GRADUATEJOURNALOFCOUNSELINGPSYCHOLOGY

SPRING2008,VOLUME1,ISSUE1,117135

DevelopmentoftheWAISIII:ABriefOverview,
History,andDescription
MarcA.Silva

Abstract:ThepurposeofthisarticleistointroducetheWAISIIItojuniorlevelcounseling
psychologygraduatestudents.TheWAISIIIisreferredtoasthegoldstandardfor
intellectualassessmentandthemostcommonlyusedtestofintellectualabilities.Thus,
studentswilllikelyadministerthisinstrumentutilizeWAISIIItestresultsintheirpractica
experiences.Thecurrentarticleprovidesanoverviewanddescriptionoftheinstrumentas
wellasabriefhistoryofitsdevelopmentandbriefanalysisofitspsychometricproperties.

TheWechslerAultIntelligenceScale,currentlyinitsthirdedition
(WAISIII;Wechsler,1997),isthelatestincarnationinalonglineof
comprehensiveintelligencetestsauthoredbyDavidWechsler.Sincehis
deathin1981,thelegacyheleftthefieldofpsychologyhascontinued
throughthePsychologicalCorporationandHarcourt,publishersofthe
WAISIIIandwidevarietyofotherWechslerassessments,suchasthe
WechslerTestofAdultReading(WTAR);WechslerAbbreviatedScaleof
Intelligence(WASI),andWechslerIntelligenceScaleforChildren,
currentlyinitsfourthedition(WISCIV).ThePsychologicalCorporation
andHarcourthavemadepossiblethemanifestationoftheWAISIII,latest
versionofaninternationallyrenownedassessmentofintelligence.Major
contributorstothedevelopmentoftheWAISIIIincludethefollowing
projectdirectors:HsinYiChen,LouiseODonnell,MarkLedbetter,David
Tulsky,andJianjunZhu(Wechsler,1997).TheWechslerscaleshavealong
history,withtheWAISIIIrepresentingavastimprovementin
psychometricpropertiesandclinicalutility.

PurposeofArticle

Thearticlewasoriginallypreparedasanassignmentforagraduate
levelcognitiveassessmentcourse.Thecontentwasmodifiedand
reorganizedinordertocogentlydescribingthehistory,content,and
utilityoftheWAISIII.Theintendedaudienceisjuniorlevelgraduate
studentsincounselingpsychologyorrelatedfieldswhoareunfamiliar
CorrespondenceconcerningthisarticleshouldbeaddressedtoMarcA.Silva,Departmentof
CounselingandEducationalPsychology,MarquetteUniversity,P.O.Box1881,Milwaukee,
WI,532011881.Email:marc.silva@marquette.edu.

REPRODUCTIONORDISTRIBUTIONOFTHISMATERIAL
BEYONDASINGLECOPYFORPERSONALUSEISPROHIBITED

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DEVELOPMENTOFTHEWAISIII
with,orwhoareinterestedinlearningmoreabout,thisgoldstandardtest
ofintelligence.Counselingpsychologygraduatestudentswilllikelycome
acrossWAISIIIassessmentresultsintheircoursework,professional
readings,andpracticasettings.Thecurrentarticleisdesignedtoprovide
juniorlevelgraduatestudentswithageneraloverview,history,and
descriptioninordertoincreasetheirfamiliaritywiththemostwideused
testofintelligenceinthefieldofpsychology.

HistoryofWAISTests

ThefirstversionoftheWAIS,titledTheWechslerBellevueIntelligence
Scale,waspublishedin1939.ThisversionwasfollowedbytheWechsler
BellevueFormIIin1946.Itwassubsequentlyrevisedandrenamed
WechslerAultIntelligenceScale,in1955,whichwasfollowedbythe
WechslerAultIntelligenceScaleRevised,in1981.FinallytheWAISIIIwas
introducedin1997.Atthetimeofthiswriting,theWAISisundergoing
revisionyetagain.TheWAISIVisdueforpublicationinFall2008
(Harcourt,2008a).

AlternateForms

TheWAISIIIisavailableinseveralversionsandinmanycountries
aroundtheworld.AversionhasbeenpublishedintheUnitedKingdom
(HarcourtAssessment,2005b),andtheinstrumentwasbeentranslated
intoanumberofotherlanguages,suchasFrench(Gregoire,2004),
Spanish(Garcia,Ruiz,&Abad,2004),andDutch(Kessels&
Wingbermuhle,2001).Anumberofshortforms(i.e.,brieferversionsof
theinstrument)havebeenintroducedaswell.HarcourtAssessment
(2005a)haspublishedtheonlyofficialshortversion,titledtheWechsler
AbbreviatedScaleofIntelligence(WASI).TheWAIScontainsfoursubtests
andisnationallystandardizedontheU.S.population.Severalunofficial
shortformshavebeenproposedaswell(e.g.Jeyakumar,Warriner,Raval,
&Ahmad,2004;Tam,2004).Thesebrieferversionshavebeencriticized
forlackingthepsychometricpoweroftheWASI.

