2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

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Several factors led to the decision to base the POP Hybrid content on the O*NET Work
Styles. First, the taxonomy lends itself to the formation of commensurate measures for assessing
person-environment (P-E) fit. For example, the content allows one to construct both person-side
(ability) and Army-side (demand) measures. Furthermore, the breadth of coverage of the taxonomy
helps ensure coverage of the range of work-related personality traits/characteristics an applicant
might have, which is an important characteristic of P-E fit measures (Putka, Van Iddekinge, &
Sager, 2003). Third, working from the O*NET Work Styles model provides the POP Hybrid with
a defensible taxonomic base upon which to argue that the stems from target traits appear with an
appropriate set of dummy traits, which as we note above, is arguably an important characteristic of
forced-choice measures. Finally, as a deterrent to prevent respondents from distorting their
answers, all stems are socially desirable.
The POP Hybrid attempts to distract Soldiers from thinking about how best to game their
answers to a temperament assessment by redirecting their thoughts toward P-E fit. For example,
the initial version of the POP Hybrid contained more than 100 paired-comparison items.
Respondents selected the one statement out of each pair that described the type of work they
believed they “would be more successful at.” Not surprisingly, Soldiers reacted quite negatively to
the redundancy of the measure and sheer drudgery of the exercise. In addition, the measure
required an inordinate amount of administration time (approximately 45 minutes). We therefore
put this version aside in favor of an alternative response format.
The POP Hybrid now takes the form of a card-sorting task, with each of the 16 cards
containing one of the work characteristic statements (Fig. 1 presents 3 of the 16 statements). The
instructions direct the respondents to “sort the 16 cards in terms of how well you think you would
perform the type of work described by the cards. Cards containing types of work that you think
you would perform best should be ranked highest; cards containing types of work that you think
you would perform worst should be ranked lowest.”
Work that requires…showing a cooperative and friendly attitude towards others I dislike or disagree with.
(Agreeableness)
Work that requires…setting challenging goals and working continuously to attain them. (Achievement
Motivation)
Work that requires…interacting with people of different cultures and backgrounds, and appreciating differences
in their values, opinions, and beliefs (Cultural Tolerance)
Note. The target Select21 KSA appears in parentheses following each POP Hybrid stem.
Figure 1. Sample POP Hybrid stems.
Scoring
One benefit of the POP Hybrid is that it can be scored in several ways, depending on
whether we want to use it for traditional personality assessment applications or more traditional
P-E fit applications. For example, two options we are considering are:
(1) Scoring target constructs only (traditional personality assessment):
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003