Ability Test

Considerations in selecting an ability test

how valid are they

Mechanical Ability Tests

Can involve performance of mechanical manipulation more frequently involves a paper-and-pencil test of mechanical comprehension For certain jobs (manufacturing, production, engineer, skilled trades), mechanical ability is an important predictor of performance

Types of Ability Test

Cognitive Mechanical Clerical Physical

What are ability tests?

Measure what a person has learned up to the time of test administration Also called achievement or aptitude tests

Cognitive Ability

Originally developed in academic settings and still often include questions related to concepts that a person in an academic setting (or from an academic setting) should have learned was the first thing psychologist ever tried to turn into a measure

Physical Ability Tests

Tests that measure an individual's abilities such as strength, endurance, and muscular movement.

Clerical Ability Tests

Typically measure perceptual speed Accuracy in processing verbal and numerical data

Dimensions of Cognitive Ability

need job analysis information to know what kind of cognitive ability we should try to validate. It isn't enough to simply say that smart people work better in this job. •Memory Span •Numerical Fluency •Verbal Comprehension •Conceptual Classification

Best practices in administering ability tests

paper and pencil except cognitive test are better for online proctored

Cognitive Ability Tests

tests designed to measure such mental abilities as verbal skills, quantitative skills, and reasoning ability (academic setting) was the first thing psychologist ever tried to turn into a measure

What caused the shift away from ability tests?

the EEO in the 60S and 70s due to EEO laws

Validity Generalization

the degree to which evidence of validity obtained in one situation can be generalized to another situation without further study