Chapter 4 Assessing Individuals 1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Chapter 4
Assessing Individuals
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Module 1:
Foundations of Assessment
• Past & present of testing
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1890 – Cattell & “mental test”
WWI: Over million soldiers tested
During WWII: full employment
After WWII: little control over testing
1960s – constraints on testing
• Criticism by social observers
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
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What is a Test?
• Objective & standardized procedure for
measuring a psychological construct using a
sample of behavior
– Attributes to be assessed
– Ways to assess attributes
CONTENT
PROCESS
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Two Attributes Measured Using Two
Different Procedures
Figure 4.1
Two Attributes
Measured Using Two
Different Procedures
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Tests (cont'd)
• What is the meaning of a test score?
– Norming & norm groups used to interpret & give meaning
to a score
• Test users & test interpretation
– Importance of training test administrators to correctly
understand & interpret results
• Test battery
– Collection of tests assessing variety of different attributes
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Administrative Test Categories
• Speed vs. power tests
– Speed tests have rigid & demanding time limits
• Provide greater variability among candidates
• Issue of relevance to job
• May increase the risk of legal challenges
– Power tests have no rigid time limits
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Administrative Test Categories
(cont'd)
• Group vs. individual tests
– Individual tests useful in assessing a candidate’s
style of problem solving
– Group testing is valuable in reducing costs
• Paper & pencil vs. performance tests
– Performance tests assess skill in performing
tasks & knowledge of how to carry out actions
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Administrative Test Categories
(cont'd)
• Where to find tests
– Textbooks
– Mental Measurements Yearbook (Buros
Institute)
– Tests In Print (Buros Institute)
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Testing & Culture
• Bias
– Situation in which a given test results in
statistical errors of prediction for a subgroup
• Fairness
– Value judgment about actions or decisions
based on test scores
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Testing & Culture (cont'd)
• Culture
– System in which individuals share meanings &
common ways of viewing events & objects
– Influence of culture & subculture on test scores
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Module 2: Traditional
Assessment Procedures
• Procedures for assessing abilities
– Cognitive ability tests
• Allow individuals to demonstrate what they
know, perceive, remember, understand, or
can work mentally
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Cognitive Ability Tests (cont'd)
• Tests that produce a single score
– Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT)
• Tests of specific abilities
– Bennett Test of Mechanical Comprehension
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Cognitive Ability Tests (cont'd)
• Cognitive test batteries
– General Aptitude Test Battery
• Knowledge tests
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Tests of Physical Abilities
• Physical ability tests
• Psychomotor abilities
– Coordination,
dexterity, reaction time
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Personality
• Screen-out tests → Identify psychopathology
– Generally used for positions of public trust
– May only be administered after offer of employment
• Screen-in tests → Identify normal personality
– May be administered as pre-employment tests
– e.g., Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ32)
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Occupational Personality
Questionnaire (OPQ32)
Figure 4.5
What the OPQ32 Looks Like
Source: Occupational Personality
Questionnaire (OPQ32).
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Personality (cont'd)
• Emotional intelligence
– Controversial construct: Little agreement
on definition or how to measure it
• Interests & values
– Strong Vocational Interest Bank (SVIB)
• Candidate’s score compared to various
occupational norm groups
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Module 3: Additional
Assessment Methods
• Content vs. process
– Important distinction for showing validity
– Validity depends more on content of
gathered information
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Individual Assessment
• Only one candidate (or very few) is
assessed on many different attributes
• Likely to include ability & personality tests,
personal history statement, & interviews
• May include simulation exercises
• Criticisms of individual assessment
– Issues of validity, reliability, & ethics
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Interviews
• Interview content
– Structured interview
– Situational interview
– Unstructured interview
– Tend to cover job knowledge, abilities,
skills, personality, & person-org. fit
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Candidate Comparison Matrix
Figure 4.7
Candidate Comparison Matrix
Source: Executive Success Profile.
