How do psychologists gauge whether cognitive tests appropriately detect cognitive deficits?

(Photo provided by Emma Hynes)

“I wanted to work on this project because I plan to go to graduate school for clinical psychology in the future. Learning about the behind-the-scenes work of how to conduct interviews for a qualitative study will be very beneficial, as will the experience of following through the development of a research project.” ~Emma Hynes

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*In the following article, TS refers to The Synapse and EH refers to Emma Hynes; 

TS: Could you briefly introduce yourself, your supervisor, the topic of your research, and the field it contributes to?

EH: My name is Emma Hynes, and I am a 3rd year student doing a BSc in psychology. This past semester I completed the basic research course, and was supervised by Dr. LaChapelle and her graduate student, Jenna Wright. 

The research project I worked on was a qualitative study that involved interviewing psychologists about their use of performance validity tests (PVTs). PVTs are used to determine if the results of cognitive assessments - which determine cognitive declines in memory, attention, language, and judgment -  are valid. This research contributes to the field of clinical psychology, school psychology, and neuropsychology.  

TS: What was your research project (main research question, inspiration for project, methods, results if applicable) and your contributions? What drew you to pursuing this project?

 EH: The primary research question of the study is to understand how psychologists view PVTs in terms of their thoughts and beliefs about them, as well as the challenges they face when employing them. We also sought to compare how Canadian psychologists implement PVTs with the recommended guidelines for their use provided by AACN (American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology) and NAN (National Academy of Neuropsychology).

This project was inspired by some gaps in the literature in terms of how PVTs are used and viewed. It is recommended that PVTs be used in all clinical practices that involve assessing cognition to ensure that adequate conclusions about cognitive ability are made. However, little is known about their use outside of neuropsychology, a field that studies brain injury or illness. Also, current literature does not discuss the views of psychologists who don’t use PVTs; these psychologists may disagree with their use or have not yet begun employing them. 

We recruited Licensed Canadian Psychologists that conduct neuropsychological, academic, or cognitive assessments for adults and adolescents of 16 years of age or older. Participants were recruited from Psychology Today and provincial licensing boards via email. Psychologists who agreed to participate were also encouraged to inform other psychologists about the study; this method is called “snowball sampling”. By the end of the semester, 24 participants were recruited. We interviewed participants for 30-60 minutes in a semi-structured interview format via Zoom. Each interview was recorded (audio or video), and will be transcribed prior to starting analysis. 

 After completing ethics training, I was involved in participant recruitment. I sent emails to over 300 possible psychologists who met the requirements for the study across Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories; I aimed to contact 50-60 psychologists per province as only a 5% response rate was expected. I was also involved in transcribing interviews and had to ensure that the transcripts included all required information. I will continue transcribing next semester as well. 

I participated in bi-weekly lab meetings throughout the semester where I provided updates on my progress, asked questions about my assigned tasks or graduate schools, and learned about the other projects going on in the lab and Jenna’s progress. The lab environment allowed me to troubleshoot both via email and group discussion to determine the most efficient way to complete my tasks. For example, I had noticed that participant recruitment procedures we were using were causing some difficulties, so I informed the lab of the issues, proposed my solutions, and received and incorporated feedback. In the end, taking a different approach to recruitment made the process much smoother. It taught me that, for the most part, research is collaborative; it is important to be able to communicate ideas and apply feedback. 

I wanted to work on this project because I plan to go to graduate school for clinical psychology in the future. Learning about the behind-the-scenes work of how to conduct interviews for a qualitative study will be very beneficial, as will the experience of following through the development of a research project. 

TS: Are there any future studies that will be conducted based on your project? 

EH: The project is not complete yet, but I will be continuing to work in the lab next semester! I am not sure if any future studies will be conducted! 

TS: Why did you choose to take the basic research course? To what extent did the research experience align with what you’d expected? 

EH:  I chose to take the basic research course to help prepare me for my honours thesis next year and, as I mentioned earlier, I hope to go to graduate school in the future. 

I was very pleased with the research experience that I had last semester. The amount of work did align with my expectations. As I was new to research, my supervisors did a very good job at assigning reasonable amounts of work and were always willing to help me and answer my questions. The tasks that I completed also aligned with my expectations as they were relatively basic. However, they were still very important aspects of the study. I really enjoyed them and they provided me with a good foundation for what research looks like. 

TS: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your research experience? 

EH: I would 100% recommend taking the basic research course. It is a great way to get an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the lab. Throughout the semester, many of my questions about grad school have been answered and I learned a lot from the guest speakers who came in. I have also had the opportunity to practice presenting, and learned many valuable skills that can be transferred to future research such as time management, attention to detail, communication skills, and collaboration. Ψ

Created for The Synapse by Incé Husain.