Kaufmann Paul M
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA.
Clin Neuropsychol. 2009 Sep;23(7):1130-59. doi: 10.1080/13854040903107809.
Psychologists must advocate for more stringent legal protection of psychological test materials because using standardized tests is the most distinguishing and exclusive feature of psychological evaluation practice. With the rapid growth in forensic consulting, unrestrained discovery of raw data and psychological test materials during litigation erodes the reliability and validity of the test procedures. Dissemination of test materials reduces the interpretive value of the tests and promotes cheating, turning our best methods into junk science in the courtroom. This article proposes to reform the law and to revise the professional ethics of psychologists consistent with the strong public policy of test security as described by the U.S. Supreme Court in Detroit Edison v. NLRB (1979). Currently, federal courts and about 20 states protect psychological tests as a unique methodology, with some states enacting a psychologist nondisclosure privilege/duty to safeguard test materials from wrongful disclosure. The record management practices of psychologists vary considerably and are vulnerable to legal attack unless psychologists are aware of legal arguments to protect test materials from wrongful release. Although this article does not offer legal advice, it describes the most common records management problem confronting neuropsychologists and some practical solutions to the raw data problem. Best practice for protecting psychological tests requires the psychologist to understand the law and to assert the psychologist nondisclosure privilege. Other strategies are presented and evaluated. Organized psychology and the legal community should advocate for a uniform rule to protect the objectivity, fairness, and integrity psychological methods in litigation.
心理学家必须倡导对心理测试材料给予更严格的法律保护，因为使用标准化测试是心理评估实践最具特色和排他性的特征。随着法医咨询业务的迅速增长，诉讼期间对原始数据和心理测试材料的无限制披露侵蚀了测试程序的可靠性和有效性。测试材料的传播降低了测试的解释价值，并助长了作弊行为，将我们最好的方法在法庭上变成了伪科学。本文提议改革法律，并根据美国最高法院在底特律爱迪生公司诉全国劳工关系委员会案（1979年）中所描述的强有力的测试安全公共政策，修订心理学家的职业道德。目前，联邦法院和大约20个州将心理测试作为一种独特的方法加以保护，一些州制定了心理学家保密特权/义务，以保护测试材料不被不当披露。心理学家的记录管理做法差异很大，而且容易受到法律攻击，除非心理学家了解保护测试材料不被不当发布的法律论据。虽然本文不提供法律建议，但它描述了神经心理学家面临的最常见的记录管理问题以及一些针对原始数据问题的实际解决方案。保护心理测试的最佳做法要求心理学家了解法律并主张心理学家保密特权。还介绍并评估了其他策略。有组织的心理学界和法律界应倡导制定统一规则，以保护诉讼中心理方法的客观性、公正性和完整性。
