Adrian Furnham, Professor of Psychology at University College London
Traditional ways of assessing people have not changed significantly for many years. They include ability and personality tests, 360 degree ratings, interviews and references. The limitations of each method is well known for particular problems with self-report and observer bias. Since the millennium, there has been a great interest in harnessing new technologies to evaluate people more accurately and in more subtle ways. These new ways include gamification, social network analysis, crowd-sourcing, voice profiling, wearables, etc.
This presentation will look the many problems of demonstrating the predictive validity of both old and new methods of people assessment as well as what we know about emerging technologies, including:
Stephen Stark, University of South Florida
In the last decade, there have been significant advances in the technology for constructing and supporting workplace and educational tests. On-demand, computerized assessments, which can be completed on a variety of mobile devices, are quickly replacing static paper-and-pencil forms that are administered just a few times per year. Concerns about item security and test score integrity, particularly in unproctored testing environments, have increased the demand for computer adaptive testing (CAT) with some form of exposure control, aberrant responding detection, and item formats that reduce the effects of response biases, such as impression management, random responding, and rater errors. There are also indications that the nature of testing is in transition. Structured assessments relying on multiple-choice and Likert-type items are being supplemented or replaced by simulation exercises, serious games, and other constructed response alternatives with the goal of machine scoring. Although there is much enthusiasm for these emerging methods of assessment, important questions remain concerning reliability, validity, and the potential for misuse.
This presentation will review advances in measurement methodology that have been featured in recent chapters on technology and testing and in a 2015 National Research Council report entitled, Measuring Human Capabilities. It will describe methods that are being incorporated, for example, in modern computer adaptive personality tests to increase their psychometric efficiency and suitability for high-stakes uses. It will conclude with some illustrative validity data for these measurement approaches and recommendations for practice and research concerning various assessment alternatives.
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