CHAPTER 6: EVALUATING SELECTION TECHNIQUES AND DESCISIONS Flashcards
The extent to which a score from a test or from an evaluation is consistent and free from error.
Reliability
The extent to which repeated administration of the same test will achieve similar results.
Test-retest reliability
The consistency of test scores across time.
Temporal stability
The extent to which two forms of the same test are similar.
Alternate-forms reliability
A method of controlling for order effects by giving half of a sample Test A first, followed by Test B, and giving the other half of the sample Test B first, followed by Test A.
Counterbalancing
The extent to which the scores on two forms of a test are similar.
Form stability
The extent to which responses to the same test items are consistent.
Item stability
The extent to which test items measure the same construct.
Item homogeneity
A statistic used to determine internal reliability of tests that use items with dichotomous answers (yes/no, true/false).
Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 (K-R 20)
A form of internal reliability in which the consistency of item responses is determined by comparing scores on half of the items with scores on the other half of the items.
Split-half method
Used to correct reliability coefficients resulting from the split-half method.
Spearman-Brown prophecy formula
A statistic used to determine internal reliability of tests that use interval or ratio scales.
Coefficient alpha
The extent to which two people scoring a test agree on the test score, or the extent to which a test is scored correctly.
Scorer reliability
The degree to which inferences from test scores are justified by the evidence.
Validity
The extent to which tests or test items sample the content that they are supposed to measure.
content validity
The extent to which a test score is related to some measure of job performance.
Criterion validity
A measure of job performance, such as attendance, productivity, or a supervisor rating.
Criterion
A form of criterion validity that correlates test scores with measures of job performance for employees currently working for an organization
Concurrent validity
A form of criterion validity in which test scores of applicants are compared at a later date with a measure of job performance.
Predictive validity
A narrow range of performance scores that makes it difficult to obtain a significant validity coefficient.
Restricted range
The extent to which inferences from test scores from one organization can be applied to another organization.
Validity generalization (VG)
A form of validity generalization in which validity is inferred on the basis of a match between job components and tests previously found valid for those job components.
Synthetic validity
The extent to which a test actually measures the construct that it purports to measure.
Construct validity
A form of validity in which test scores from two contrasting groups “known” to differ on a construct are compared.
Known-group validity
The extent to which a test appears to be valid.
Face validity
Statements, such as those used in astrological forecasts, that are so general that they can be true of almost anyone.
Barnum statements
A book containing information about the reliability and validity of various psychological tests.
Mental Measurements Yearbook (MMY)
A type of test taken on a computer in which the computer adapts the difficulty level of questions asked to the test taker’s success in answering previous questions.
Computer-adaptive testing (CAT)
A series of tables based on the selection ratio, base rate, and test validity that yield information about the percentage of future employees who will be successful if a particular test is used.
Taylor-Russell tables
The percentage of applicants an organization hires.
Selection ratio
Percentage of current employees who are considered successful.
Base rate
A utility method that compares the percentage of times a selection decision was accurate with the percentage of successful employees.
Proportion of correct decisions
Tables that use thebase rate, test validity, andapplicant percentileona test todeterminetheprobability of future success for that applicant.
Lawshe tables
Method of as certaining the extent to which an organization will benefit from the use of a particular selection system.
Utility formula
The length of time an employee has been with an organization.
Tenure
Group differences in test scores that are unrelated to the construct being measured.
Measurement bias
An employment practice that results in members of a protected class being negatively affected at a higher rate than members of the majority class. Adverse impact is usually determined by the fourfifths rule.
Adverse impact
A situation in which the predicted level of job success falsely favors one group over another.
Predictive bias
The characteristic of a test that significantly predicts a criterion for one class of people but not for another.
Single-group validity
The characteristic of a test that significantly predicts a criterion for two groups, such as both minorities and nonminorities, but predicts significantly better for one of the two groups.
Differential validity
A statistical procedure in which the scores from more than one criterion-valid test are weighted according to how well each test score predicts the criterion.
Multiple regression
Selecting applicants in straight rank order of their test scores.
Top-down selection
A method of making selection decisions in which a high score on one test can compensate for a low score on another test. For example, a high GPA might compensate for a low GRE score.
Compensatory approach
A variation on top-down selection in which the names of the top three applicants are given to a hiring authority who can then select any of the three.
Rule of three
The minimum test score that an applicant must achieve to be considered for hire.
Passing score
A selection strategy in which applicants must meet or exceed the passing score on more than one selection test.
Multiple-cutoff approach
Selection practice of administering one test at a time so that applicants must pass that test before being allowed to take the next test.
Multiple-hurdle approach
A statistical technique based on the standard error of measurement that allows similar test scores to be grouped.
Banding
The number of points that a test score could be off due to test unreliability.
Standard error of measurement (SEM
