Lecture 19: Psychometric Testing

Question 1

What are psychometric tests?

Answer 1

• A psychometric test is a standardised quantification of behaviour or skill.
• They put a number value on an abstract behaviour or skill such as intelligence or empathy.
• The tests are usually questionnaire based consisting of a set of questions or items that measure the target behaviour.

Question 2

What warnings are there with psychometric tests?

Answer 2

*The concept is not defined by the test, the test is not defined by the concept.
*The concept of the intelligence is not defined by the Iq test. The IQ test is defined by the concept of intelligence.
(Heaven & Ciarrochi, Sternberg, 2012).

Question 3

What 5 characteristics of psychometric tests are there?

Answer 3

• Standardised administration procedures - everyone gets the same items and the same instructions.
• Detailed instructions for test scoring and interpretation.
• Standardised scoring information about how others perform on test (norm data). E.g. means and distributions from a large sample of people from a well - defined group.
• Evidence of the test’s reliability and validity.
• Clearly defined rationale as to what the test measures and details of the method of construction.

Question 4

What is reliability?

Answer 4

• Consistency - is what is being described the same every time.
• You want them to be described as extroverted every time.

Question 5

What is validity?

Answer 5

• Is what is being described the intended description.

* If someone is an extrovert you want them to be described as extroverted.

Question 6

What are the purposes of testing?

Answer 6

(Gregory, 2004)

• Selection - A candidate for a position as a police officer is administered a personality test. The test indicates the candidate tends to act before they think and resists supervision from authority figures. Even though they have excellent training and impresses the interviews they do not receive a job offer.
• Assessment - Three children in a family living near a power station are exposed to the toxic effects of lead dust and suffer neurological damage. Based on psychometric evaluations showing impaired intelligence and attention span in the children, the family receives an $8 million settlement for damages.
• Guidance - A shy withdrawn 7 year old girl is administered an IQ test by a school psychologist. Her score is phenomenally higher than the teacher expected. The girl is admitted into education programme for gifted and talented children and develops into a self confident and successful career woman.

Question 7

What are the purposes of testing?

Answer 7

• Neuro - clinical Assessment: Diagnosis, Treatment & support planning of patients.
• Education: Evaluation, Student Admissions.
• Forensic: Judgment of offenders, screening of jurors.
• Research: As a dependent measure (pre - test, Post test scores), As a covariate (to explore links to a secondary variable).
• Occupational: Selection, Recruitment, promotion, restructuring. Personal awareness, career development.

Question 8

What two streams of psychometric testing are there?

Answer 8

• Cognitive ability tests.
• Tests for general abilities, or specific aptitudes.
• Having correct answers.
• Difficult to fake answers.
• Disposition tests
• Tests for general traits on the construct being measured. Provide a more qualitative character description of respondent.
• Easier to fake socially desirable answers.

Question 9

What 3 approaches are used in test - based recruitment?

Answer 9

• Top Down - candidates selected from the highest test scorer downwards until there are enough applicants based on accuracy (number correct divided by number of questions). The disadvantage of this approach is that less well performing applicants who might otherwise be suitable for the job are missed.
• Cut off - Only applicants scoring below a certain threshold value are rejected. This approach may be more appropriate if high rate of applicants to vacancies.
• Norm Referencing - Compares someone taking a test with other people who have previously taken the test (normative sample). Allows relative judgments to be made.

Question 10

What is adverse impact index?

Answer 10

• Difference in mean group raw scores /Divided by / Standard Deviation for total scores
• Adverse impact values above 0.5 may suggest one group could be treated less favourably if test used for selection - results should be used with caution.
• Adverse impact in itself is now unlawful if organisation can demonstrate test is relevant to job requirements and correlates with job performance.
• Selection decisions should be monitored using 80% rule. To avoid illegal discrimination - psychometric tests should never be used as sole basis for employment decisions.

Question 11

What are T scores?

Answer 11

*Are scaled to have a mean value of 50 and a standard deviation of 10; widely used in aptitude and ability tests. T scaling removes use of negative values as within Z scores.

Question 12

What are Stens?

Answer 12

• Standard tens

* Widely used in personality tests; scaled to have a mean of 5.5 and fall within the range 1 to 10.

Question 13

How do you ensure the test are fair to all candidates?

Answer 13

*Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC, 1978), defines four fifths rule for determining unfair selection processes: A selection rate for any ethnic, racial or sex group subgroup, which is less than 4/5ths, 80% of the rate for groups with the highest rate will be regarded as evidence of adverse impact.