CODESP Applicant Screening and Evaluation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which term describes the degree to which a selection instrument measures the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities required by the job, as demonstrated through a thorough job analysis?
- Predictive validity
- Content validity (Correct answer)
- Construct validity
- Concurrent validity
Correct answer: Content validity
Content validity is the evidence that a test's content represents the domain of knowledge, skills, and abilities identified as essential through job analysis.
Question 2: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer may require a medical examination of an applicant:
- Before making a conditional offer of employment
- After a conditional offer is made but before employment begins (Correct answer)
- Only if the applicant discloses a disability during the interview
- At any point during the hiring process
Correct answer: After a conditional offer is made but before employment begins
The ADA permits medical examinations only after a conditional job offer has been extended, and the exam must be required of all entering employees in the same job category.
Question 3: The 'banding' technique in applicant ranking addresses which psychometric concern?
- Test length and administration time
- Measurement error and score unreliability (Correct answer)
- Cultural bias in test content
- Adverse impact caused by structured interviews
Correct answer: Measurement error and score unreliability
Banding groups candidates whose scores fall within a statistically equivalent range (based on standard error of measurement) and treats them as equally qualified to reduce the impact of measurement error.
Question 4: Which document serves as the primary legal framework governing federal employment selection procedures in the United States?
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (1978) (Correct answer)
- Equal Pay Act of 1963
- Executive Order 11246
Correct answer: Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (1978)
The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures provide the authoritative technical standards for the development and validation of employee selection procedures used by federal agencies.
Question 5: In a multiple-hurdle selection process, at which stage should the most expensive or time-intensive assessment typically be administered?
- First, to screen out unqualified candidates immediately
- Last, after candidates have been screened by lower-cost methods (Correct answer)
- Simultaneously with all other assessments
- Before the application review stage
Correct answer: Last, after candidates have been screened by lower-cost methods
Placing expensive assessments at the end of the multiple-hurdle process ensures they are administered only to candidates who have already met earlier, lower-cost screening criteria, maximizing cost efficiency.
Question 6: Which type of reliability coefficient is used to assess consistency of scores across two different forms of the same test given at the same time?
- Test-retest reliability
- Internal consistency reliability
- Alternate-forms reliability (Correct answer)
- Inter-rater reliability
Correct answer: Alternate-forms reliability
Alternate-forms (or parallel-forms) reliability measures the correlation between scores on two equivalent forms of a test to assess whether the forms measure the same construct consistently.
Question 7: A jurisdiction administers a written knowledge test and discovers it has disparate impact on a minority group. Which action should the jurisdiction take FIRST?
- Immediately discontinue the test
- Conduct a validity study to determine if the test is job-related (Correct answer)
- Lower the cutoff score to eliminate disparate impact
- Replace the test with an unscored interview
Correct answer: Conduct a validity study to determine if the test is job-related
The Uniform Guidelines require that when adverse impact is found, the employer must be able to demonstrate job-relatedness and validity; the first step is conducting a validity study rather than immediately abandoning the test.
CODESP Applicant Screening and Evaluation 3
Which term describes the degree to which a selection instrument measures the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities required by the job, as demonstrated through a thorough job analysis?