very high in „Personality Tests“ (over 20%) and in „Clinical Tests“ (with more than 31%, cp. Fig. 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
6 & 7). Adaptions of Anglo-american tests German-language test developments
Fig. 7: Number of published psychology tests of German vs. Anglo-
Conclusion American origin according to subject classification
German-language test developments
- Although a slight trend toward German-language adaptions of Anglo-American tests was shown, the No English translation English translation
percentage of original German test developments is still very high – representing about 80% of all
German psychological tests. Nevertheless, there is a high percentage of German adaptions of Anglo- 10%
American clinical tests and a common use of these adaptions by practitioners (Roth, Schmitt & Yorck
Herzberg, 2010; Schorr, 1995).
There is a significant need to increase non-English test developments in the European countries as
well as internationally visible publications on test construction, psychological diagnosis, and 90%
assessment from Europe. This is especially true for personality tests and clinical tests.
 It is therefore important to translate more non-English European test developments into English.
Currently only 10% of the original German psychology test developments have been translated into Fig.8: Percentages of German psychology test
developments with and without English translation
English (cp. Fig. 8). (PSYNDEX Tests)
References
Eberwein, M., Schui, G. & Krampen, G. (2006). Zur Entwicklung deutschsprachiger Schorr, A. (1995). Stand und Perspektiven diagnostischer Verfahren in der Praxis.
Testverfahren in der 2. Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Diagnostica, 52,199-207. Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Befragung westdeutscher Psychologen. Diagnostica,
Roth, M., Schmitt, V. & Yorck Herzberg, P. (2010). Psychologische Diagnostik in der 41, 3-20.
Praxis: Ergebnisse einer Befragung unter BDP-Mitgliedern. Report Psychologie, 35, Schorr, A. & Brugger, B. (1995). Diagnostik in der Psychotherapie. ZKPPP, 43, 75-90.
118-128. Steck, P. (1997). Aus der Arbeit des Testkuratoriums. Diagnostica, 43, 267-284.
Presented at the 12th European Congress of Psychology in Istanbul, July 04-08, 2011