Foundations of Recruitment and Selection I:
Reliability and Validity
© 2013 by Nelson Education
1
Chapter Learning Outcomes

After reading this chapter you should:
◦ Understand the basic components that make up a
traditional personnel selection model
◦ Have a good understanding of the concepts of
reliability and validity
◦ Recognize the importance and necessity of
establishing the reliability and validity of
measures used in personnel selection
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Chapter Learning Outcomes
(continued)
◦ Identify common strategies that are used to
provide evidence on the reliability and validity of
measures used in personnel selection
◦ Appreciate the requirement for measures used in
personnel selection to evaluate applicants fairly
and in an unbiased fashion
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The Recruitment and Selection
Process

An employer’s goal is to hire an applicant
who possesses the knowledge, skills,
abilities, or other attributes (KSAOs)
required to perform the job
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Recruitment and Selection Today
2.1

Selection Process for Winnipeg Police
Constables: Minimum Qualifications
◦ Age 18 years or older
◦ Education (Manitoba Grade 12 or equivalency–
e.g. GED)
 Foreign credentials require assessment by Manitoba
Labour and Immigration prior to application
 Valid Full Class 5 driver’s licence with no more than
four demerits on Driver’s abstract as assessed by
the Winnipeg Police Service
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Recruitment and Selection Today
2.1(continued)
◦ Canadian citizen or landed immigrant
◦ No involvement in any criminal activity within the
last two years (including illegal drugs)
◦ No criminal record for which a pardon has not
been granted
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Recruitment and Selection Today
2.1(continued)
◦ Must meet current Winnipeg Police Service vision
standards
◦ Successful completion of job-related physical test
(Winnipeg Police Service—Physical Abilities Test:
WPS-PAT) within 4 minutes and 15 seconds
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Human Resources Management:
Science versus Practice in Selection
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A Selection
Model
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Construct

Construct: an idea or concept constructed
or invoked to explain relationships between
observations
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Building a Foundation

Reliability: the degree to which observed
scores are free from random measurement
errors; an indication of the stability or
dependability of a set of measurements
over repeated applications of the
measurement procedure
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Interpreting Reliability Coefficients


True score: the average score that an
individual would earn on an infinite number
of administrations of the same test or
parallel versions of the same test
Error score (or measurement error): the
hypothetical difference between an
observed score and a true score
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Factors Affecting Reliability



Temporary Individual Characteristics
Lack of Standardization
Chance
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Methods of Estimating Reliability





Test and Retest
Alternate Forms
Internal Consistency
Inter-Rater Reliability
Choosing an Index of Reliability
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Validity

Validity: the legitimacy or correctness of the
inferences that are drawn from a set of
measurements or other specified
procedures; the degree to which
accumulated evidence and theory support
specific interpretations of test scores in the
context of the test’s proposed use
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Construct, Content, Criterionrelated Validity

Construct and content validity: validation
strategies that provide evidence based on
test content

Criterion validity: related validity provides
evidence based on relationships to other
variables
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© 2013 by Nelson Education
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Predictive and Concurrent Evidence
for Test Criterion Relationships

Predictive evidence: obtained through
research designs that establish a correlation
between predictor scores obtained before
an applicant is hired and criteria obtained at
a later time, usually after an applicant is
employed
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Predictive and Concurrent Evidence
for Test Criterion Relationships
(continued)

Concurrent evidence: obtained through
research designs that establish a correlation
between predictor and criteria scores from
information that is collected at
approximately the same time from a
specific group of workers
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Validity Generalization

Validity generalization: the application of
validity evidence, obtained through metaanalysis of data obtained from many
situations, to other situations that are
similar to hose on which the meta-analysis
is based
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Factors Affecting Validity
Coefficients



Range Restriction
Measurement Error
Sampling Error
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Class Activity
1.
2.
Discuss why it is better to base a selection
system on science than a ‘gut feeling’?
Does an organization have an obligation
to make the enterprise as profitable as
possible on behalf of its owners, or does it
have an obligation to meet the objectives
of society by providing equal employment
opportunities for members of different
population groups?
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Bias and Fairness

Bias: systematic errors in measurement, or
inferences made from those measurements,
that are related to different identifiable
group membership characteristic such as
age, sex, or race
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Fairness

Fairness: the value judgments people make
about the decisions or outcomes that are
based on measurements
◦ Principle that every test taker should be assessed
in an equitable manner
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Recruitment and Selection Today
2.2

Different Views of Fairness:
◦ Fairness as lack of bias
◦ Fairness as equitable treatment in the testing
process
◦ Fairness as opportunity to learn
◦ Fairness as equality in outcomes of testing
◦ Fairness in selection and prediction
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Summary


Be familiar with measurement, reliability,
and validity issues
The reliability and validity of the
information used as part of personnel
selection procedures must be established
empirically
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Discussion Questions
1.
2.
We presented a summary of the Meiorin
case at the outset of this chapter. Can you
think of procedures or changes that the
consultants could have done that would
have allowed the test to meet the
objections of the Supreme Court?
Can an invalid selection test be reliable?
Can an unreliable selection best be valid?
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