Employee Selection: References and Testing

Question 1

The process of confirming the accuracy of résumé and job application information

Answer 1

Reference check

Question 2

The expression of an opinion, either orally or through a written checklist, regarding an applicant’s ability, previous performance, work habits, character, or potential for future success

Answer 2

Reference

Question 3

A letter expressing an opinion regarding an applicant’s ability, previous performance, work habits, character, or potential for success

Answer 3

Letter of

recommendation

Question 4

The intentional placement of untrue information on a résumé

Answer 4

Résumé fraud

Question 5

A situation in which an employee with a previous criminal record commits a crime as part of his/her employment

Answer 5

Negligent hiring

Question 6

The correlation between scores on a selection method (e.g., interview, cognitive ability test) and a measure of job performance (e.g., supervisor rating, absenteeism)

Answer 6

Validity coefficient

Question 7

A term usually found with meta-analysis, referring to a correlation coefficient that has been corrected for predictor and criterion reliability and for range restriction; sometimes called “true validity”

Answer 7

Corrected validity

Question 8

An organization’s failure to meet its legal duty to supply relevant information to a prospective employer about a former employee’s potential for legal trouble

Answer 8

Negligent reference

Question 9

The extent to which a score from a test or from an evaluation is consistent and free from error

Answer 9

Reliability

Question 10

A test that measures the amount of job-related knowledge an applicant possesses

Answer 10

Job knowledge test

Question 11

Abilities involving the knowledge and use of information such as math and grammar

Answer 11

Cognitive ability

Question 12

Tests designed to measure the level of intelligence or the amount of knowledge possessed by an applicant

Answer 12

Cognitive ability test

Question 13

The cognitive ability test that is most commonly used in industry

Answer 13

Wonderlic Personnel Test

Question 14

Measure of facility with such processes as spatial relations and form perception

Answer 14

Perceptual ability

Question 15

Measure of facility with such processes as finger dexterity and motor coordination

Answer 15

Psychomotor ability

Question 16

Tests that measure an applicant’s level of physical ability required for a job

Answer 16

Physical ability tests

Question 17

A method of selecting employees in which applicants participate in several job-related activities, at least one of which must be a simulation, and are rated by several trained evaluators

Answer 17

Assessment center

Question 18

An assessment center exercise designed to simulate the types of information that daily come across a manager’s or employee’s desk in order to observe the applicant’s responses to such information

Answer 18

In-basket technique

Question 19

An exercise designed to place an applicant in a situation that is similar to the one that will be encountered on the job

Answer 19

Simulation

Question 20

A method of selecting employees in which an applicant is asked to perform samples of actual job-related tasks

Answer 20

Work sample

Question 21

An exercise, usually found in assessment centers, that is designed to simulate the business and marketing activities that take place in an organization

Answer 21

Business game

Question 22

A method of selection involving application blanks that contain questions that research has shown will predict job performance

Answer 22

Biodata

Question 23

The gathering of biodata from employee files rather than by questionnaire

Answer 23

File approach

Question 24

The method of obtaining biodata from questionnaires rather than from employee files

Answer 24

Questionnaire approach

Question 25

Division of employees into groups based on high and low scores on a particular criterion

Answer 25

Criterion group

Question 26

For scoring biodata in which the percentage of unsuccessful employees responding in a particular way is subtracted from the percentage of successful employees responding in the same way

Answer 26

Vertical percentage

method

Question 27

A group of employees who were used in creating the initial weights for a biodata instrument

Answer 27

Derivation sample

Question 28

A group of employees who are not used in creating the initial weights for a biodata instrument but instead are used to double-check the accuracy of the initial weights

Answer 28

Hold-out sample

Question 29

A psychological assessment designed to measure various aspects of an applicant’s personality

Answer 29

Personality inventory

Question 30

The most widely used objective test of psychopathology

Answer 30

Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory-2
(MMPI-2)

Question 31

A subjective test in which a subject is asked to perform relatively unstructured tasks, such as drawing pictures, and in which a psychologist analyzes his or her responses

Answer 31

Projective tests

Question 32

A projective personality test

Answer 32

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Question 33

A projective personality test in which test-takers are shown pictures and asked to tell stories. It is designed to measure various need levels

Answer 33

Thematic Apperception

Test (TAT)

Question 34

A type of personality test that is structured to limit the respondent to a few answers that will be scored by standardized keys

Answer 34

Objective tests

Question 35

A psychological test designed to identify vocational areas in which an individual might be interested

Answer 35

Interest inventory

Question 36

A popular interest inventory used to help people choose careers

Answer 36

Strong Interest Inventory

SII

Question 37

The process of helping an individual choose and prepare for the most suitable career

Answer 37

Vocational counseling

Question 38

Also called an honesty test; a psychological test designed to predict an applicant’s tendency to steal

Answer 38

Integrity test

Question 39

An electronic test intended to determine honesty by measuring an individual’s physiological changes after being asked questions

Answer 39

Polygraph

Question 40

An electronic test to determine honesty by measuring an individual’s voice changes after being asked questions

Answer 40

Voice stress analyzer

Question 41

A type of honesty test that asks questions about applicants’ attitudes toward theft and their previous theft history

Answer 41

Overt integrity test

Question 42

A type of honesty test that measures personality traits thought to be related to antisocial behavior

Answer 42

Personality-based

integrity test

Question 43

The amount of goods lost by an organization as a result of theft, breakage, or other loss

Answer 43

Shrinkage

Question 44

Test designed to reduce faking by asking test-takers to select the reason that best explains a statement

Answer 44

Conditional reasoning

test

Question 45

Also called handwriting analysis, a method of measuring personality by looking at the way in which a person writes

Answer 45

Graphology

Question 46

Tests that indicate whether an applicant has recently used a drug

Answer 46

Drug testing

Question 47

A letter from an organization to an applicant informing the applicant that he or she will not receive a job offer

Answer 47

Rejection letter