What best distinguishes a clinical interview from standardized testing in child psychology?

• A. Clinical interview uses norm-referenced scores; standardized testing uses narrative history.
• B. Clinical interview gathers history and context; standardized testing provides norm-referenced scores and objective data; both inform diagnosis and treatment planning.
• C. Clinically, you only interview parents; testing only measures IQ.
• D. They are identical.

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that a clinical interview and standardized testing provide different kinds of information that together support understanding and planning. A clinical interview is designed to gather history, development, presenting problems, and the child’s and family’s context through conversation. It yields rich, narrative information about symptoms, functioning, and psychosocial factors that can influence how problems developed and are experienced day to day. Standardized testing, by contrast, uses structured tasks and scoring to produce objective, norm-referenced data about abilities or symptoms. These scores place a child’s performance relative to peers and help quantify strengths and weaknesses in a way that supports diagnostic decisions and treatment planning. Because they complement each other, both inform how a child is functioning and what steps to take next.

Interviews don’t generate norm-referenced scores, and standardized tests measure more than just IQ. Clinicians also involve children, not only parents, and the two approaches are not identical.