Motivating the attitude of the subjects to the experiment or psychological examination. The smallest number of distortions occurs if the subject has a personal interest in the results of the experiment, but does not see in the information he expects to receive from the psychologist something that determines his life on a large scale. Such a suitable level of motivation occurs when the subject has a desire to expand knowledge about himself, to test himself, to test. A useful way to increase motivation is to promise to tell about the results after processing the experimental data, to give a little commentary if necessary.

You should not agree to requests to give the results of an experiment or survey in writing. Written psychological characteristics (conclusion of a psychodiagnostician, psychologist's prognosis) based on the results of an ordered psychodiagnostic examination is a special topic. Compiling a written psychological profile requires qualifications and experience. The likelihood that you will inflict some kind of psychological trauma on the subject when reporting the results orally is much less. With oral communication, what is understood is more firmly remembered. What is unclear in a written message is fraught with the danger of harm, especially to an anxious person. The more significant the received information, the stronger the protective mechanisms of the personality are activated. In this case, part of the information stored in the memory will then be changed in the desired direction (“retouched”), and the other will be forced out of consciousness.

Forced participation in an experiment may result in inaccurate data. If there is an assumption about the low motivation of the subjects, then it is necessary to apply methods that increase motivation, for example, pay for participation, introduce a competitive moment in the relations of the subjects, increase the aesthetic design of the entire experimental situation (environment, equipment, stimulus material, etc.).

Very high motivation, interest in "good" results is often found in professional selection. It should be taken into account that its influence can be so great as to make it impossible to interpret the results. Corrective scales and techniques in this case may be ineffective.

Instruction. Of no small importance is the instruction that the subject receives. This instructions should be the same for everyone. Therefore, the instruction should be short, clear and concise, not allowing for ambiguous interpretation of the provisions. It is impossible, for example, to offer one subject to work as quickly as possible without giving the same setting to another. However, this does not mean that all subjects need to present instructions in exactly the same words, without changing anything. The experimenter must give instructions in a free presentation, without forgetting a single obligatory item, creating in the subject all the provided installations for action.

It is important to achieve not the same "sound" of the instruction, but the same degree of understanding of it by all subjects. If the experimenter sees that the subject did not understand the instruction well enough, he must repeat (read) it again and achieve complete understanding.

Experiment procedure. The experiment should be carried out in the same order for all subjects. If there are quite a few steps of the experiment, then it is necessary to have a record of their list at hand.

It is advisable to first take some action to set up the subject for the experiment. This can be done by demonstrating interest in him, for example, by asking a few specific questions that might endear him to the experimenter, or by expressing your gratitude to the subject for agreeing to participate in the experiment.

Next, it is advisable to find out the well-being of the subject. This is especially important in the study of attention, cognitive and emotional processes, state, psychophysiological reactions. You can get this information in a free survey form.

Experiment protocol. For many experimental situations, this form of the protocol is suitable.

By "raw" they mean the scores that the psychologist receives directly in the experience, experiment, from the answer sheet for the questionnaire, questionnaire, etc. Standard ones are obtained after converting raw grades using conversion tables, conversion scales, graphs, etc. In the standard assessment, the answer or result of an individual subject is correlated with the average values ​​(of answers or results) of a normative sample. The normative sample means a fairly wide and representative sample, the results of which the author of the methodology used to create conversion tables or conversion scales. The standard score is entered into the protocol already during its processing, after the experiment.

The column "Note" contains questions, remarks, statements of the subject, descriptions of the subject's behavior, appearance, etc. If the first tests showed that there is not enough space in this column, then a footnote to the entry is made in the appropriate place in the column, and the entries are kept on a separate sheet of paper.

It is better to organize the space in the experiment room so that the subject does not see how the experimenter takes notes. To do this, you can use low partitions on the table or record using a tablet that rests on the table or is located outside the plane of the table.

After the end of the experiment, the subject should be asked to report on his self-observations during the experiment, i.e. about their thoughts, feelings, images, assumptions, intentions, options, etc. Do not obsessively ask the subject to write down the report in writing. You can get a report from him (not always), but very often you will lose a lot of valuable information if you assume that everything that the subject can report is recorded in it. For many people, putting down any of their thoughts and memories on paper is more difficult than expressing them orally. At the same time, people often switch their attention to the form of constructing phrases, grammatical correctness, etc. Thus, it is better to record the test subject's messages yourself, without editing them. Questions must be asked with caution, as they can lead the subject into their own system of interpretations or interfere with recall. It is more expedient either to use the same set of questions for all subjects (in any case, start with such a set), or to use simple verbalizations, which means conversation methods using a retelling of what you just heard - verbatim or with some changes and abbreviations in order to keep the subject's attention on the subject of the conversation.

