09.12.2012 Views

2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

540<br />

INTRODUCTION<br />

SCORING BOTH JUDGMENT AND PERSONALITY<br />

IN A SITUATIONAL JUDGMENT TEST 45<br />

Gordon W. Waugh, Ph.D. and Teresa L. Russell, Ph.D.<br />

Human Resources Research Organization<br />

Alexandria, VA, USA<br />

gwaugh@humrro.org<br />

Although personality measures are good predictors of performance in a research setting<br />

(Tett, Jackson, & Rothstein, 1991), there are problems with their use in operational settings.<br />

(Knapp, Waters, & Heggestad, 2002). There is substantial research showing that personality tests<br />

can be faked (Hough, Eaton, Dunnette, Kamp, & McCloy, 1990; Ones, Viswesvaran, & Korbin,<br />

1995). Several recent studies show that they probably are faked when used for personnel<br />

selection (Hough, 1996, 1997, 1998; Rosse, Stechler, Miller, & Levin, 1998). Faking changes the<br />

rank-order of applicants and results in the selection of individuals with lower-than-expected<br />

performance scores (Mueller-Hanson, Heggestad, & Thornton, <strong>2003</strong>; Zickar, 2000). Thus, there<br />

is much interest in developing a faking-resistant personality measure.<br />

This presentation describes the development of a situational judgment test (SJT) for<br />

selection into the U.S. Army. A situational judgment test item consists of a description of a<br />

problem situation followed by several possible actions. An examinee answers the item by<br />

judging the effectiveness of the actions. In some SJTs, the examinee indicates the best and worst<br />

actions. In other SJTs, including this SJT, the examinee rates the effectiveness of each action.<br />

A criterion SJT was simultaneously developed which targeted soldiers who had been in<br />

the Army between 18 and 36 months. It was developed in the same manner as the predictor SJT<br />

described in this paper, with two exceptions: it includes only military scenarios and it does not<br />

use trait scoring. The criterion SJT, along with other criterion measures, will be used to collect<br />

validity data on other predictor measures. The predictor and criterion SJTs were developed for<br />

Select21, a project sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social<br />

Sciences. The objective of Select21 is to develop and validate selection measures that will help the<br />

Army select, classify, and retain enlisted Soldiers with the characteristics needed to succeed in the<br />

future Army.<br />

The SJT format has two characteristics that might make it possible to developing fakingresistant<br />

personality tests. First, in contrast to traditional personality tests, SJT examinees are not<br />

asked to divulge anything about themselves. Rather, examinees are asked to analyze each<br />

situation and evaluate the effectiveness of each action. Thus, the SJT would be a subtle measure<br />

45 In D. J. Knapp (Chair), Selecting Soldiers for the Future Force: The Army’s Select21 Project. Symposium<br />

conducted at the <strong>2003</strong> <strong>International</strong> <strong>Military</strong> <strong>Testing</strong> <strong>Association</strong> (<strong>IMTA</strong>) Conference, Pensacola, FL. The views,<br />

opinions, and/or findings contained in this paper are those of the authors and should not be construed as an official<br />

U.S. Department of the Army position, policy, or decision.<br />

45 th Annual Conference of the <strong>International</strong> <strong>Military</strong> <strong>Testing</strong> <strong>Association</strong><br />

Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November <strong>2003</strong>

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!