Abstract
Prior research demonstrates that examiner unfamiliarity negatively affects the test performance of handicapped preschoolers. The present investigation sought to determine whether examiner unfamiliarity also interferes with the performance of handicapped school-age pupils and nonhandicapped children. Sixty-four subjects (16 language-handicapped and 16 nonhandicapped preschoolers and 16 language-handicapped and 16 nonhandicapped school-age students) were tested during a period of 2 weeks, once by a familiar examiner and once by an unfamiliar examiner, within a crossover design. A significant interaction was obtained for examiner familiarity and handicapped status, indicating that whereas nonhandicapped subjects scored similarly when tested by familiar and unfamiliar examiners, handicapped children scored higher with the familiar testers. By selectively depressing handicapped children’s test performance, examiner unfamiliarity constitutes a systematic source of error, or bias, and threatens the validity of handicapped students’ test performance. Implications for the assessment of handicapped children are discussed.
Published Version
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