Week 11

Question 1

what is the role of a Industrial-organisational psychologists

Answer 1

study organisations and seek ways to improve the functioning and human benefits of business.

Question 2

how might an industrial psychologist assist someone?

Answer 2

Helping people decide on their careers
Recruiting people that best fit the organisation 
Selecting the best people 
Retaining the best people 
Improving the skills of the people

Question 3

what is a measure of interest?

Answer 3

an instrument designed to evaluate test takers’ likes, dislikes, leisure activities, curiosities, and involves in various pursuits for comparison with groups of various occupations and professions.

Question 4

what are the four assumptions of trait and type theory?

Answer 4

Career choice and career adjustment represent an extension of a person’s personality
People with certain personality traits are attracted to and suited for jobs with certain specific definable characteristics
People and work environments can be assigned to specific categories
People of the same personality tend to ‘flock together’

Question 5

what is the purpose of a resume

Answer 5

focuses on basic factual information (Education, training, work history, skills, accomplishments).
They are routinely used to screen out applicants who don’t meet minimum qualifications in terms of education, experience, etc.

Question 6

what are application blanks?

Answer 6

application sheet you fill in. one of the most common methods used to collect information on the various aspects of the applicants’ academic, social, demographic, work related background and references.

Question 7

are application blanks valid? explain answer

Answer 7

Poor Validity.
Lack of agreement what to look for
Possible discrimination 
Need to cross validate 
Keys are not stable over time, need to update

Question 8

what is a biadata questionaire? what is their validity

Answer 8

collect information on the applicants life experiences. e.g.
Did you ever repair mechanical things in your home?
Moderate validity

Question 9

what are expereince questionairs?

is it valid?

Answer 9

focuses on an applicant’s jobrelated experiences & accomplishments.
e.g. Information Systems Analyst position:
Describe the types of IT systems problems you have encountered.
moderate content validity

Question 10

discuss employment interveiws. Are they valid

Answer 10

have a Strong effect on selection decisions, and are Preferred by managers. Assess Certain Characteristics
Assess Organisational & Team Fit
High face validity

Question 11

what are some poblems with employment interveiws

Answer 11

VERY LOW VALIDITY 
Unstructured & Unplanned
Untrained & Biased Interviewers
Same Sex Bias 
Structured Means Standardised or Artificial & Inflexibly

Question 12

list some reasons Interviews are often not Valid Assessments

Answer 12

poor wording of questins
No systematic scoring - very subjective.
Applicants trained to give correct answer
Interveiwer cannot verify the infomation.

Question 13

what is the purpose of an ability test.

Answer 13

Measure what a person has learned up to that point in time (achievement) or innate potential capacity (aptitude)

Question 14

what is the purpose of a cogntive ability test.

Answer 14

Main purpose to determine one’s level of “g” or aptitudes depending on setting
Measure aptitudes relevant to the job
short, group administration
excellent predictor of job and training performance

Question 15

what is the Wonderlic Personnel Test.

is it reliable?

Answer 15

an ability tests that measure G items cover verbal meth and pictorial analytical material
Correlated to WAIS
HIGHLY RELIABLE

Question 16

what are the advantages of Cognitive Ability Tests

Answer 16

efficient, useful in all jobs, good reliability and validity. more valid as the role is harder.

Question 17

what are the disadvantages of Cognitive Ability Tests

Answer 17

Adverse impact.
may lack face validity
may predict short term vs long term performance (can do vs will do)

Question 18

what is a mechanical aptitude or reasoning test. when it is likely to be used?
is it valid?

Answer 18

administered for technical and engineering positions. The mechanical aptitude test measures your ability to understand and apply mechanical concepts and principles to solve problems. e.g. Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Tests

Better than tests of G for mechanical jobs. valid relaible

Question 19

what is a Clerical Ability Test when is it used.

Answer 19

Predominately measures perceptual speed and accuracy in processing verbal and numerical data
Example: Minnesota Clerical Test & Office Skills Test.

Question 20

what are Physical Ability Tests?

what are the areas these are employed in?

Answer 20

Most measure muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, and movement quality
Female applicants
Disabled applicants
Reduction of work-related injuries

Question 21

issue with Myers briggs type indicator

Answer 21

poor for selection, needs to be carfully used.

Question 22

what are the advantage of personality inventories?

Answer 22

intuitively appealing to manager
No adverse impacts
efficient moderate relaibility and validity.

Question 23

what are the diadvantage of personality inventories?

Answer 23

lie or respond socially desirably

All traits not equal for all jobs.

Question 24

what is a work sample test what is the purpose?
what are the two characteristics?
valid?

Answer 24

sees how someone performs in a job-relevant tasks
Puts applicant in a situation similar to a work situation to measure performance on tasks similar to real job tasks.
Is it a test of maximal vs. typical performance?
Highest Validity

Question 25

what are the diadvantage of work sample tests?

Answer 25

Not appropriate for all jobs
Time-consuming to set up and administer
More predictive in short-term
Cannot use if applicant is not expected to know job before being hired

Question 26

what is a selection centre? downside? validity?

Answer 26

multiple selection methods adminsietered over several days involving multiple raters.

expensive and time consuming (most appropriate for upper level jobs)
extroverts have an advantage

Highly varibale validity?