Today, companies are increasingly relying on psychometric tests to support their decisions on staffing, promotions, OD initiatives, etc. So I guess it would be in order to share some information on this much talked about but less understood subject. The article will be structured in two parts.
What is Psychometrics ?
Psychometrics is the technique of generating psychological profiles of individuals covering either personality and / or intellectual ability.
Psychometric Tests are designed to provide a consistent and effective measure of people’s traits, abilities, skills, and interests.
Different types of psychometric tests
The following are the principle types of psychometric tests used in employment settings:
- Ability testing
Ability Tests are also sometimes referred to as ‘tests of maximum performance’. Such tests ask a person to do his or her best on a task and their performance is judged in terms of how well they have done. Ability assessed in employment settings include – verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, abstract reasoning, clerical aptitude, mechanical aptitude, spatial reasoning, etc.
- Personality Testing
Purpose of the personality tests is to assess the person’s typical way of behaving, thinking, feeling or perceiving in particular situations.
These tests provide a pattern of what is called the ‘personality profile’ which is used as the basis for making interpretations about how the person is likely to behave in different circumstances.
Considerable skill and judgment is necessary to interpret the results of the personality tests, as this is the point at which ’science’ ends and the judgment begins.
- Tests of Motivation and Interest
Motivation questionnaires attempt to assess what types of motivation are most significant to an individual (e.g. achievement, security, affiliation with others and so on).
Interest questionnaires attempt to assess the extent to which a person shows interests in particular work ‘theme’ or ‘area’ (for example, working outdoors, creative work, working with people).
In conjunction with ability tests these tests can be used to offer guidance to individuals on career choice.
The History of Test Development
- Around 400 BC Hippocrates attempted to define four basic temperament types each of which could be accounted for by a predominant body fluid or humor; blood – sanguine (optimistic), black bile – melancholic (depressed), yellow bile – choleric (irritable) and phlegm – phlegmatic (listless and sluggish).
- The first attempt to scientifically measure the differences between individual mental abilities was made by Sir Francis Galton in the 19th Century.
- From the work of people like Galton a picture of the human mental domain emerged which saw general human ability as being composed of a number of specific abilities.
- The basic tenet of testing nowadays is based upon the principle of measuring human mental performance under different conditions and then making comparisons between people.
How are Tests Constructed?
-
In its simplest form a test will have a set of questions or tasks to complete, these are known as ‘test items’.
- The parameters for assessing the effectiveness of a psychometric test is its ‘reliability’ i.e. how stable or consistent a measure the test is, and ‘validity’ i.e. how well it actually measures what it claims to measure. It is also important to know something about the nature of the group of people on whom the test was standardized – known as ‘normative information’.
Advantages of psychometric testing
Properly developed psychometric tests and questionnaires, when used by competent and appropriately qualified individuals, have the following advantages:
-
They lead to judgments that are likely to be more valid than judgments made by other means.
- It could be argued that the information obtained from a good personality questionnaire might take several months of knowing and working with a person.
- They are likely to lead to considerable cost-benefits in the long term. Whether it is for selection of new staff or development of existing staff, the expenses involved in psychometric assessment are minimal when compared with the costs of high-turn over, under-performance or misdeployment of staff.
Disadvantages of psychometric testing
- Despite what has been said in previous section, there are numerous tests and questionnaires on the market which purport to be ‘psychometric instruments’ but which are not. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for untrained people to distinguish these from good psychometric instruments. In many cases, these tests and questionnaires have been put together by people with no background in psychometrics and they have very little actual utility and value.
- Lack of correct training is also a significant danger in the use of psychometric testing.
- Another important danger with psychometric testing is the use of personality questionnaires to try to assess a person’s ability or skill in a particular area. For example, if a person scores highly on a personality dimension called ‘Leadership’, this does not mean that he or she will actually possess a high level of leadership skill. Rather it means that the person has the basic personality characteristics that are commonly found amongst effective leaders and, with sufficient experience has the potential to become an effective leader.
