Technical Report - International Military Testing Association

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Perspective
DR. HAROLD A. ED!XXION
President, Performance Research, Inc.
Washington, D. C.
First of all, let me express my thanks to the speakers this afternoon.
They have done a beautiful job of saying,in a different way, the
same things that I want to say again tonight.
I am listed here as the keynote speaket, and I have ‘been watching
keynoters of the political parties this 8Umner to see just what they
do, 80 I vi 11 know what to do tonight. First of all, th’ey seem to look
at the glorious and constructive record of the past--what we have done
that is notable, forward looking, and looks good on the ,record. Tha
second step is to paint with dark colors the errors of the opposition
and to offer many castigations for these errors. And thse third phase
ie to point out the great and bounteous future which we offer. I
propose to follow this as an outline this evening. It gfves us a good ,
framework within which to take a look at our own problems. I have
chosen the term “Perspective” aa a title. I thought thins was sufficient
to offer maybe some direction, maybe some closures.
To keep this keynote speech and its implications clear, we need to
be sure that we are using some of the same points of view and some of
the same definitions of terms. Let me define the term “teat” aa ueed in
our discussion this evening. We are a group primarily ci=rned with
the construction of achievement tests--testa which ahov job knovledge,
understanding and skills. A teet, as we are using the term here, is a
sample of behavior, dravn under such condition8 that cne may judge some
set of skills abilities, aptitudes, attitudes, or achievements on the
basic of this sample of behavior. Testing then becomes a problem of
constructing tests which make it possible to draw an appropriate sample
of behavior. We are concerned with the adequacy of this sampling, and
with its reliability. Are the sampled behaviors percfnent to our purposes?
Then there are questions of uniformity of sampling, from time to time,
place to place, and group to group.
his concept of test ae a sample of behavior ia a very useful concept.
It reduces the %.agic” aspects of tests. Nothing seems mysteriotre about
the idea of sample. Whether you have had a course in tee:ting ata university
or whether you have sat at the feet of one of your technicians and had long
discourses on the nature of tests, you know that when you draw a sample,
there are errors of sampling. You know that you have to be careful what
you are sampling. You know that you have to draw a large enough sample of
behavior, so that it vi.11 represent what you are tryfng LO sample. I am
including within this concept of a test all of our procedures for drawing
samples of behavior. I include here the sort of things we ordinarily
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