Use Cases For Assessments

What You'll Learn

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Understand what an assessment is and how it differs from a quiz.
• Identify various use cases of assessments, from self assessment and mental health assessment to drug assessment.
• Identify the type of questions usually asked in different assessment use cases.

1. What is Assessment?

The line between an assessment and a quiz can be hard to draw.

Assessments are good tools for evaluating yourself and others on a particular subject or situation. They give you more holistic results.

A quiz is a short questionnaire that may not give a holistic view of how well you understand a subject. We will cover the quiz use case in the next lesson.

Many assessment scales have been developed over the years. They used to be administered on pen and paper. Now most assessments are moving to digital as internet technologies become widely adopted.

A few assessment use cases are listed below.

• Self Assessments
• Mental Health Assessments
• Skill Assessments
• Learning Assessments
• Drug Assessments

This lesson will help you understand each of these use cases.

2. Self Assessments

Self assessments let you evaluate yourself without help from anyone else.

They are mostly measured against pre-determined scales and help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.

You assess yourself with an assessment scale, where each point on the scale gives you feedback.

Are you eating healthy?

A healthy eating assessment helps you evaluate your diet and nutrition habits. Healthy eating means mindful, balanced eating.

Below are a few questions that a healthy eating assessment can ask.

• How many times a day do you eat packaged snacks?
• How many packages of dry fruit do you eat each day?
• How many servings of vegetables do you take every day?
• How many times a day do you take chocolate or ice cream?
• How many times a day do you take dairy products?

Scores are assigned for each question, and an interpretation is provided for the total score.

The interpretation can fall into a band such as Needs Improvement, Fair, Good, or Excellent.

This helps you assess yourself and take action when needed, like meeting a physician.

The Healthy Eating Assessment template is available in BlockSurvey.

You can draw on these templates and customize them when needed.

3. Mental Health Assessments

Mental health assessments are used to evaluate mental health.

Psychiatrists use assessment scales to assess the mental health of their patients.

There are scales that measure anxiety, stress, depression, aggression, and more.

Consider one example: assessing a person's level of anxiety.

How anxious are you?

GAD7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) was developed to assess the level of anxiety in adults. It is a 7-item psychological rating scale used to measure the severity of anxiety in adults.

Below are a few questions picked from the GAD7 scale.

• Are you feeling nervous?
• Are you not able to stop worrying?
• Do you have trouble relaxing?
• Are you getting easily irritated?
• Are you feeling afraid?

The GAD7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) is available in BlockSurvey for your use.

Scores are assigned to each question, and the total score is interpreted.

The interpretation falls into one of the following: Minimal anxiety, Mild anxiety, Moderate Anxiety, or Severe Anxiety.

4. Skill Assessments

Skill assessments are used to evaluate someone's skill.

Teachers, trainers, and managers use skill assessment scales to understand a respondent's skill level.

Skills like public speaking, communication, listening, and presentation are evaluated using skill assessments.

How good are you in public speaking?

For example, the public speaking skills assessment scale is a tool used to evaluate a person's ability to communicate in public speaking situations.

Below are a few questions that a public speaking assessment can include.

• Do you maintain eye contact with all sections of the audience?
• Do you have a vocal variety that does not sound monotonous?
• Were your movements controlled and non-distracting?
• Do you appear confident?
• Do you sound conversational?

The interpretation can be one of the following: Need improvement in public speaking, Good public speaking skills, or Exceptional public speaking skills.

Next, we move on to learning assessments.

5. Learning Assessments

Learning assessments help you find out how well someone learns.

Teachers use a learning assessment scale to identify a student's ability to learn.

They use it to evaluate students' learning habits and determine where attention is needed.

How well do you learn?

The Learning Strategies Inventory was developed to measure different aspects of the learning process, including planning, organization, and problem-solving skills.

Teachers, counselors, and administrators use this inventory to identify areas where students may need additional support or intervention.

Below are a few questions that the Learning Strategies Assessment asks.

• Do you preview the material to be discussed in the class?
• Do you go over lecture notes as soon as possible after the lecture?
• Do you rework all of the homework problems before the quiz?
• Do you spend time studying every day outside the class hours?
• Do you participate in a study group?

The interpretation of this assessment comes through different measurements of grade.

Next, we look at drug assessments.

6. Drug Assessments

Drug and alcohol assessments help you find out how addicted you are to drugs and alcohol.

They help you find your level of dependence.

They also help gauge how easily you can come out of the addiction.

How dependent are you on cigarettes?

The Cigarette Dependence Scale (CDS) is a measure used to assess a person's level of dependence on cigarettes.

It measures the intensity of physical and psychological dependence and the frequency of smoking.

• How many cigarettes do you smoke per day?
• Do you smoke immediately after waking up?
• How easy or difficult is it for you to quit smoking?
• Does the idea of not having a cigarette cause stress?
• Do you drop everything sometimes to go out and buy cigarettes?

Like other assessment scales, The Cigarette Dependence Scale is also in BlockSurvey's template gallery.

The interpretation of cigarette dependence scores can be Mild Cigarette dependence, Moderate Cigarette dependence, or Severe Cigarette dependence.

Test Your Knowledge

Key Takeaways

• Assessments are holistic tools for evaluation.
• Assessments can be used for self-assessment.
• Assessments have various use cases.

Congratulations! You have completed this lesson.