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Potential Influences on
Employment Interviews
• Nature of information
• Placement of information
• Presence of interviewer
stereotypes
• Interviewer knowledge of job
• Method used by interviewer to
combine information
• Nonverbal behavior of
candidate
• Attitudinal/racial/gender
similarity of candidate &
interviewer
• Quality of competing
candidates
• Interviewer experience
• Applicant physical appearance
• Attention to factual detail by
interviewer
• Extent to which interview is
structured
• Note taking by interviewer
• Use of same interviewer(s) for
all candidates
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Assessment Centers
• Collection of procedures for evaluation
• Typical characteristics
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Assessment done in groups
Assessment done by groups
Multiple methods of assessment employed
Assessment centers have “feel” of relevance
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Work Sample Tests
• Measure job skills by taking samples
of behavior under realistic job-like
conditions
• Examples:
– Rudder control test for pilots
– Speech interview for foreign student
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Situational Judgment Tests
• Present candidate with written scenario,
then ask candidate to choose best response
from series of alternatives
• Important characteristics:
• Job-related
• Well-accepted by test takers
• Reduced adverse impact compared to other devices
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Biographical Data
• Biodata
– Includes type of information collected on an
application blank
• e.g., previous jobs, education, & special training
• Ecology model
– Events constituting person’s history represent
choices made by individual to interact with
his/her environment
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Biographical Data (cont'd)
• Distinguishing characteristics of
biodata
– Historical
– External
– Objective
– Discrete
– Control
– Relevant &
noninvasive
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Grades & Letters of
Recommendation
• May be able to predict job offers, but
not job success
• Little serious research on validity &
fairness of these devices
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Module 4: Special Topics in
Assessment
• Incremental validity
– Value in terms of increased validity of
adding a particular predictor to an
existing selection system
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Controversial Assessment Practices
• Graphology
– Assumes traits can be assessed from
various characteristics of a person’s
handwriting
• Polygraph
– Machine that measures person’s
physiological reactions & signals
deception
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The Polygraph
• Physiological
responses assessed
by the polygraph
Figure 4.10
Physiological Responses
Associated by the Polygraph
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Special Topics in Assessment
• Drug & alcohol testing
– Issues with acceptance by employees &
prospective employees
– Legal Issues
• Drug Free Workplace Act
• Integrity testing
– Overt integrity test
– Personality based integrity test
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Computer-Based Assessment
• Are we measuring same thing as we are
with paper & pencil test or interview?
Yes AND No
• Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT)
– Based on preliminary routing test; allows for
test to be “tailored” to test-taker’s approximate
level of ability
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Permissions
Slide 1: McGraw-Hill Education Digital Image Library, Alistair Berg/Getty Images, Source Image ID: AA032522, Filename:
109041.JPG
Slide 12: Figure 4.2 from Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test, Form BB, Item Y. Copyright © 1942, 1967-1970, 1980 by
The Psychological Corporation, a Harcourt Assessment Company. Reproduced by permission. All rights reserved.
Slide 13: McGraw-Hill Education Digital Image Library, Tomi/PhotoLink/Getty Images, Source Image ID: ED000238,
Filename: 24257.JPG
Slide 14: Figure 4.4 from Crawford Small Parts Dexterity Test. Copyright © 1946, 1956, 1998 by The Psychological
Corporation, a Harcourt Assessment Company. Reproduced by permission. All rights reserved.
Slide 16: Figure 4.5 from Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ32). Boulder, CO: SHL. © SHL Group PLC. Used by
permission of Saville Holdsworth Limited: www.shgroup.com/home.asp
Slide 20: McGraw-Hill Education Digital Image Library, Steve Cole/Getty Images, Source Image ID: AA042827, Filename:
109067.JPG
Slide 21: Figure 4.7 from Competency Factors, THE PROFILER® for Executives. Copyright © 1991 Personnel Decisions
International Corporation. Used by permission.
Slide 27: Figure 4.9 from Mumford, M. D., & Stokes, G. S. (1991). Developmental determinants of individual action: Theory
and practice in applying background measures. In M. D. Dunnette & L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and
organizational psychology, 2nd ed., Vol. 3, p. 84. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press. Modified and
reproduced by special permission of the Publisher, CPP, Inc., Palo Alto, CA 94303. Copyright 1992 by CPP, Inc. All
rights reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited without the Publisher’s written consent.
Slide 33: McGraw-Hill Education Digital Image Library, TRBfoto/Getty Images, Source Image ID: AA000573, Filename:
SS36041.JPG
Slide 35: Figure 4.11 from Murphy, K. R., & Davidshofer, C. O. (2001). Psychological testing: Principles and application, 5th
ed., p. 242. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. © 2001. Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper
Saddle River, NJ.
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