Cost

TheWAISIII(UnitedStatesversion)completekit,whichincludesthe
WAISIIIAdministrationandScoringManual,TechnicalManual,the

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StimulusBooklet,25recordforms,25responsebooklets,allrelevant
stimulusmaterials,andscoringtemplatesisavailablefromHarcourt
Assessmentfor$978(HarcourtAssessment,2008b).

WAISIIITestStructure

TheWAISIIIprovidesavarietyofsummaryscoresregardingtest
takersintellectualabilities,includingrawscoresandstandardscores.
Intelligencequotients(commonlyreferredtoasIQs)andIndexscores
arestandardizedscoreswithameanof100andastandarddeviationof15.
TheWAISIIIyieldsthreeIQscores(VerbalIQ,PerformanceIQ,andFull
ScaleIQ)andfourIndexscores(VerbalComprehension,Perceptual
Organization,WorkingMemory,andProcessingSpeed).IQandIndex
scoresarecomprisedofcertainsubtests.

Scaledscoresarealsostandardizedwithameanof10andastandard
deviationofthree.Scaledscoresareprovidedforeachsubtest.Rawscores
aresimplythesumsofscoresforeachsubtest.Rawscoresarecomputed
intostandardscoresinordertocompareabilitiesacrosssubtests,indices,
andIQs.

TheWAISIIIcontains14subtests,althoughnotallcontributetoIQor
Indexscores.Thesubtestsare:PictureCompletion,Vocabulary,Digit
SymbolCoding,Similarities,BlockDesign,Arithmetic,MatrixReasoning,
DigitSpan,Information,PictureArrangement,Comprehension,Symbol
Search,LetterNumberSequencing,andObjectAssembly(Wechsler,
1997).Subtestsaregroupedintotwocategories:VerbalandPerformance
scales(seeTable1).PictureArrangementandComprehensionsubtest
scorescontributetoIQscoresbutnotIndexscores.SymbolSearchand
LetterNumberSequencingsubtestscorescontributetoIndexscores,but
notIQscores.ObjectAssemblyisanoptionalsubtestandisnotincluded
inthestandardcomputationofeithertheIQscoresortheIndexscores,
althoughcompletionofthissubtestallowsforaricherrepresentationof
theexamineesabilities.Alternatively,itcansubstituteforaspoiled
Performancesubtest(Wechsler,1997).Aspoiledsubtestisoneinwhich
thescoreisunabletobeused(i.e.,calculatedwithIQorIndexscores)
becauseofconditionsexternaltothetesttakingprocedures(e.g.,afire
alarmsoundsduringtheadministrationofblockdesign.Standardized
proceduresdonotallowforrepetitionoftestitems.Therefore,block
designisdroppedandobjectassemblymaytakeitsplace).

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AdministrationTime

Administrationtimevariesdependingonwhichsubtestsare
administered,whichinturnvariesaccordingtothetypeofscoresneeded
(i.e.traditionalIQscoresand/orIndexscores).Administrationtimefor
theentireassessmentisapproximately75110minutes(Wechsler,1997).
Cliniciansoftenneedtomaximizetimeandconsiderreimbursementcosts
frommanagedcarecompanies,whichmaybeunwillingtopayfor
extensivetesting.Omittingcertainsubtests(i.e.,Comprehension,Object
Assembly,andPictureArrangement)willstillpermitcalculationof
(prorated)Verbal,Performance,andFullScaleIQsaswellasallfour
Indices.

DescriptionofSubtests

PictureCompletion.PictureCompletioncontains25items.The
examineeviewsapictureandtheneitherpointstoornamesthe
importantfeaturemissingfromthepicture(Wechsler,1997).

Vocabulary.Vocabularycontains33itemsTheexamineeprovidesoral
definitionsforwordspresented(Wechsler,1997).

DigitSymbolCoding.ForDigitSymbolCoding,theexamineeis
shownaseriesofsymbolsthatarepairedwithnumbers.Usingakey,the
examineedrawseachsymbolunderitscorrespondingnumber,withina
120secondtimelimit(Wechsler,1997).

Similarities.Similaritiescontains19items,whicharepairsofwords.
Theexaminerpresentsthewordsorally,andtheexamineeisaskedhow
thetwoobjectsorconceptsarealike(Wechsler,1997).

BlockDesign.BlockDesigncontainsninetestitemswhicharenine
differentdesigns.Theexamineeisaskedtoreplicatemodelsorpicturesof
twocolor,sixsidedblocks,progressingindifficultyfromtwoblock
designstonineblockdesigns(Wechsler,1997).

Arithmetic.Arithmeticcontains20arithmeticproblems.Forthis
subtest,theexamineeispresentedwitharithmeticwordproblemstobe

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solvedwithouttheuseofpencilorpaper.Theexamineerespondsorally
withinagiventimelimit(Wechsler,1997).