When developing the form of the protocol, one should take into account the features of the experimental procedure and, to no lesser extent, the simplicity and convenience of processing the results. The fewer operations in manual data processing, the less the likelihood of errors and distortions. In any case, the data from the protocols are entered into a summary table, initially compiled in handwritten form (the form of the table is presented below), then an electronic version is compiled for further processing. Transferring data directly from the protocol to a spreadsheet created on a computer is impractical for the reasons that the technique, no matter how perfect it may be, can fail, “freeze”, disks that a number of researchers work with often fail. Therefore, it is necessary to always have an almost "eternal" primary source (or computer printout of the table) on paper, especially for the most valuable data.

For protocols, it is more convenient to use sheets of the same format, lined in a cage. This ensures the same scale of records and makes it easier to draw tables. The algorithm for filling out the protocol, the form of recording each indicator during the experiment should be thought out and worked out in advance.

The procedure of psychodiagnostic examination. The examination procedure should correspond as closely as possible to that described in the manual of the technique you are using. The usual sequence of the survey is approximately as follows.

• 1. Explain why a test (questionnaire, set of tasks...) is needed, avoiding undesirable correction of motives; communicate what results are expected.
• 2. Guarantee the secrecy of individual answers and results as a whole.
• 3. Slowly, loudly, clearly read the instructions or reproduce from memory (unless it is planned to instruct in writing).
• 4. Give examples, give the opportunity to perform trial tasks during intellectual tests. Check if the instruction is correctly understood.
• 5. Familiarize yourself with the time regulations. Report on the rules for correcting errors, prohibitions in communication, behavior during the examination. Indicate in what form the examination should be completed.
• 6. Ask to write in the answer sheet (registration form) the listed information about socio-demographic data. Check for correct entries. These data are important for psychologists, but errors in them are quite common. The following is very common: date of examination, gender, age (full years), education, institution (organization), if necessary - position, specialty, work experience, social status, family composition (for children, especially preschool, primary and secondary school age, this information should be clarified with the management of the institution, educator, class teacher).
• 7. Answer questions. Try to answer concisely - lengthy answers are less remembered.
• 8. When performing tasks with a fixed time, give the command to write down the start time of the tasks and start solving
• 9. During the examination, monitor compliance with the rules of records and prohibitions in communication. The survey leader should avoid moving around the room unnecessarily - this may be distracting or annoying for some subjects. It is necessary to ensure that the unfilled time of the subjects is minimal in order to avoid unnecessary conversations, exchange of opinions, comparison of answers, etc.

Sometimes a given question awakens memories, experiences, associations, it is an excuse to talk about something personally significant.

In these cases, it is not recommended to enter into detailed explanations and comments on questions. If the subject, trying to answer the question about the severity of some mental quality in him, finds it difficult to do this due to the fact that it manifests itself differently in different situations, then for many cases this kind of explanation is suitable: “Answer, as it happens with you most often” or “Rate it for the situation in which it is easiest for you to imagine yourself (remember)”.

• 10. At the end of the examination, immediately collect test materials and answer sheets (registration forms). If the survey is group, then this can be done as follows:
  • ask everyone to stay in their seats;
  • ask to transfer test materials to the beginning or row (on the first tables) in the following order: answer sheets, test brochures and stimulus material, drafts;
  • check the amount of materials collected.

If the examination is carried out without a predetermined time limit and the subjects are allowed to leave immediately after completing all the test tasks, then it must be warned that this can be done only after the returned materials have been handed over and checked by the head of the examination.

Completion of the experiment and examination. It should be remembered that very often a psychological experiment or examination causes psycho-emotional stress and is fraught with the danger of inflicting psychological trauma on the subject, even if it is small. Many of the questions or judgments of questionnaires and questionnaires involve in-depth reflection. We do not always provoke this in the subject at that moment of his life when it is useful to him or, at least, not harmful. Even questions concerning simple personal data make a person aware of their age, national characteristics, official status, etc. When considering the answers, the subjects may increase anxiety, concern, worries about the mistakes and failures made, dissatisfaction with life circumstances, and so on. There is a great danger of traumatization when studying relationships in the family, in a group, and other interpersonal relationships.

For example, tasks that were not completed within the allotted time, mistakes, confusion, etc. can be painfully perceived. It should be reported that in experiments this is a common phenomenon and other subjects act in approximately the same way)