The New RAADS-R Test is Impossible to Answer

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mj1
Blue Jay
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23 Sep 2021, 4:21 pm

There is an online Aspie test called RAADS-R that I know many of you are familiar with. I could have sworn I took this about 10 years ago and it was different. I just tried to take it and I don't even know how to start answering the questions. This new format makes it impossible for me to answer anything as most of the answers don't apply.

It gives four answer choices:
True now and when I was young
True only now
True only when I was younger than 16
Never true

I believe they used to give answer choices such as:
Mostly agree
Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
Mostly disagree

The way it is now, these are true and false questions. I can't give an answer because my answers are neither true nor false. Many of my answers fall into the category of "somewhat agree" or "somewhat disagree." I cannot answer most of these questions. The answer choices simply do not apply to me.

How the heck am I supposed to take this test?

Take question 74 as an example:
74) I don't like to be hugged or held.

I can't answer that. I don't mind being hugged by certain people and in certain circumstances. I don't mind at all when my veterinarian hugs me - she's a cool person with a good heart. I didn't mind when my favorite auntie hugged me, though I preferred when she did that in private because it was usually more emotional. I'm ok with a few other relatives. I have mixed feelings on my cousin's wife hugging me. I do not like my father or anyone on his side of the family to hug me.

So I can't answer that question. I would answer that as "somewhat disagree," but that's no longer a choice. But it's not true, and it's not false. So how am I supposed to answer?



CarlM
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23 Sep 2021, 6:51 pm

I think that would be a false. AFAIK if you don't like hugs, at best you will only tolerate them from certain people.

I know the AQ uses the 4 degrees of agreement with the statement. However, there are only 2 scores for the choices anyway.


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Something Profound
Snowy Owl
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26 Sep 2021, 2:27 am

The RAADS-R is meant to be taken with the benefit of somebody who knew you when you were younger, if available (And yes, it is not always possible to get somebody to help with it). You have to gauge whether you think a particular answer is "Mostly True" or "Mostly False" by way of what you think fits. For instance, do you like being hugged? Yes? Then the question is "Mostly False." Was this ALWAYS that way, or only when you were 17 or younger?

If you do not like hugs at all except by 3 people, who you only let hug you because you are familiar with them, then you can rate the question as "Mostly True," and then think back on whether this is only true now as an adult, or has always been true.

The question isn't altogether ambiguous, but I can see how it may cause some struggle or frustration. When I took it initially, I scored 151 for myself. But when I asked my mother to help assess the answers, I got a much higher score, 180, because she dispelled the seeming ambiguity that you are expressing frustration with. I felt some questions were too much "Yeah, I *can* do that, so it is true," but in reflection with my mother the questions because "Do I *like* to do that?" The answers were different and more clear that way.



WirSindDasVolk
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12 Aug 2023, 8:18 pm

I didn't like this test either. For some of the questions, my answer was "true only before I was 20." Which category does that fall into?

I read the paper that introduced this test, and they said that when they first gave the test in order to test its validity, they had a psychologist administer the test in order to answer clarifying questions. However, the paper didn't explain at all what points needed to be clarified or how clarification should be given. In particular, if a statement was true my whole life until some point when I was 19, then I have no idea how to answer the question. In my opinion, there are too many problems with the test, and the reviewers of the original paper should have asked for major revisions.