Download Counseling Exam Questions and Answers: A Comprehensive Guide to Key Concepts and Theories and more Exams Advanced Education in PDF only on Docsity!
National Counselor Exam Questions
with Complete Solutions
Convergent Validation ✔✔Refers to times when there is a high correlation between the concept
the test is meant to study and OTHER constructs.
Bergan's Behavioral Model of Consultation - Four Stages: ✔✔- Problem identification
- Problem analysis
- Plan implementation
- Problem evaluation
Consultation is used when counselors would like to function more effectively in individual, group, or community settings. Bergen's model uses a BEHAVIORAL APPROACH that emphasizes the verbal interactions during consultation. Bergan's model also focuses on problem behaviors, their antecedents, and their consequences.
Descriptive statistics ✔✔Aims to describe collected data and includes:
- means
- percentages
- standard deviations
Analysis of variance ✔✔A type of inferential data used to measure the PROBABILITY of an
EVENT occurring in the POPULATION.
Five Stages of the Racial/Cultural Identity Developmental Model? ✔✔- Conformity
- Dissonance
- Desistance & Immersion
- Introspection
- Integrative awareness.
Integrative awareness occurs when the individual can appreciate aspects of both the dominant and minority cultures.
Four levels of measurement: ✔✔Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio.
Nonparametric statistical measures ✔✔Often used with DESCRIPTIVE DATA and should be
used with NOMINAL DATA (numbers that represent a category or quality). Ex: chi-square
Standardized scores ✔✔Standardized scores are helpful when comparing several different test
scores for the same person, as direct comparisons between different tests are impossible.
Standardizing scores allows for continuity and an equality of units.
The two most common standardized scores are z-scores and T-scores, both of which are conversions of raw score distributions.
Standardized scores express the person's distance from the MEAN, NOT the median, in terms of the standard deviation from that standard score distribution.
Kruskal-Wallis test (nonparametric statistic) ✔✔- Used when the researcher has MORE THAN
TWO MEAN SCORES on a SINGLE VARIABLE also known as a nonparametric one-way analysis of variance.
- Nonparametric statistics are used when it is uncertain whether the distribution of scores falls along a normal curve or whether the variance of the test sample represents the variance within the general population.
Nonparametric statistical measures ✔✔- Mann-Whitney U test
- Wilcoxen signed-rank test
- Kruskal-Wallis test
Nonparametric statistics are used when it is uncertain whether the distribution of scores falls along a normal curve or whether the variance of the test sample represents the variance within the general population.
Four steps in the Planning of a Counseling Program ✔✔Conceptualization -> Development ->
Implementation ->Evaluation
It is important to take orderly and careful steps to ensure that the program is thoughtfully executed. Essential steps in program planning, in order, are conceptualization, which includes examining broader systems and assessment needs; development of goals and objectives of the program; implementation; and evaluation of the program, including whether goals and objectives were met.
When you would use a nonparametric test? ✔✔When it is uncertain whether the distribution of
scores falls along a normal curve OR whether the variance of the test sample represents the variance within the general population.
treatment combined made a difference, whether the pretest alone made a difference, whether the treatment alone made a difference, or whether neither the pretest nor the treatment made a difference.
R. K. Coyne developed Four Levels of Group Intervention ✔✔Individual
Interpersonal
Organization
Community Populations
ANOVA - one-way analysis of variance ✔✔- Can be used to determine differences between
THREE different FORMS of ONE VARIABLE.
Cronbach Alpha Coefficient ✔✔Applied when items are nondichotomous, meaning they offer more than two answer options.
Kuder-Richardson ✔✔formulas can be used when the test contains dichotomous items, such as true-false questions.
Sensorium ✔✔Client's ability to be aware of the LOCATION, the TIME, and THEIR
IDENTITY.
The MENTAL STATUS EXAM typically includes appearance & behavior, thought processes, mood & affect, intellectual functioning, and sensorium.
Non-random or Non-probability samples ✔✔While most studies use random sampling to
conduct tests, some use VOLUNTEERS or SAMPLES OF CONVENIENCE.
While these samples are less likely than random samples to yield a normal distribution of scores, these non-random or nonprobability samples can still result in useful data.
True variance ✔✔True variance is measured by finding the square of the correlation.
True variance and error variance are both important concepts to measure, as researchers want to know whether the test actually measures what it is meant to measure.
Construct Validity ✔✔Construct validity, which refers to the degree that a test measures what it
is meant to measure.
Taking responsibility is a key concept of Reality Therapy.
Formative Evaluation ✔✔Formative Evaluation is the process of gathering information about
how well a NEW (FORMING) INTERVENTION works, and collects information over a LONGER period of time.
Summative Evaluation ✔✔Summative Evaluation is typically a summary of HOW WELL AN
INTERVENTION HAS WORKED and is conducted over a SHORTER period of time.
Post hoc tests ✔✔Researchers might apply a test AFTER the analysis of variance is calculated
(post hoc) if it is unclear as to which mean scores are significantly different from each other.
Post hoc tests that may be able to clarify this problem include:
- Scheffe's method,
- Tukey's HSD,
- Newman-Keuls
- Duncan's new multiple range test.
A counselor operates from the viewpoint that clients' difficulties often result from problems with INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS that originate in the FIRST THREE YEARS of life.
What theory best matches this counselor's approach? ✔✔OBJECT RELATIONS Theory is based on PSYCHOANALYTIC concepts, including the belief that early childhood is incredibly relevant to how clients operate within relationships in the present day.
