Hypothesis Testing Approach to Evaluation

Synonyms

HTA

Definition

The hypothesis testing approach to neuropsychological assessment (HTA) is a flexible approach to testing. It enables the clinician to provide tentative explanations for a patient’s impaired capacities or functions in a manner that will enable the explanations to be tested and, thereby, supported or refuted and refined (Lezak et al. 2012).

Current Knowledge

The primary advantage of the HTA is that it “enables the examiner to generate multistage, serial hypotheses for identifying subtle or discrete dysfunctions or to make fine diagnostic or etiologic discriminations” (Lezak et al. 2012, p. 112). The HTA requires the clinician to examine the component functions that might be involved in or that contribute to the phenomenon in question. Based on the patient’s performance, a component function may be determined to contribute or not, thus enabling refinement of the original hypothesis. Refining one’s theory of function and dysfunction in this way facilitates a more...