Technical b r Report - International Military Testing Association

constrsin attempts to measure task product, and too easily give in to the :
simplistic approach of measuring task process. The overriding cjuestion that
a test designer should ask himself in this situation is: If I use only a
Trocess xasure to test a xxx’s nchievezzent on a task, how certain con I be
frcn: this process score that he would also be able to affect the product or
outcme of the tr;ok? 1;here the degree of certainty is substantially less
than that to be expected fro3 coml ceasuren;ent error, the test designer
should pause and reconsider whys in r;bich time sud resource limitations cm
be cozpro=li;ec! in schicveing at least aa approxitation to product neasurecent.
Although there will remain instnnces in which product measurement sinply
camot be achieved, ue will discover oacy others where, through sorze inagina-
tive thinking, we can devise s-.., i-ulatiocs that will enable us to assess task
outccne in a note relevant fashion.
Ir. testing the student instructor, for instaxe, I see no compelling
reason c;hy we shculdn’t get away fro3 the "chdrn school" 2pproach to evalua-
tion. Cny not sisply have hi-, corxduc: 2 brief instructional session for 2
snall group 05 stndr?n:s iperha;ls his peers), ui:h his achievement beicg
neasured in term of whether his students have accoqlished the instructional
objactive? In the c2se of the recruiter traiaee's speech, evaluating task
prodcct is core difficult; but surely a masure closer to task outcome
could be achieved -- perhaps a ptid student panel representing the potential
audience could be ezqloyed to v kw and rste the np?eal of videotaped trainee
speeches. In zeroing in on critical cotor skills, such as those involved
in extracting a ~axzcd round fro3 a weapon or fn coatrolling bleeding from
a wound, it uouid see3 that relatively low cos: sizulators could be devised
for use in tcs:ir.g :ask outcome. Had-to-hazd combat very likely represents
a case in whicS ultixte task product simply c2mot be xzeasurcd. However,
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