Technical b r Report - International Military Testing Association

fie first is that we start by defining actual job tasks. These tasks
come from the analysis of the performance of job incumbents. This
information can be gathered in a variety of ways. It can be done through
conventional surveys of job requirements and job duties, or by obser-
vation of job incumbents in the performance of their duties, or it can
be done through the “panel of experts approach”. The method used has
to be selected based on the best source of information available. Such
methods are not a central topic for today’s discussion; however, a
fundamental premise of our test dev*lopmcnt apTroach is that through the
use of such dat‘ .validitv is built into the test situation from the
beainninq. The validfty of the performance test results, then, is not
demonstrated by comparison with other indices such as supervisor ratings
or other test score results that are more typically used for test
validation. Content validity is estab?.ished as a precondition so that
the final tests represent absolute criteria against which any other
indices of job performance can be :hemselves validated.
The second characteristic of our performance tests arc that meaning:
ful size tasks are selected, c;hicb require skill integration and sclcction
from a total repertoire bf application skills. In performing a job duty,
it is important that the job incuzbcnt be able to handle all of the
parameters of that job duty in the contest and sequence that he will be
expected to perform on the job. i’nder our concept, performance testing
is not just the isolated performance of defined skills, but would include
the selection of’ skills to be applied at any given time based upon the
.
parameters of the sttuation. For example, a technician may be perfectly
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