Human resource professionals are unlikely to need any convincing that the use of psychometric tests as an aid to employee selection and development is probably at an all time high. Really, eyelash extensions hong kong what is the most effective way to evaluate the reliability and validity of any assessment tests so to help us to know exactly how to find the right productive people with certainty and predictability without any catastrophe in hiring any wrong people who simply look good? eyelash extensions hong kong This perspective is fundamentally flawed. It appears that the person who wrote it has no more understanding of tests than the average HR executive who wants to understand more and is looking to this article to assist them! In one research study, eyelash extensions hong kong human resource professionals attending a conference were asked to complete a personality test. Following this, they were given a randomly generated narrative report. eyelash extensions hong kong They were NOT told that it had been randomly generated and were asked to evaluate its accuracy. Here, we simply ask if the questions in the test look like they are measuring what the test purports to measure. eyelash extensions hong kong Assessing this type of validity is somewhat subjective and so it is considered to be the lowest level of validity. We need to know whether the test questions are sufficiently representative of all of the possible questions that could assess the construct we are interested in. This aspect of validity is cited as one of the two most important. It is however somewhat technical as numbers are involved. It is better understood following training in the test or psychometric assessment generally. So, to take the above example again, one would expect scores on self-confidence to predict face-to-face sales performance. eyelash extensions hong kong If they do, our test has criterion-validity. Simply put, if I were to test you today and you scored 6 and tomorrow you scored 12, ignoring practice effects, we might suggest there is something wrong with the test! Reliability is vital for a test because if a test lacks consistency of measurement it can never be valid! The website cited above stated that, as with validity, reliability is best assessed by having somebody you know complete the test! In fact, reliability is typically assessed by using the results of a sizable group of people, not just one or two people. One of our clients reported to us that she contacted the publisher making the claims above by email. She asked about reliability and validity of the test as well as whether or not local norms were available. She never received a reply, despite 3 reminder emails! As the use of psychometric tests in selection and development continues to soar, the human resource professional will need an understanding of how to evaluate tests. However they are not always reputable and many do not have psychologists in the business at all! We have even heard of interested parties being told by publishers that validity information is protected and not available. Whilst well designed, tested and validated assessments do provide extensive information on respondents that cannot be reliably and validly obtained using other less scientific methods, no reputable test publisher or distributor will claim their test can assist you to “instantly know the person”. Even after this exercise, the test user does not “know the person”. They will rather have a good understanding of the individual which will assist them in their selection and placement decision. With the growth of the industry and the adoption of test businesses by non-psychologists, it is in the interest of the test purchaser/HR professional to ensure they are suitably keyed up on how to evaluate the tests being marketed to them rather than blindly accepting strongly marketed but non-supported claims about tests. The author is a doctoral-level registered organisational psychologist (Australia and Hong Kong). He has been delivering training in psychometric assessment that leads to the British Psychological Society’s Certificates of Competence in Occupational Testing for over 10 years.
