I__. - International Military Testing Association

for the less easily defined and analyzed supervisory performance, knowinq
effective wavs to supervise and beinq rated as a qood supervisor are more
highly related than either of those is to demonstratinq supervisory skills on
a role-play.
Discussion
Hands-on job sample tests and written job knowledge tests are frequently
used in military performance measurement situations. Whenever we have welldefined
tasks, with unequivocal task analyses that include the initiating cues
and performance standards and that permit the identification of correct and
incorrect actions, we can construct job knowledge tests or job sample tests.
(Whether or not the tests are administrable within available or reasonable
resources is another issue.) These types of tests are widely used because
what they measure -- declarative and procedural knowledge, ability to
perform -- is fairly well-understood. However, the assessment of "typical"
performance (as opposed to ability or knowledge) is more difficult, and the
use of anchored rating scales provides us a method that is arguably less
precise -- but so is the target behavior less precise. Measurement of
supervisory skills has long been regarded as difficult at best. Like
"leadership," these skills are often referred to as "intangible," as though we
are unsure of their existence, The situational judgment tests and the roleplays
are, however, measuring something, and with a respectable degree of
reliability. Continued attention to the development of these instruments, and
to ways of assessing their dimensionality, should yield useful information to
the military testing community.
References
Campbell, J. P., Ed. (October 1987). Improvinq the Selection, Classification,
and Utilization of Army Enlisted Personnel: Annual Report, 1987 Fiscal
Year (HumRRO Report IR-PRD-88-18). Alexandria, VA: Human Resources
Research Organization.
Campbell, J. P., Ed. (in preparation), Buildinq the Career Force: First
Year Report. Alexandria, VA: Human Resources Research Organization.
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