MatrixReasoning.MatrixReasoningcontains26items.Thesubtest
consistsoffourtypesofnonverbalreasoningtasks:patterncompletion,
classification,analogy,andserialreasoning.Theexamineeviewsamatrix
fromwhichasectionismissing,andfromfiveresponseoptionsidentifies
themissingpiece(Wechsler,1997).

DigitSpan.DigitSpanhastwosubsections:DigitsForwardandDigits
Backward;eachcontainseightitems.Onboth,theexaminerreadsaseries
ofnumbersequencesinwhichtheexamineeisrequiredtorepeatthe
sequenceineitherforwardorreverseorder(Wechsler,1997).

Information.ForInformation,theexamineerespondsorallytoaseries
ofquestionsaboutfactualinformation.Thissubtestisdesignedtoassess
generalknowledgeaboutcommonpeople,places,objects,andevents
(Wechsler,1997).

PictureArrangement.PictureArrangementconsistsof11items.Each
itemconsistsofasetofpicturecardsthattellastory.Thecardsare
presentedtotheexamineeoutoforder,andtheexamineerearrangesthe
cardstocreatethestoryinpropersequence,withinaspecifiedtimelimit
(Wechsler,1997).

Comprehension.Comprehensioncontains18items.Theexaminee
respondsorallytoaseriesofquestionsthatrequiresolutionstoeveryday
problemsorunderstandingofconceptsorsocialpractices(Wechsler,
1997).

SymbolSearch.SymbolSearchcontains60items.Forthissubtest,the
examineevisuallyscanstwogroupsofsymbols(atargetgroupanda
searchgroup)andindicatesifeitherofthetargetsymbolsmatchesanyof
thesymbolsinthesearchgroup.Theexamineerespondstoasmanyitems
aspossiblewithina120secondtimelimit(Wechsler,1997).

LetterNumberSequence.ForLetterNumberSequence,theexaminer
readsacombinationofnumbersandlettersandtheexamineeisaskedto
recallthenumbersfirstinascendingorder,thenthelettersinalphabetical

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order.Therearesevenitemswitheachitemcontaining3stringsof
numbersandletters(Wechsler,1997).

ObjectAssembly.ObjectAssemblycontainsfiveobjectassembly
puzzles.Theexamineeispresentedwithpuzzlepiecesthat,whenproperly
assembled,formcommonobjects(Wechsler,1997).

StandardizationGroupandNorms

ThestandardizationgroupfortheWAISIIIincludedastratified
sampleof2,450individualsspanningtheagesof16to89years.
Stratificationwasalsoemployedonthefollowingdomains:gender,
race/ethnicity,educationallevel,andgeographicregion,andwasbasedon
informationgatheredfromthe1995U.S.BureauoftheCensus
(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).

Age.Thestandardizationsamplewasdividedinto13groups.Each
groupcontained200participants,exceptforthe8084agegroup,which
included150participants,andthe8589agegroup,whichhad100
participants(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).Theseextendedagenorms
representanenhancementfrompriorversionoftheWAIS.

Gender.Thestandardizationsampleconsistedofanequalnumberof
malesandfemalesineachagegroup,fromage16through64.The8084
and8589agegroupsincludedmorewomenthanmen,althoughthiswas
consistentwithU.S.Censusdata(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).

Raceandethnicity.ThecategoriesWhite,AfricanAmerican,Hispanic,
andotherwereusedforracialandethnicdemographiclabels.Foreachage
groupinthestandardizationsample,theproportionofeachracial/ethnic
categorywasbasedondatafromthe1995U.S.BureauoftheCensus
(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).

Educationallevel.Thestandardizationsamplewasstratifiedaccording
tofiveeducationlevelsbasedonthenumberofyearsofschoolcompleted.
Thecategoriesincluded:equaltoorlessthaneightyears,nineto11years,
12years,1315years,andequaltoormorethan16years(Psychological
Corporation,1997).

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Geographicregion.Thestandardizationsamplewasstratified
geographicallybydividingtheUnitedStatesintofourmajorregions,as
indicatedbythe1995U.S.BureauoftheCensus:Northeast,NorthCentral,
South,andWest.Thenumberofparticipantsfromeachregionwas
proportionatetothepopulationasindicatedinthe1995Censusreport
(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).

Exclusionarycriteria.Anumberofcriteriaweredefinedtoservethe
purposeofexcludingindividualsfromthestandardizationsample,
includingcolorblindness,uncorrectedhearingloss,uncorrectedvision
impairment,currenttreatmentforsubstancedependence,consumptionof
morethanthreealcoholbeveragesonmorethantwonightsaweek,seeing
adoctororotherprofessionalformemoryproblems,upperextremity
disabilitythatwouldeffectmotorperformance,anyperiodof
unconsciousnessforfiveminutesormore,headinjuryresultingin
hospitalizationformorethan24hours,amedicalorpsychiatriccondition
thatcouldpotentiallyaffectcognitivefunctioning,andcurrentlytaking
antidepressants,antianxietyorantipsychoticmedication(Psychological
Corporation,1997).

