[Vienna version for clinical application of the Multiple Choice Vocabulary Intelligence Test]

Abstract

A deterministic reliability analysis of the Mehrfachwahl-Wortschatz-Intelligenztest, Lehrl (MWT-A, MWT-B), a very economical device for the assessment of crystallized intelligence and the most frequently administered intelligence test by physicians in Germany, was performed on the test data of n = 300 in- and outpatients (University Clinic for Psychiatry, Vienna). Numerical outcomes showed a substantial lack of satisfying test properties, which are further also discussed under non-numerical aspects. For the clinical application of the MWT in Eastern Austria three alternative versions of the MWT (each consisting of 37 items and having better scale characteristics in the analysed sample than the original scales) were developed from the original item pool and presented as MWT-PIRIT, MWT-RIT, and MWT-PI. All five MWT scales were standardized for the present with the patient sample for clinical application. Correlational analyses with a measure for fluid intelligence (Standard Progressive Matrices) suggested only moderate associations between crystallized and fluid intelligence, as well as a differential validity for the MWT in our sample.