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