Assessment of technical aspects of WISC-R administration

The present study evaluated the technical aspects of three WISC-R administrations of five psychology graduate students using the WISC-R Administration Observational Checklist (WAOC). The observations also were used as a means of evaluating interrater agreement on the WAOC. Based on a total of 15 observations of two raters, Cohen's x was calculated for 29 of the measures on the checklist. The x values for 24 of these measures were significant (p < .01). Overall scores on the WAOC indicated that students performed significantly better on the second than on the first observation. Their level of performance was maintained, but was not significantly improved, at the time of a third observation made during the second semester. Error patterns were similar to those found by Fantuzzo, Sisemore, and Spradlin (1983), using the Criteria for Competent WISC-R Administration (CCWA).