Limitation.AlthoughtheWAISIII/WMSIIITechnicalManual
providestableswhichcomparethestandardizedsampleswiththeU.S.
populationdataaccordingtothe1995Censusreport,itisnotreported
whetherornottherearestatisticallysignificantdifferences.

BasisforItemSelection

WAISIIItestitemshavebeenmodifiedfromthepreviousversion.
First,allWAISRsubtestsanditemswerereviewedforpotentialbias,
datedness,contentrelevance,andclinicalutility.Expertsevaluatedthe
itemsintermsofcontentandpotentialbias.Alongwiththesereviews,
itemstatisticsanditembiasanalyseswereusedtoidentifybiasedand
outdateditems,whichwererewrittenordeleted.Retaineditemswere
testedoutduringpilotstudies.Then,foranationwidetryout,446
participantswererecruitedviaastratifiedsamplingtechnique.An
oversamplingof162AfricanAmericanandHispanicexamineeswasused
toidentifyandremoveitemsthatwerepotentiallyculturallybiased
towardthesegroups(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).Althoughmany
testitemswereretained,comparedtothepreviousversion,severalofthe

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WAISIIIsubtestshavemoreitems.Forexample,TheWAISIII
Similaritiessubtestretains11ofthe14itemsintheWAISRversion,and
eightnewitemswereadded,foratotalof19testitems.Althoughthepool
ofitemsislarger,thenumberoftestitemsactuallyadministeredto
examineesdoesnotdiffersignificantly(Wechsler,1997).

History/BackgroundofInstrument

th

Intelligencetestingbeganduringthe19 century,thefirstofwhich
wasdevelopedbySirFrancesGalton,whoseinterestlayisexamining
giftedpeople.Attheturnofthe20thcentury,AlfredBinetdevelopeda
measureofintelligencewiththepurposeofselectingchildrenforschool
withintheParisschoolsystem.LewisTermanadaptedandtranslated
BinetsintelligencetestforuseintheUnitedStates.AstheUnitedStates
enteredtheWorldWarin1917,therewasastrongneedforamethodof
selectingandplacingrecruits.Tomeettheneedsofthemilitary,Arthur
OtishelpedtodevelopagroupadministeredIQtest,titledtheArmy
Alpha,atestcontainingverbalcontentsimilartoBinetsintelligencetest.
Shortlyafter,theArmyBetatestwasconstructedforthepurposeoftesting
theintelligenceofnonEnglishspeakingimmigrants.TheArmyBetatest
includednonverbaltasks,suchasPictureCompletion,Picture
Arrangement,DigitSymbol,andMazes.Manyofthesearestillusedin
contemporaryintelligencetests(Kaufman&Lichtenberger,1999).

ItwasduringWorldWarIthatDavidWechslercameontothescene
ofintelligencetesting.Hisapproachtointelligencetestinggaveequal
weighttotheArmyAlphaandArmyBetasystems(Kaufman&
Lichtenberger,1999).Wechslersoriginalintelligencetest(andtheWAIS
IIIsgreatgreatgrandfather),wastitledtheWechslerBellevueIntelligence
Scale.Itwasthefirstintelligencetesttoincorporatebothverbaland
performancescales(Kaufman&Lichtenberger,1999;Psychological
Corporation,1997).TheWechslerBellevueFormIIevolvedfromitsformer
incarnation;itwasthefirsttoemploystandardscores(calledDeviation
IQ),insteadofthementalage/chronologicalageformula,tocalculateIQ.
Inaddition,Wechslersinsistencethatpeopleshouldbeassessedonboth
theVerbalandPerformancescalesdeviatedfromthepopularand
professionalopinionduringthattime.Hewasalsothefirsttointroduce
subtestscoreprofiles,aswellasproducingthreeIQscoresinsteadofone.
DiscrepanciesbetweenVerbalandPerformanceIQsgotthepeoples
attention,andservedtoprovideunderstandingtotheorysurrounding

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fluidversuscrystallizedintelligence,andbrainfunctioning.Infact,the
Wechslerintelligencetestsbecamesopopularthattheyreplacedthe
StanfordBinetastheKingofIQ.TheyarethepreferredIQtests
accordingtobothclinicalpsychologistsandgraduatelevelinstructors
(Kaufman&Lichtenberger,1999).

WechslersConceptofIntelligence

Wechslerdefinedintelligenceasthecapacitytoactpurposefully,to
thinkrationally,andtodealeffectivelywithhisenvironment(Wechsler,
1944,p.3,ascitedinKaufman&Lichtenberger,1999;Psychological
Corporation,1997).AccordingtoPsychologicalCorporation(1997),
Wechslerviewedintelligenceasamultidimensionalconstruct,consisting
ofbothgeneralaptitudeandspecificabilities,thelatterofwhichare
composedofelementswhicharequantitativelydifferent,yetcontributeto
generalabilityasawhole.Hebelievedintelligenceshouldbemeasuredby
bothverbalandperformancetasks,althoughlaterinhiscareer,hebegan
toexploreotherfactorsrelatedtointelligence(e.g.theabilitytoperceive
andrespondtosocial,moral,andaestheticvalues).

