SELECTION TESTSS AT YA P R A K A S H J O S H I

SELECTION TESTS

• Individuals differ in many respects including job-related abilities and skills. • In order to select a right person for the job, their abilities and skills need to

be equally measured. That is done through selection tests. • A selection test is a device that uncovers the information about the

candidate, which are not known through application blank. • They can measure certain abilities, aptitudes and skills that provide

objective information how well the applicant can be expected to perform the job.

SELECTION TEST TYPES

• Aptitude Test : Learning capacity• Intelligence Tests : Reasoning, verbal , number, memory• Achievement Tests : Theoretical and practical knowledge• Situational Tests : Situational problems• Interest Tests : Likes and dislikes of candidates• Personality Tests : Relationship, Talkative, Reliability, Self-confident• Honesty Tests : The “Polygraph” a lie detector mechanical device that

measure honesty of the candidate. Reduce losses and Employee theft

ADVANTAGES OF SELECTION TESTS• Predict Future Performance : A well designed test can predict future

performance of an individual. • Unbiased Tool : Standard, Eliminate biasness in selection process.• Measure the Aptitude : Psychological test measure the aptitude of

candidates and predict their success. • Basis for Comparison : Test provide a reliable basis for comparing applicants

ability.

RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY IN SELECTION PROCESS• Organization should have to select best candidates for the job. • Selecting the right employees important for at least three main reasons.

– First Performance : Employee with the right skills and attributes will de better. – Recruiting and hiring is the costly process.– Important because of legal implications.

• Effective selection is therefore important and depends to a large degree on the testing concepts of reliability and validity.

– Reliability– Validity

RELIABILITY

• Selection process must be valid or reliable and consistent. • Reliability can be measured by several different statistical methods. • The most frequent ones are test-retest. Alternate forms represented by a

correlation coefficient, which ranges 0 to 1. • No selection test achieves perfect reliability, but the goal is to reduce error

in measurement as much as possible.• High reliability is a necessary condition for high validity, but reliability does

not ensure that a test is valid.

ESTABLISHING RELIABILITY• Test-retest reliability is a measure of reliability obtained

by administering the same test twice over a period of time to a group of individuals.  The scores from Time 1 and Time 2 can then be correlated in order to evaluate the test for stability over time.

• Can determine if and how much data a student memorizes on a test.

VALIDITYThe term validity refers to whether or not a test measures what it intends to measure.

On a test with high validity the items will be closely linked to the test’s intended focus. For many certification and licensure tests this means that the items will be highly related to a specific job or occupation. If a test has poor validity then it does not measure the job-related content and competencies it ought to.

CONTENT VALIDITY

• A test has content validity, if it reflects an actual sample of the work done on the job.

• The basic procedure is to identify job tasks and behaviors that are critical to performance and then randomly select a sample of these tasks and behaviors to be tested.

• The test should measure tasks and skills actually needed for the job.

CONSTRUCT VALIDITY

• Construct Validity is used to ensure that the measure, actually measures what it is intended to measure and not other variables.

• Using a panel of “experts” familiar with the construct is a way in which this type of validity can be assessed.

• They bring out the qualities and weaknesses of candidates.

CRITERION VALIDITY

• Criterion validity means who do well on the test also do well on the job and those who do poorly on the test do poorly on the job.

• Concurrent validity – a test is given to current employees and the scores are correlated with their performance ratings.

• Predictive validity – test results of applicants are compared with their subsequent job performance.