Authors:
Lloyd M. Dunn and Leota M. Dunn

Publisher:
American Guidance Services
(800) 328-2560
www.agsnet.com

Initial Material Cost:
PPVT-III Form IIIA and IIIB Test Kit: $155 for each, or $263 for both (includes picture plates, 2 norms booklets, 2 examiner’s manual, and 1 package (25) performance records) PPVT-III Form IIIA and IIIB Test Kit with ASSIST: $254 PPVT-III Form IIIA and IIIB Test Kit with ASSIST: $362

Representativeness of Norming Sample:
The norming sample consisted of a stratified random sample of 2,725 persons ages 2.5 to over 90 selected to proportionately match the population distribution in the March 1994 Current Population Survey on gender, race/ethnicity, geographic region, and socioeconomic states. The sample was restricted to individuals who understood English. The tests were conducted between March 1995 and March 1996 at 240 nationwide sites.

Languages:
English (see the Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody, for the Spanish version of the test)

Type of Assessment:
Direct child assessment

Age Range and Administration Interval:
-2 - to 90 years.

Personnel, Training, Administration, and Scoring Requirements:
Although formal training in psychometrics is not required, the examiners should be thoroughly familiar with the test materials and well-trained in administering and scoring the test. It takes approximately 12 minutes to administer 5 sets.

Summary
Initial Material Cost: 2 ($100 to $200)
Reliability: 3 (.65 or higher)
Validity: 1 (validity information not available on children from 0-3)
Norming Sample Characteristics: 3 (normed within the past 15 years with a nationally representative population)
Ease of Administration and Scoring: 2 (administered and scored by a trained individual)

Description: The PPVT-III tests for listening comprehension of standard English. It has two parallel forms, Forms IIIA and IIIB, each with four training items (for administering the test) and 204 test items grouped into 17 sets of 12 items arranged in order of increasing difficulty. In the test, the examiner orally presents a stimulus word with a set of pictures and the test taker is asked to select the picture that best represents the word’s meaning. The examiner administers the item sets until the child’s “basal” and “ceiling” sets are found, a process that usually takes five item sets. The basal set is the item set in which the child makes one or no errors and the ceiling set is the item set in which the child makes eight or more errors. Because it requires no reading or writing and is easy to administer, PPVT-III is useful in testing preschool children and is fair to persons with written-language problems and disabilities such as autism, withdrawn personalities, psychotic symptoms, severe cerebral palsy, and moderate visual disabilities.

Uses of Information: PPVT-III can be used to measure a person’s receptive vocabulary. PPVT-III can (1) screen for verbal ability, giftedness, and mental retardation in persons for whom English is the spoken language in the home, community, and school; and (2) measure English language proficiency for persons for whom English is a second language.

Reliability: (1) Internal consistency validity (Cronbach’s alpha): .93 for Form IIIA for both ages 2 years 6 months and 3 years. For Form IIIB, the alphas were .93 and .92, respectively. The Spearman-Brown split-half reliability coefficients for Form IIIA were . 89 for ages 2 years, 6 months and .91 for age 3, and for Form IIIB .92 and .93, respectively. (2) Test-retest reliability (with an approximately one-month interval between tests): the correlation coefficients for ages 2 years, 6 months through 5 years, 11 months were .92 for Form IIIA and .91 for Form IIIB.

Validity: (1) Concurrent validity: Tests that compared PPVT-III with intelligence tests were conducted and the results were corrected for norm group variability. Corrected correlation coefficients ranged from .82 to .92 with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Third Edition verbal, performance, and full scale IQ scales, .76 to .91 with the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test crystallized, fluid, and composite IQ tests, .62 to .82 with the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test vocabulary, matrices, and composite tests, and .63 to .83 with the Oral and Written Language Scales listening comprehension, oral expression, and composite scales. However, all of these tests were performed on persons older than 3. (2) Predictive validity: no information available.

Method of Scoring: The examiner enters the number associated with the picture selected by the examinee on the performance record form and draws a “slash” through the letter “E” under the error column for each error. The raw score is obtained by subtracting the total number of errors above the examinee’s basal set from the number associated with the most difficult item answered correctly in the examinee’s ceiling set. Using several tables, raw scores can be converted into different types of age-adjusted standardized scores. One table converts the raw score into a standard score. A second table converts the standard score into percentile rank, normal curve equivalent, and stanine. Finally, a third table converts the examinee’s raw score into the age equivalent performance. A scoring software program is available for purchase. The software scores the test and converts the raw scores into standard scores, percentiles, stanines, normal curve equivalents, and age equivalents.

Interpretability: Only persons with formal training in psychological testing and statistics should interpret the results of the PPVT-III.

Training Support: None described.

Adaptations/Special Instructions for Individuals with Disabilities: Because no reading or writing is required, the PPVT-III can be administered to many groups with disabilities without any changes. The examiners’ manual describes various modifications that can be made in administering the test to accommodate various disabilities.

Report Preparation Support: None described.

References:

American Guidance Service. PPVT-III ASSIST. Circle Pine, MN: American Guidance Service, 1997.

Dunn, Lloyd M. and Leota M. Dunn. Examiner’s Manual for the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—Third Edition. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service, Inc., 1997.

Dunn, Lloyd M. and Leota M. Dunn. Norms Booklet for the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—Third Edition. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service, Inc., 1997.

Williams, Kathleen T. and Jing-Jen Wang. Technical References to the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—Third Edition. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service, Inc., 1997.