Norms

Reference distributions of scores from a defined population, used to interpret an individual's score in context.

Norms are reference distributions of scores collected from a defined population — the "norm group" or "standardization sample" — that let an individual's score be interpreted in context. Without norms, a raw score of "28" is just a number; with norms, it might map to "the 72nd percentile of working adults."

Good norms come from large, representative samples and are reported transparently, including the year of collection and demographic breakdown. Stale or unrepresentative norms can badly mislead interpretation, especially for constructs that drift over time or vary across cultures.

Standardization — Administering, scoring, and interpreting an assessment under uniform conditions, with reference norms from a defined sample.
Percentile rank — The percentage of scores in a reference group that fall at or below a given score.
Raw score — The direct, untransformed score from an assessment — typically the sum of item responses.
T-score — A standardized score with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10, commonly used in psychological testing.
Z-score — A standardized score expressing how many standard deviations a raw score is from the mean.

Norms

Related terms