Introduction to psychological testing

Content

• What is psychological testing?• General Mental Ability, GMA

• Why use psychological testing?

• Important concepts and terms

• Considerations

Objectives

• Explain the basic concepts in psychometrics

• Describe the role for psychological testing in selection

Different types of psychological tests

• General mental ability

• Personality

• Interests

• Motivation

• Attitudes and values

Mark with a cross the part or parts which together with the figure on the left make up a square.

General Mental Ability (GMA)

• General cognitive capacity

• Refers to fundamental characteristics • ability to address and find solutions

to problems and demands

• A stable characteristic over time

The history of GMA research

The g factor

• Cognitive ability, g factor

• Best captured by tasks that challenge the ability to • see relations• fill in gaps• find connections

1Draw a line below the two numbers that add up to 13.

4 8 5 6 3

2If 3 times 15 equals 36, write 45 in the square. Otherwise, draw a line below 36.

36 45 no yes

Mark with a cross the part or parts which together with the figure on the left make up a square.

Response alternatives

Definitions of GMA

PROPERTIES

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Why use psychological testing?

• Different individuals have different characteristics

• Characteristics affect performance

• Differences are measurable

• Performance can be predicted

Selection decisions

• Who to hire

• Who to promote

• Best used for making decisions about:

• Unknown candidates• Candidates in unknown or new

roles

• Measures potential

• Important factor for predicting performance

• Other factors:• corporate culture • team composition• coaching and training

Selection methods

PROPERTIES

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What does research tell us?

.65

.63

.51

.41

.18

.10

.02

From Schmidt, F. & Hunter, J. (1998) The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology: Practical and Theoretical Implications for 85 Years of Research Findings, Psychological Bulletin, 124:2, 262-274

Correlation between assessment method and job performance

GMA test + personality inventory

GMA test + structured interview

GMA test

Personality inventory

Years of Professional Experience

Years of Education

Graphology

Important concepts and terms

Validity

Psychometrics

Reliability

Norms

Normal distribution

Standard Error of Measurement

Important concepts and terms

PROPERTIES

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Psychometrics

The field of study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement.

Low reliability

High reliability

High reliability and validity

Normal distribution

68 %16 % 16 %

Norms

Your result

21

All employees

18Managers

23Good or bad?

Standard error of measurement (SEM)

C-scale

Considerations

Recruitment need

AdvertisingApplication processing

InterviewReference

checkEmploymen

t

Front endsolution

Back end solution

The test environment

• Make sure that the candidate can work undisturbed

• Inform the candidate prior to testing

• Take computer skills and reading compre-hension into account

Validity

• No testing methods have a 100% predictive validity

High performer

Low performer

Low test resultsHigh test results

Validity

PROPERTIES

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Positive or negative selection?

Low GMA High GMA

Front end or back end?

Recruitment need

AdvertisingApplication processing

InterviewReference

checkEmploymen

t

You test a lot of candidates:

front end solution

Example of staffing process

You test a few candidates: back end solution

Front end Process:1. Check basic requirements2. Psychological test3. Interview and reference check

Back end Process:1. Check basic requirements2. Short phone interview3. Interview and reference check4. Psychological test

Summary

• Basic argument:• Different individuals have different

characteristics• Characteristics affect performance• Differences are measurable• Performance can be predicted

• GMA tests helps predicting performance

• Reliability = stability of test results

• Validity = evidence for the utility of the method, e.g. correlation between test and job performance

• SEM = standard error of measurement

• Can be used for both positive and negative selection

• Can be used as front end or back end solution