I__. - International Military Testing Association

verified can reduce faking (Schrader & Osburn, 1977).
Verifiability should be less necessary with discrete and publicly
witnessed items for which "faking good" would require conscious
lying. When developing biodata, obscuring the l'rightll answers
and deleting transparent items should also discourage socially
desirable responses, even without the threat of verification.
Paradoxically, items which fit the narrowest definitions of "job
relevant" and show the greatest point-to-point correspondence
with future job performance would be most transparent and elicit
the greatest need for verification.
The issue of control. From the aforementioned perspective,
that all life events have the potential to shape and affect later
behavior, there is no reason to differentiate between experiences .
that a person has consciously chosen to undertake and those that
were components of the person's environment. In the same way
that a decision to join.ROTC or study chemistry may lead a person
in a behavioral direction, personal characteristics or the
climate in a person's home and community could also affect
subsequent behavior. Moreover, even optional decisions and
behaviors, such as smoking or amount of time spent studying, are
partially shaped by noncontrollable influences. This view is
reflected in the instruments of biodata researchers who freely
utilize both llcontrollable't and Inoncontrollablett biodata items
(Glennon, Albright, &I Owens 1966). Stricker (1987), on the other
hand, argues that it is unethical to evaluate people based on
noncontrollable items pertaining to parental behavior, geographic
background, or socioeconomic status. He also considers items
dealing with skills and experiences not equally accessible to all
applicants, such as tractor-driving ability or playing varsity
football, to be unfair. Similarly, the developers of the Armed
Services Applicant Profile (ASAP), a biodata measure of
adaptability to the military, also attempted to delete all noncontrollable
items from their instrument (Trent, Quenette, &
Pass, 1989).
In practice, however, consistent adherence to the control
criterion would exclude all items pertaining to physical
characteristics and educational level; behaviors, values, or
interpersonal styles influenced by parental genetics or
nurturing; and vocational interests and behavioral preferences
partially shaped by one's environment. Strict adherence would
thus lead to exclusion of most life experiences likely related to
later behavior. It would also exclude many items typically found
on school and job application blanks. This would present a
severe constraint when sampling applicant pools without extended
job histories, such as military applicants. It is not surprising
that even some advocates of this criterion have been forced to
violate it in their scales.
Invasion of privacv
A final concern involves invasion of privacv. Intrusive
questions are mainly problematic with background checks that
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