The Validity of Pre-Employment Assessments
Dr. John Schinnerer
With respect to pre-employment assessments, validity is an objective measure that
demonstrates that the test actually measures what it purports to measure. Validation is a
study sponsored by the test publisher in accordance with certain professional standards.
Typically, these standards include “Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing”
and “Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures.”
All of Innet’s assessment products and the conclusions reached by use of them are
designed and validated in accordance with the procedures described in “Standards for
Educational and Psychological Testing” as well as “Principles for the Validation and Use
of Personnel Selection Procedures.” Thus, none of our assessments are, or have ever
been, discriminatory. In addition, all our assessments are in compliance with E.E.O.C.
and other Federal Regulations.
In the “Standards for ... Testing” validity is described as “the most important consider-
ation in test evaluation.” The concept refers to the appropriateness, meaningfulness, and
usefulness of the specic inferences made from test score. Test validation is the process
of accumulating evidence to support such inferences. A variety of inferences may be
made from scores produced by a given test, and there are many ways of accumulating
evidence to support any particular inference. Validity, however, is a unitary concept.
Although evidence may be accumulated in many ways, validity always refers to the
degree to which that evidence supports the inferences that are made from the scores.
The inferences regarding specic uses of a test are validated, not the test itself.
The ve forms of validity:
1. Construct validity refers to the extent to which dimensions, or constructs, with similar
names on different tests relate to one another. Two traits that correlate highly on a
personality test are not necessarily the same, but the high correlation provides reassur-
ance that