Is This Assessment Validated?

© BestWork DATA, LLC 2016 All Rights Reserved

“Is this test validated?”


That is a good question, but…

it is not a simple question.


The most important evidence of the quality of an assessment instrument is the technical manual.


The technical manual details:• The development of the instrument,• The design concepts and objectives• The psychological foundation•The item formats•The demographic data of the sample populations•The statistical reliability analysis•Other information that supports the quality of the instrument.


Some instruments have technical manuals like this.


Some manuals are written to inform you.


Some are even written to educate you.


A few are written to confuse you with pages and pages of statistical tables and detailed analyses.


The foundation of quality for any personality instrument is the personality theory upon which it is based.


It may be based on ideas abandoned by the psychometric community decades ago.

It is still “validated” but not a match for current products.


A new product based on outdated theories is a poor choice in a competitive business world.


Most major instruments created in the 90’s or later are based on a universally-accepted model of personality called the Big Five.


Extensive research over the last 30 years has proven the Big Five to be:

• Extremely reliable compared to other models• Predictive of performance across most jobs•A solid map to earlier theories of personality,

such as DISC and Myers-Briggs.•The most widely respected personality model

in the research community.


Validity is the degree to which evidence and theory support the interpretations of test scores.


There is no one validity coefficient for a test.

A test is always valid for some purpose, and therefore is more valid in some circumstances than others.


• Construct validity• Concurrent validity• Content validity• Criterion validity• Concurrent criterion-related validity• Predictive criterion-related validity• Face validity• Predictive validity• Synthetic validity• Validity generalization• Convergent validity• Discriminate validity• Nomological validity

There are multiple ways of assessing validity.


Validity

Predictive Validity Content Validity

Synthetic Validity

Face Validity

Construct Validity

Concurrent ValidityCriterion Validity

Predictive-Criterion Validity

Principal Types of Validity


BestWork DATA’s commitment to quality began long before a customer ever asked a question about validity.


BestWork DATA was validated to assess the adult population who speak English, at least as a second language and who are working or have been working.


While there are standards of quality in the assessment industry, they are understood by few users.

There is no government agency or independent authority to “certify” or “approve” any assessment product.

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Further complicating the picture, most salespeople pitching their products have little or no knowledge of psychometrics or psychology.


Customers are often concerned, but are rarely knowledgeable about the technical merits of assessment products.


At BestWork DATA, we have two objectives with regard to quality assessments:

★To offer the highest quality products in the industry

★To educate our customers on the quality issues in choosing assessments.


BestWork DATA Development Team✦ Top expert on business applications of psychological assessments

• Expert witness on legalities of testing• Creator of a series of thought-leading innovations in

psychometric science and business applications

✦ Former head of American Psychological Association• Leader in establishing testing standards in the USA• Co-author of leading textbook on assessments• Developer of multiple psychometric instruments

✦ International expert in development of psychometric instruments

✦ Specialist in statistical analyses of psychometric instruments


Specialists in the development and application of psychometric assessments are continually reviewing the validation standards of the BestWork DATA instruments.

We welcome your questions and are happy to answer them to any degree of technical detail. We are also happy to explain the importance of each quality factor.

Is This Assessment Validated?

Recruiting & HR

Transcript of Is This Assessment Validated?