KaufmanandLichtenberger(1999)purportthatthedevelopmentof
theWechslertestswasnotbasedontheory,exceptfor,perhaps,general
intelligencetheory.Instead,Wechslerappliedhisclinicalskillsand
experience,aswellashisextensivestatisticaltrainingindevelopmentof
thescalesforhisintelligencetests(Kaufman&Lichtenberger,1999;
Wechsler,1997).However,extensivetheoreticalperspectiveshavebeen
appliedtotheWechslerscales,thenatureofthetests,andthemeaningof
theirscores.

ThesubtestsWechslerselectedforhisteststapmanydifferentmental
abilitiessuchasabstractreasoning(e.g.,Similarities),verbalskills(e.g.,
Vocabulary),andprocessingspeed(e.g.,DigitSymbolCoding,Symbol
Search).Wechslerrecognizedthathisintelligencescalessampledan
individualsabilities,andthatindividualsvaryinthedevelopmentoftheir
intellectualfunctioning.Asaresult,individualshaveuniquecognitive
profilescharacterizedbyvariousstrengthsandweaknesses(Psychological
Corporation,1997).

TheWAISIIIcontinuesinthesametraditionofmeasuringabilities
basedonVerbalandPerformancescales,eachproducinganIQscore,as
wellasaglobalformofintelligence,measuredbytheFullScaleIQscore,
althoughimprovementsweremadeintherevisionprocess.Themajor

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changeintheWAISIIIfromitspreviousversionistheadditionoffour
Indexscores.Duringitsdevelopment,itwashypothesizedthattheWAIS
IIIsubtestswouldloadoffourfactors:VerbalComprehension,Working
Memory,PerceptualOrganization,andProcessingSpeed.Resultsfrom
exploratoryandconfirmatoryfactoranalysessupportedthefourfactor
modelhypothesis.ResearchontheWAISRproducedonlyathreefactor
model(Kaufman&Lichtenberger,1999).Theadditionofthefourthfactor
providesfurtherinformationaboutindividualsuniquestrengthsand
weaknesseswithregardtointellectualfunctioning.

ADMINISTRATIONANDINTERPRETATION

Qualifications

Administrationandinterpretationofstandardizedtests,suchasthe
WAISIII,requiresformalgraduateorprofessionaltrainingin
psychologicalassessment.Inaddition,testusers(i.e.,testadministrators)
shouldhavetrainingandexperienceintheadministrationand
interpretationofthespecificinstrumentbeingutilized.Furthermore,they
shouldhavesufficientexperienceworkingwithindividualswhoseages,
linguisticbackgrounds,andclinical,cultural,andeducationalhistoriesare
similartothoseoftheindividualsthattheywillbetesting(Wechsler,
1997).Additionally,testusersshouldbefamiliarwiththeAmerican
PsychologicalAssociations(APA)StandardsforEducationaland
PsychologicalTesting(AmericanEducationalResearchAssociation,
AmericanPsychologicalAssociation,&NationalCouncilonMeasurement
inEducation1999),andAPAsEthicalStandardsandCodeofConduct
(APA,2002)asthesestandardsandguidelinesrelatetopsychological
assessment.

TestMaterials

TheWAISIIItestkitincludesseveralmaterialstoguidethetestuser
initsadministrationandinterpretation.TheWAISIIIAdministrationand
ScoringManual(Wechsler,1997),providesclearinstructiononthe
organizationandapplicationoftheassessmentaswellasinformation
regarding(1)currentrevisions;(2)derivationofraw,scaled,Index,andIQ
scores;(3)generalprinciplesoftestuseandsequenceofsubtest
administration;and(4)scoringdirections.TheTechnicalManualincludes

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informationregardingstandardizationandnormdevelopment,reliability
andvaliditydata,andinterpretativeconsiderations.Also,theStimulus
BookletandBlockDesign,PictureArrangement,andObjectAssembly
subtestsareclearlylabeled.ScoringtemplatesforSymbolSearchand
DigitSymbolCodingarealsoincluded.TheAdministrationandScoring
Manualexplainthescoringprocessusingthetemplates(included).Asa
criticism,thetestdevelopersshouldhaveincludedpictorialexamplesof
scoringsubtestswithmorecomplicatedprocedures.

TestBias

Thestandardizationofthenormativegroupwasstatisticallyrigorous,
employingastratifiedsamplingmethodacrossseveraldomains.

Age.Theagerangehasbeenextendedthrough89yearsofage,in
contrastfromthepreviousversion,whichwasstandardizedonindividuals
uptoage74.Astheagetowhichpeoplearelivingincreasesandthe
numberofolderadultslivinggrows,itisnecessarytohavetestswhichcan
provideinformation(e.g.IQscores)totheseindividualsrelativetotheir
normativegroup.Additionally,itemswhichhavebeenjudgedtobe
chronologicallyremoteforyoungerexamineeswererevisedordeleted
(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).Theserefinementsprovideevidencefor
theminimizationofagebiasintheWAISIII.