Object Relations Theories teach that, in the first three years of life, infants have the opportunity to develop significant relationships with primary caretakers that will shape their interactions with people throughout their lives.
Aptitude tests ✔✔Aptitude tests measure the CAPACITY OF THE TEST TAKER TO LEARN and are often used as part of JOB APPLICATIONS. These tests measure abstract, verbal, and numerical reasoning.
Examples: Differential Aptitude Test (DAT) and the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test.
Strategic Family Therapy ✔✔Focuses on the POWER and CONTROL expressed through family
communication PATTERNS, and techniques are frequently direct suggestions or assignments.
Kübler-Ross identified five stages of behaviors and feelings that dying persons experience:
✔✔Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.
Traditionally, therapists believed that all grief moves chronologically through these stages, but recent research shows that most people skip or come back to stages throughout the process of grieving.
Ego-dystonic behaviors ✔✔Ego-dystonic behaviors are those that the individual considers
UNACCEPTABLE.
EX: Individuals with panic disorder feel uncomfortable with the physiological symptoms of anxiety that accompany the disorder and are therefore more likely to be motivated to change.
Ego-syntonic ✔✔Ego-syntonic individuals like with anorexia nervosa, however, often
experience AMBIVALENCE about receiving treatment for the disorder, since the symptoms are somewhat effective at temporarily relieving anxiety about body shape and control.
Parametric Statistics ✔✔Used when samples are RANDOMLY drawn from the population and
results are distributed along a NORMAL CURVE. (t-test and analysis of variance)
Non-parametric statistics ✔✔Used when data is NOT normally distributed and variances are
inconsistent. (Chi-square and the Mann-Whitney U test)
OOH - Occupational Outlook Handbook ✔✔Published every other year and offers information
about CURRENT SALARIES and PROJECTED TRENDS. This would be the best way for this particular client to narrow down his options for an occupation based on salary, educational requirements, and future job projections.
DOT - Dictionary of Occupational Titles ✔✔Offers summaries of about 12,000 occupations.
SIGI 3 - System of Interactive Guidance and Information ✔✔A top-of-the-line computer-
assisted career guidance system that can supplement the assessments and guidance of career counselors.
The World-of-Work map - People, Data, Things, Ideas ✔✔A tool developed by ACT that
organizes occupations based on primary tasks related to People, Data, Things, and Ideas.
ESTABLISHMENT - trial and stabilization
MAINTENANCE - adjustment process
DECLINE - retirement
TASKS:
CRYSTALLIZATION- forming a vocational goal
SPECIFICATION - moving to a more specific career choice
IMPLEMENTATION - entering employment
STABILIZATION - performing a job
CONSOLIDATION - achieving status & advancing
Mark Savickas ✔✔Known for his POSTMODERN approach to CAREER counseling that is
based on CONSTRUCTION THEORY, which posits that individuals construct their own reality.
Savickas' approach considers the changing nature of the workplace and the move toward FLEXIBLE WORK SCHEDULES and more FREELANCE EMPLOYMENT.
What is one advantage of using INTERVAL DATA? ✔✔There is a CONSTANT unit of
measurement. Interval scales provide a CONSTANT and CONSISTENT unit of measurement.
With INTERVAL DATA, the numbers on a scale have the same amount of the variable throughout the scale; for instance, degrees on the Fahrenheit temperature scale.
The National Counselor Exam is an example of what type of assessment? ✔✔CRITERION-
Referenced - tests that compare a test taker to some objective set of criteria, such as a CUT-OFF SCORE
IPSATIVELY interpreted tests compare the test results with the test taker's results on other parts of the same assessment.
NORM-referenced assessments compare test takers to others who have taken the same test, so how much a test taker knows is not as important as how the test taker compares with others.
"Positive Uncertainty" is a model of career decision-making associated most closely with whom?
✔✔H B Gelatt focused on the balance between REASON and INTUITION when making career
decisions and is termed "Positive Uncertainty."
This is related to Gelatt's earlier five-step process for making decisions about careers, which included the need to consider objective information while also attending to one's value system.
FERPA affects... ✔✔Any school that receives federal funding
Stratified ✔✔A sample THAT IS proportionate to the make-up of a community
Scaling questions are most commonly used in... ✔✔Solution-focused Brief Counseling
VALUE INVENTORIES assist in identifying and prioritizing their... ✔✔Work values
Roe's Occupational Classification System comprises EIGHT___________ that classify the primary focus in each occupation and SIX_________. ✔✔Groups (eight) Levels (six)
Language Development Theories: ✔✔- Learning Theory Approach
- Nativist Approach
- Interactionist Approach
The______________scale measures multiple dimensions of an ATTITUDE by employing a paired comparison method. ✔✔Thurstone Scale
Interval Scale of Data ✔✔Has equivalent units of measurement, BUT DOES NOT have an
absolute zero point.
EX: temperature (Farenheit), temperature (Celcius), pH, SAT score (200-800), credit score (300- 850).
Stress Inoculation Training (CBT) technique was developed by: ✔✔Meichenbaum
The reinforcement schedule MOST RESISTANT to extinction: ✔✔Variable Ratio
In operant conditioning, a variable-ratio schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses.
EX: Gambling and lottery games are good examples of a reward based on a variable ratio schedule.
Sharif vs. NY Education Department ✔✔School counselors must provide tests in student's
primary language
