Percentiles based on normative data – How to re-norm an assessment

Most assessments in NovoPsych provide percentiles to assist a clinician’s interpretation of results. The normative data used is described in the Psychometric Properties section of each assessment’s description. For some assessments, especially assessments designed for children and young people, the norms are dependent on the specified age and gender of the client.

This can mean that two clients who answer exactly the same, but who are of different ages, can have different percentiles, because they are being compared to different normative samples.

Re-norming an assessment can be helpful in the following circumstances:

The client’s age or gender was not correctly specified at the time of administration.
NovoPsych will sometimes update the normative data used to calculate percentiles. This can lead to differences in percentiles before and after the date of the norm update. Re-norming old assessments can bring the percentiles up-to-date. This can be especially important where there are graphs showing repeated administrations over time. In these instances, re-norming all old assessments is recommended to ensure consistent reporting.

Below are steps on how to complete a re-scoring process.

On the right hand side of the assessment you wish to re-norm, tap the small pen.
Press Edit Result
Press Rescore assessment

Then reopen the assessment results and the norms will be calculated according to the new demographic details. Note, if the norms do not change it may be the that particular assessment does not stratify percentiles based on age/gender. For information on the origin of norms see the Psychometric Properties section of the assessment.

If re-scoring due to incorrect gender or date of birth, be sure to update these details before undergoing the re-scoring process.

Navigate to the client who was administered the assessment that you would like to re-norm.
Press + Edit Details
Change the Date of Birth and/or Gender
Press Save

Below is an example of how demographic details can change the percentiles, using the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS-Child). The first report shows that the client, Paul Smith, had a date of birth (in error) of 1/1/2000, and was therefore 23 years of age when the assessment was taken. The client’s DOB was subsequently amended to 1/2/2011, which indicates they were actually 12 years old at the time of the assessment. As a result, the percentiles significantly changed, with the Total Percentile going from 63.3 to 84. This example underscores the importance of having the correct age and gender for accurate interpretation.