Raceandethnicity.TheprocessofincludingAfricanAmericansand
Hispanicsforthepurposeofseekingoutanddeletingculturallybiased
itemswasimpressive.However,therewaslimitedinformationaboutthe
racial/ethniccompositionoftheothercategory.WAISIIIscoresshouldbe
interpretedwithcautionwhentesttakersarefromculturalgroupsnot
representedorunderrepresentedintheWAISIIIstandardizedgroup.

Language.TheWAISIIIisavailableinseveralotherlanguages.Test
translationsshouldbeinformedbybothlanguageandculture.TheWAIS
IIIAdministrationandScoringManual,andtheTechnicalManualdidnot
providepsychometricpropertiesontheotherlanguageversionsofthe
WAISIII,buttheyarelikelycontainedinthoseotherlanguageversions.If
otherlanguageversionsweredevelopedwiththesamelevelofdetailas
theUnitedStatesversion,onecanassumethatlanguagebiashasbeen
minimizedtoasatisfactorydegree.

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Otherformsofbias.TheWAISIIIdoesnotincludenormativegroup
statisticsregardingsexualorientationorreligiosity.Itisnotknown
whetherpeopleofvarioussexualorientationsorreligiousaffiliationwere
overorundersampled.Similartomembersofotherethnicandcultural
groups,caremustbetakenwhengeneralizingfindingstomembersof
groupsnotidentifiedinthenormativesample.

Reliability

Splithalfandtestretestreliability.ThereliabilityofeachWAISIII
subtest(withtheexceptionoftheDigitSymbolCodingandSymbol
Searchsubtests)wascalculatedusingthesplithalfreliabilitymethod
(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).BecausetheDigitSymbolCodingand
SymbolSearchsubtestsaretimedsubtests,thetestretestreliability
methodwasusedinstead.Reliabilityscoreswerecalculatedforeachof
the13agegroups,withanaveragereliabilityscoreacrossagegroups
calculatedviaFishersztransformation.Averagesubtestreliabilityscores
rangefrom.70to.93(seeTable2).

ReliabilitycoefficientsoftheWAISIIIIQscoresandIndexscoresare
alsocalculatedtomeasureinternalconsistencyusingtheformula
recommendedbyGuilford(1954)andNunnally(1978)accordingtothe
PsychologicalCorporation(1997).ReliabilityofaverageIQscoresrange
from.94.98;reliabilityofaverageIndexscoresrangefrom.88.96(see
Table2).Overall,theWAISIIIhashigherreliabilitycoefficientsthanthe
WAISR(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).

Interraterreliability.InterscoreragreementformostWAISIII
subtestswashigh,withaveragesinthehigh.90s.However,somesubtests
requiredmorejudgmentinscoring.Forexample,thethreeverbalsubtests
wereselectedforfurtherreliabilityinvestigation.Interraterreliability
coefficientsforthesesubtestswere.95forVocabulary,.93forSimilarities,
and.91forComprehension(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).

Validity

Contentvalidity.Thegoalofthecontentrevisionprocessforthe
WAISIIIwastoincreasecontentvalidity.Comprehensiveliterature
searcheswereconductedtoidentifycontentvalidityissueswiththe

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WAISR,andnewitemswerereviewedbyseveralclinical,school,and
neuropsychologists.Inaddition,anindependentpanelofpsychological
assessmentexpertsreviewedtheWAISRwiththepurposeofimproving
thecontent(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).Overall,thedevelopers
thoroughlyincreasedWAISIIIcontentvalidity.

Concurrentvalidity.Evidenceforconcurrentvalidityisbasedon
correlationsoftheWAISIIIwithothertestsaimedatmeasuring
intelligence.Forexample,correlationsbetweenWAISIIIandWAISR
rangedfrom.76.90forVerbalsubtests,.50.77forPerformance
subtests,and.93.94forIQscores.CorrelationsbetweentheWAISIII
andtheWechslerIntelligenceScaleforChildren,ThirdEdition(WISCIII)
rangedfrom.73.83forVerbalsubtests,.45.80forPerformance
subtests,and.78.88forIQscores.CorrelationsbetweentheWAISIIIIQ
scoresandtheWIATcompositescoresweremostlyhigh,rangingfrom.53
.81.CorrelationswerelowerwhentheWAISIIIwascomparedwiththe
StandardProgressiveMatrices(SPM).WithregardtotheSPMscores,
WAISIIIIQscorecorrelationsrangedfrom.49.79.Indexscoresfrom
.25.65.CorrelationsbetweenWAISIIIIQscoresandStanfordBinet
IntelligenceScaleFourthEdition(SBIV)compositescoreswerehigh,
rangingfrom.78.89.WiththeexceptionoftheWAISIIIProcessing
SpeedIndexscore(r=.07),correlationsbetweenIndexscoresandSBIV
compositescoreswereinthehigh.80s(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).
Generally,concurrentvalidityishighfortheWAISIII.

