An adaptive typological approach to psychiatric screening.

Abbreviating MMPI item administration: What can be learned from the MMPI for the MMPI—2?

“…One approach (Clavelle & Butcher, 1977) suggested that a core group of about 87 MMPI items could be administered to all subjects to estimate which MMPI code type the subject is likely to have. Then the remaining items contained in the scales making up that code type could be administered to the subject to obtain his or her likely level of scale elevation.…”

Current developments and future directions in computerized personality assessment.

“…The Clavelle and Butcher (1977) approach is typological because the goal of the adaptive procedure is code-type classification, not quantitative measurement of standing on each of the 13 standard MMPI scales. Like the countdown approach, it differs from the ability testing models whose aim would be a quantitative score on each of the 13 scales.…”

“…The adaptive typological strategy directly assigns an individual to a code type without the intermediate step of predicting scores on each of the basic scales. Clavelle and Butcher (1977) examined item responses for 1,350 psychiatric inpatients whose intake MMPIs fell into one of nine selected code types. A series of stepwise multiple discriminant function analyses was performed.…”

Reduction in clinical assessment time using computer algorithms

“…Weiss concluded that "these data show that adaptive tests can administer as few as 50% of the number of items in conventional tests and still provide measurements of higher quality" (1979, p. 145). Clavelle and Butcher (1977), applying an adaptive testing methodology, attempted a typological approach to the vexing problem of code-type congruence. Suggesting that adaptive, on-line technology might aid in decreasing the number of items necessary for accurately typing any given test taken, they sought to accurately determine the two-point code types of a sample of 1,350 white adult psychiatric outpatients.…”

“…While Clavelle and Butcher's (1977) attempt was admittedly a preliminary excursion, it does suggest the viability of utilizing an adaptive approach to psychiatric screening in general and the MMPI in particular. They conclude: "It could well be that an adaptive approach to psychiatric screening (e.g., an abbreviated version of the MMPI) could result in the development of assessment procedures that are brief, efficient in their choice of items to be presented and clinically useful" (Clavelle & Butcher, 1977, p. 859).…”