Standards of normal performance on psychometric instruments based on averages and ranges from a large representative sample are called what?

• A. Test norms
• B. Norms
• C. Standardized scores
• D. Validity

Answer: (A)

Standards of normal performance on psychometric instruments come from comparing an individual’s score to the distribution of scores from a large, representative sample. Those reference values are the norms for that test, showing what is typical or average and how much scores tend to vary. When we tie these norms to a specific instrument, we call them test norms, emphasizing that the normative data are built for that particular test. This is what lets us interpret where a person falls—within the average range, above, or below—and to derive percentile ranks or standard scores from that normative distribution. Standardized scores, by contrast, are the transformed results you get after applying those norms, not the norms themselves. Validity is about whether the test measures what it’s intended to measure, not about how its results are normed.