Technical Report - International Military Testing Association

The octond 6reA of opercatfon’ for performance tetrtero le the conetruction
of the experimental instrument. Au we @tart the proceoo of
&electing rateble points bared upon our AcYI~sIE, there cara et leeet
three criterle which should guide our selecticn. The firot criterion is
reprerantativenecr--the activitice, being measured are rcalietic (joblike),
typicA of the taakr and okillr performed by A quAlifi.ad apectatiat
on the actuA1 job. Performance tenters Are frequently tempted to aubatitute
unraaliattc talka, for a variety of reasona, and often cacrifire
all cr almat all of the criterion, repreaentativenasa. (3318 10 not A
fccetioua refarence to honeat recognition teats or aimlated conditions
tcrte.) Our second criterion le reliability--conaiotent rerulte yielded
for a rerpecteble range of acoree --enough so that a standard can be
developed for world-vide wage. Third, va tast conatructorr muut be
mindful of the criterion, prcctlcality-- feaoible to u&e in tome of the
time, equipment, parosnnel. und ex?enrc to adminirter and to @core.
Raving relected the “itaml” for our eicperimentel instrument in
accordance with the three criteria ve muet next develop the rating
scale needed to evaluate the tasks to be maarurcd. Banically, tie hsve
two typeo of acelee frcxs which to chooat+: the forced cholco;go/no go,
did/did not or the degrees of skill, vhich can take any of oaveral forma,
Auch � 0, numerical (1, 2, 3, 4, 5): deccrlpttvo word scale--for exempia,
poor, good, &VOrAg%, etc. A poerible third acelo, phyrlcml characterirtics
o f the final prodr.:t, ie aomkthea uoAd. Remaber, i t ir eaey
to go overboard with numericel ocal~)s, AI K. L. Ecan (1953) pointe out.
Only thooe rater8 vho are exceptfonally well qualified ohould attempt
uoing A rcale of more than five pointr. The nature of the items of our
inotrment will largely dictate which ocale ir more appropriate. A
word of caution at thfr point Fe in ordar. We tmut ba careful to piAn
porrfble weighting procedurer vlth an eye to chcckfng them egninrt our
crltarle. Ao A rule of thumb, complicated, involved weighting rhould
be avoided. Hany promising teats have been invalidated by cumberroma
weighting.
Our next mc\Jor area of activity f0 the preporstion of inrtructionA
for the axamlnerr And the examtneer. Basic contsnte of the exaninee
fnrtructionr should inc?.ude A deocriptlan of the tank to be done, A lirt
of the pointe of the tetik that will be scored, all the tool8 and/or
equipment to be used, � ���� lkaft (ff applicable) and any other necclaoary
lnatructionr.
Huch more detailed inmtruc:ionr are necessary for our examinerr.
Not only murt we cover the darcription of the taako, ths materiel list
And time limlta bur alro tip8 regarding careful obaervatfon of tha
examfnea’r ptrfomnce--eopeciAlly prwetior?t for 8 btep vhich fr, or
could be difficult to obeerve. Further, theae inotructionr must be
explicit regarding the recording of reruLts with the rating scale. we
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