SELECTION TESTS

Selection Testing refers to the application of standard procedures to the persons that enable to quantify their responses. The differences in the results represent differences in abilities or behavior. The tests used for selection include personality tests, intelligence tests, aptitude and attainment tests.

Reliability of Selection Tests: The selection tests are sensitive, measuring instruments aimed to distinguish between different persons, standardized on a representative and sizable sample of the population for which they are intended so that any individual’s score can be interpreted in relation to that of others. 

• Selection tests are reliable in the sense that they always measure the same thing. 
• A test measuring a particular feature, such as intelligence should measure the same characteristic when administered to different subjects at the same or a different time, or to the same person at different times. 
• They are validated in the sense that it measures the characteristic which the test is intended to measure. 
•  A personality test should measure personality and not merely verbal facility, and a test meant to predict success in a job or in passing examinations should produce convincing predictions.  

The major instruments used for selection purposes are:

1. Personality tests  
2. Intelligence tests 
3. Aptitude and attainment tests. 

• Selection testing provides an objective means of measuring abilities or characteristics. 
•  Most likely to be helpful when used as part of a selection procedure for occupations where a large number of recruits are needed.
•  Where it is not possible to depend solely on examination results or information about previous experience as the basis for predicting future performance. 
•  It is economic to develop and administer the tests and a sufficient number of cases can be built up for the essential validation exercise. 
• Intelligence tests are particularly helpful in situations where intelligence is a key factor but is no other reliable method of measuring it.