Predictivevalidity.PredictivevalidityoftheWAISIII(orassessment
instrumentsingeneral)variesdependingonthevariable(s)onewantsto
predict.Predictionsaboutfuturebehaviorusingintelligencetesting
shouldbemadewithcaution.TheIQscoreobtainedfromtheWAISIII
capturesonespresentabilityandfunctioning(i.e.,asnapshotintime).IQ
scoreschangeovertimeandacrosstestadministrations.Withthatin
mind,theWAISIIIcanassistindiagnosingcertainconditions,suchas
mentalretardation,giftedness,orneurologicalimpairment(Psychological
Corporation,1997).However,beforemakingdiagnoses,assessorsshould
utilizeconsultavarietyofsourcesofinformation(e.g.,neuroimaging,
psychodiagnostictests,andclinicalobservations).Diagnosisshouldnobe
basedontheWAISIII(oranysingleinstrument)alone.

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Constructvalidity.AccordingtothePsychologicalCorporation(1997),
numeroussourcesofevidencebasedonseveralstudiessupportthe
constructvalidityoftheWAISIII.

Convergentanddiscriminantvalidity.Evidenceforconvergentand
discriminantvalidity(typicallyusedtoestablishconstructvalidity)
validitywasbasedoncorrelationsbetweenWAISIIIsubtests,IQscales,
andIndexscores.Allsubtestsarerelatedtogeneralintelligence(AKAg
factor.Highcorrelationsbetweenmostsubtestssupportthegfactor
theory.Additionally,somesubtestsaremorecorrelatedwitheachother
thanothersubtests.Thatis,Verbalsubtestshavehighercorrelationswith
otherVerbalsubteststhantheydoPerformancesubtests,whichintuitively
makessense.AlessdistinctpatternwasfoundinthePerformancesubtests
(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).

FactorAnalyses

Exploratoryandconfirmatoryfactoranalyseswereconductedduring
thedevelopmentoftheWAISIII.Exploratoryanalyseswereconductedto
examinetheeffectsofaddingordeletingsubtests.Confirmatoryfactor
analyseswereperformedtotestvariousstructuralmodels.Subtestswere
testedtofitone,two,three,four,andfivefactormodels,withthefour
factormodelhavingthebestgoodnessoffit.Theresultwasthe
establishmentofthefourIndices:VerbalComprehension,Perceptual
Organization,WorkingMemory,andProcessingSpeed.TheWAISIIIwas
thefirsteditiontointroduceIndexscores,whichwerenotavailableon
previousversions(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).

CONCLUSION

TheWAISIIIhasseveralfavorablefeatures.Thereisgreatdiversity
amongthesubtests,whichaimatassessingvariousaspectsofintellectual
functioning.Statisticallyspeaking,thereliabilityandvalidityofthis
instrumentarestrong.Practically,theassessmentappearseasyto
administer,theguidebooksappeareasytofollow,andthematerialsand
thesubtestitemsseemliketheywouldbeinterestingandmaybeeven
enjoyabletoadminister.Onedrawbackistheadministrationtime,which
isquitelengthy,evenusingtruncatedformats.Inaddition,thetestisvery
structured,requiring100%oftheadministratorsattention.Moreover,the

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GRADUATEJOURNALOFCOUNSELINGPSYCHOLOGY
WAISIIIisfairlyexpensive.Atthesametime,theWAISIIIistheKingof
IQandthemostpopularintelligenceassessmentinstrument,Ithasutility
forcounselorsandpsychologistsworkinginavarietyofsettings,including
colleges,communityclinics,andhospitals.Evenforthosewhodonot
administertheWAISIII,knowledgeoftheassessmentisimportantfor
counselingpsychologystudentswhowilllikelyencounterassessments
results(mostlikelyusingtheWAISIII)forclientstheyserve.

REFERENCES

AmericanEducationalResearchAssociation,AmericanPsychological
Association,&National CouncilonMeasurementinEducation.
(1999).Standardsofeducationalandpsychological testing.
Washington,DC:AmericanEducationalResearchAssociation.
AmericanPsychologicalAssociation.(2002).Ethicalprinciplesof
psychologistsandcodeofconduct2002.AmericanPsychologist,57,
10601073.
Garcia,L.F.,Ruiz,M.A.,Abad,F.J.(2003).Estructurafactorialdela
versionespanoladelWAISIII.Psicothema,15(1),155160.
Gregoire,J.(2004).FactorstructureoftheFrenchversionoftheWechsler
AdultIntelligence ScaleIII.Educational&Psychological
Measurement,64,463474.
HarcourtAssessment.(2005a).WechslerAbbreviatedScaleofIntelligence.
RetrievedSeptember 17,2005,from
http://harcourtassessment.com/haiweb/Cultures/en
US/Products/Product+Detail.htm?CS_ProductID=0158981
502&CS_Category=CognitionIntelligence&CS_ Catalog=TPC
USCatalog
HarcourtAssessment.(2005b).WechslerAdultIntelligenceScale3rdUK
UK
Edition(WAIS III )[ElectronicVersion].2005psychological
assessmentcatalog(pp.54).JordonHill,Oxford:HarcourtUK.
RetrievedSeptember17,2005from
http://www.heinemann.co.uk/shared/Resources/NonSecure/0000000
0/psychologicalcat2005.pdf
HacourtAssessment.(2008a).WechslerAdultIntelligenceScaleFourth
Edition(WAISIII).RetrievedFebruary17,2008from
http://harcourtassessment.com/HAIWEB/Cultures/en
us/Productdetail.htm?Pid=0158980808&Mode=summary

