R&S Foundations of Recruitment and Selection I: Reliability and Validity

Question 1

The Recruitment and Selection Process

Answer 1

An employer’s goal is to hire an applicant who possesses the knowledge, skills, abilities, or other attributes (KSAOs) required to perform the job

Question 2

Reliability

Answer 2

the degree to which observed scores are free from random measurement errors; an indication of the stability or dependability of a set of measurements over repeated applications of the measurement procedure

Question 3

Interpreting Reliability Coefficients

Answer 3

True score: the average score that an individual would earn on an infinite number of administrations of the same test or parallel versions of the same test

•Error score (or measurement error): the hypothetical difference between an observed score and a true score

Question 4

Factors Affecting Reliability

Answer 4

Temporary Individual Characteristics
•Lack of Standardization
•Chance

Question 5

Methods of Estimating Reliability

Answer 5

Test and Retest
•Alternate Forms
•Internal Consistency
•Inter-Rater Reliability

Question 6

Inter-Rater or Inter-Observer Reliability

Answer 6

Whenever you use humans as a part of your measurement procedure, you have to worry about whether the results you get are reliable or consistent. People are notorious for their inconsistency. We are easily distractible. We get tired of doing repetitive tasks. We daydream. We misinterpret.

Question 7

Validity

Answer 7

the legitimacy or correctness of the inferences that are drawn from a set of measurements or other specified procedures; the degree to which accumulated evidence and theory support specific interpretations of test scores in the context of the test’s proposed use

Question 8

Validation Strategies

Answer 8

Construct level
Cognitive ability
Job performance

Measurement level
Wonderlic test score
Job performance score

Question 9

Predictive and Concurrent Evidence for Test Criterion Relationships

Answer 9

Predictive evidence: obtained through research designs that establish a correlation between predictor scores obtained before an applicant is hired and criteria obtained at a later time, usually after an applicant is employed

Question 10

Predictive and Concurrent Evidence for Test Criterion Relationships

Answer 10

Concurrent evidence: obtained through research designs that establish a correlation between predictor and criteria scores from information that is collected at approximately the same time from a specific group of workers

Question 11

Validity Generalization

Answer 11

Validity generalization: the application of validity evidence, obtained through meta-analysis of data obtained from many situations, to other situations that are similar to those on which the meta-analysis is based

Question 12

Factors Affecting Validity Coefficient

Answer 12

Range Restriction
•Measurement Error
•Sampling Error

Question 13

Bias and Fairness

Answer 13

Bias: systematic errors in measurement, or inferences made from those measurements, that are related to different identifiable group membership characteristics such as age, sex, or race

Question 14

Fairness

Answer 14

Fairness: the value judgments people make about the decisions or outcomes that are based on measurements
◦Principle that every test taker should be assessed in an equitable manner

Question 15

Different Views of Fairness

Answer 15

Fairness as equitable treatment in the testing process
◦Fairness as lack of bias
◦Fairness in selection and prediction