Scepticism in Psychometrics (Part 1)
There is a lot of scepticism on whether organisations should adopt psychometrics into their HR-functions. Some of the issues we often hear when discussing scepticism, reliability and whether or not there are cultural implications in psychometrics. Could these be why some organisations and their HR personnel do not make use of these valuable tools?
It does not come as a surprise that many are sceptical of psychometrics, the industry is flooded with many unreliable and unproven test publishers. Anyone can create a questionnaire and call it a personality test, after all we’ve all seen those quizzes on social media, apparently I’m Ravenclaw but i’m not so sure. However there are publishers that have been independently reviewed to ensure proper scientific validity and these are the ones to stick to.
Cultural Implications
Some believe that psychometric methods are not compatible across different countries and cultures and that it can lead to cultural implications. Whilst this can be true for some tests, in fact maybe even for the majority of the assessments available, there are genuine test publishers who take their science quite seriously.
When we talk about cultural implications we are often referring to incompatibility in language perception. This is quite difficult to tackle because it requires well documented research to prove that no such issue exist. Assessments that use verbal items (e.g. personality tests or some aptitude tests) can be subject to cultural implications. This doesn’t mean that all of them have such implications but in order to accept a tool for not having any cultural implications one must:
1) Translate the entire assessment
2) Start all the analysis regarding reliability/validity from scratch including factor analysis
3) Compare norms to each other.
This is all to see that there are no significant deviations from the original findings when the assessment was constructed. Usually, when a serious test publisher brings a new assessment to the market, they have it reviewed by an independent organisation who are experts in the field. This is a costly process, so not all test publishers (especially newcomers) go through with it. Instead they explain to the prospect that their technical manual is enough (if they have such documented research).
If you find yourself in a situation like this, don’t forget to ask for certifications by an independent reviewer!
“They Aren’t Reliable!”
In some instances, this is unfortunately true. However, a scientifically validated test can not only save time in your screening/selection process; but also increase accuracy in your decision making when moving forward or rejecting a candidate.
Psychometrics is the combination of statistics and psychology… It’s not pseudo-science, it’s science! When a test publisher develops a new tool, they usually conduct predictive analysis. Predictive analysis involves regressional models which calculates what X is if Z is Y. In this field, we often want to find out whether someone will perform successfully in a given role, if an employee is suited to a promotion or if a candidate will fit the company culture. If any of these are performed incorrectly it can prove costly to the company. Using numbers from big data to predict these behaviours is proven to work successfully by applying simple correlation analysis.
If you have any questions around incorporating psychometrics into your talent management routines, simply get in touch at info@inpsyght.co.uk.
We will be continuing this blog in “Scepticism in Psychometrics (Part 2)”.
To learn more about the psychometric tests we provide, use the following link: https://www.inpsyght.co.uk/solutions/
Follow Inpsyght Consultancy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inpsyght-consultancy-ltd