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HarcourtAssessment.(2008b).WechslerAdultIntelligenceScaleThird
Edition(WAISIII).RetrievedFebruary17,2008from
http://harcourtassessment.com/HAIWEB/Cultures/en
us/Productdetail.htm?Pid=0158980
727&Mode=detail&Leaf=avpproducts
Jeyakumar,S.L.E.,Warriner,E.M.,Raval,V.V.,&Ahmad,S.A.(2004).
Balancingtheneedforreliabilityandtimeefficiency:Shortformsof
theWechslerAdultIntelligenceScaleIII.Educational&Psychological
Measurement,64(1),7187.
Kaufman,A.S.,&Lichtenberger,E.O.(1999).EssentialsofWAISIII
assessment.NewYork:Wiley.
Kessels,R.P.,Wingbermuhle,P.A.(2001).TheDutchversionofthe
WAISIII:Ameasureofintelligenceandcognitivefunctioning.
NederlandsTijdschriftvoordePsychologieenhaarGrensgebieden,56,
227230.
PsychologicalCorporation.(1997).WechslerAdultIntelligenceScaleThird
Edition,andWechslerMemoryScaleThirdEditiontechnicalmanual.
SanAntonio,TX:Author.
Tam,WC.C.(2004).Theutilityofsevensubtestshortformsofthe
WechslerAdultIntelligenceScaleIIIinyoungadults.Journalof
PsychoeducationalAssessment,22(1),6271.
Wechsler,D.(1997).WAISIIIadministrationandscoringmanual.San
Antonio,TX:PsychologicalCorporation.

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GRADUATEJOURNALOFCOUNSELINGPSYCHOLOGY
APPENDIXA

Table1:WAISIIISubtests(Source:Wechsler,1997)

VerbalSubtests*

PerformanceSubtests**

1.PictureCompletionb
2.Vocabularya

3.DigitSymbolCodingd
4.Similaritiesa

5.BlockDesignb
6.Arithmeticc

7.MatrixReasoningb
8.DigitSpanc

10.PictureArrangement
9.Informationa

11.Comprehension

12.SymbolSearchd

14.ObjectAssembly
13.LetterNumberSequencingc

*VerbalIQsubtests;**PerformanceIQsubtests;aVerbalComprehension
subtests;bPerceptual

Organizationsubtests;cWorkingMemorysubtests;dProcessingSpeed
subtests

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DEVELOPMENTOFTHEWAISIII
APPENDIXB

Table2:WAISIIIIQ,Index,andSubtestAverageReliabilityCoefficients,
Calculatedwith

FisherzcalculatedwithTransformation(PsychologicalCorporation,1997).

IQs

rxxa

VerbalIQ

.97

PerformanceIQ

.94

FullScoreIQ

.98

Indices

rxxa

VerbalComprehensionIndex.96

PerceptualOrganizationIndex.93

WorkingMemoryIndex.94

ProcessingSpeedIndex
.88

Subtest

rxxa

Vocabulary

.93

Similarities

.86

Arithmetic

.88

DigitSpan

.90

Information

.91

Comprehension

.84

LetterNumber
Sequencing

.82

PictureCompletion

.83

DigitSymbolCoding.84

BlockDesign

.86

MatrixReasoning

PictureArrangement

SymbolSearch

ObjectAssembly

.90
.74
.77
.70

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GRADUATEJOURNALOFCOUNSELINGPSYCHOLOGY
MarcA.Silva
MarcSilvaobtainedaBachelorofSciencedegreeinpsychologyfromthe
UniversityofCentralFloridaandiscurrentlyinhisfourthyearofthe
CounselingPsychologyPhDprogramatMarquetteUniversity.Hisclinical
andresearchinterestsinclude(1)psychologicalassessment;(2)PTSD;and
(3)masculinityanditsrelationshiptomentalhealth,healthcareutilization,
andhelpseeking.Hiscareergoalsincludeprovidingpsychologicalservices
toveteransinaVAhospitalsetting,conductingappliedresearchaimedat
improvingmentalandbehavioralhealthamongmaleveterans,and
supervisingpsychologytrainees.

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