It is important to view psychological assessments in their context. An assessment is a set of items designed to get an understanding of a person's situation. There are a number of ways that assessments can relay inaccurate information. Following are a set of questions you might want to ask when using or being administered a psychological assessment:

• Does the assessment measure what I need to know?
• Is there evidence that it measures what it purports to measure (validity)?
• Is there evidence that you would interpret the items in the same way if you took the assessment again (reliability)?
• Did I understand the instructions, and were the directions clearly communicated to me?
• Am I interpreting the words in the same way as the people for whom the assessment was developed?
• Was I paying attention to the assessment when I answered it (not distracted)?
• Did I answer the items openly and honestly so that it was an accurate reflection of my thinking?
• Was the assessment scored correctly? Were my responses calculated without error?
• Was inaccuracy of the assessment taken into account?
• Given the set of items, was the interpretation of my responses consistent with my "true thinking"?
• Does the interpretation of my assessment results seem reasonable to me?
• When I am compared to the norms for the assessment, does it make a difference if I am demographically or culturally different?
• Was my life context taken into account in the interpretation of the assessment?
• Am I being classified based on this assessment and would I consider that classification fair and accurate?