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Psychological Tests and Personnel Decisions

Psychological Tests and Personnel Decisions Reviews 137 1966] This useful study with its systematic compilation of Indian budget data appeals to reasoning. H. C. HILLMANN University of Leeds 21. Psychological Tests and Personnel Decisions. By Lee J. Cronbach and Goldine C. GIeser. Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1965. viii, [6] 347 p. 9". $7.95. This is a new and enlarged edition of a monograph which originally appeared in 1957, and it has been re-issued to meet demands arising from several sources, particularly in the teaching of graduate students. The original monograph presented psychological tests in the framework of statistical decision theory and by so doing reoriented the theory of psychological tests and challenged traditional views about the value of using a test. The original text is retained with only minor emendations because, as the authors say in their preface, their thinking about psychological testing has not changed in any significant way since the first edition. But the monograph has been brought up to date by the addition of new material comprising a guide to relevant literature published in the years 1955-63 and six papers by various authors written within the general framework of decision theory. The value of decision theory to an understanding of the use of psychological tests may be illustrated by the question: How should we measure the benefit from using a test? It has been customary to assess the benefit by some function of the validity coefficient (the correlation between test score and ultimate outcome) and at least four different measures have been proposed in the past. Cronbach and GIeser, on the other hand, compare the best strategies available with and without the test, and show that the gain in utility from using a test depends intimately upon the particular decision that has to be made and the situation in which the test is administered. Indeed, their decision-theoretic analysis reveals a formidable array of factors which, though relevant, have hitherto been ignored. The main body of the text does not demand much mathematical ability on the part of the reader; it is well illustrated with diagrams, and mathematical technicalities are placed in appendices. But the entire work is written at a considerable level of psychological abstraction. It will be very helpful to those engaged in psychological and educational measurement and personnel management who are concerned with the optimally efficient use of psychological tests; to such people it presents a clear analysis of the factors involved. But it is emphatically not an introduction to this field. It is entirely theoretical in its approach and presupposes an acquaintance with the flesh and blood of psychological tests. This book also illustrates the typical usefulness of statistical decision theory in its practical applications, for here is an analysis of the problems involved in using psychological tests, clearer and more fundamental than ever before, but no royal road to their mathematical solution. The guide to relevant literature in the years 1955-63 will be much appreciated by those making intensive studies in this field. It is very clear and classifies the papers reviewed according to the main trends in the research of that period. These trends include the use of Bayesian statistics, attempts to construct a valid utility scale, and the further develop­ ment of the mathematics of both single-stage and sequential testing. The papers included in this edition illustrate these several trends and will prove valuable in the conduct of graduate seminars. This second edition of Psychological Tests and Personnel Decisions does not, of course, have the significance for the development of the theory of psychological testing that the first edition had, but it will fulfil its intended purpose well. D. R. J. LAMING University College, London http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (Statistics in Society) Oxford University Press

Psychological Tests and Personnel Decisions

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Copyright
© 1966 The Authors
ISSN
0964-1998
eISSN
1467-985X
DOI
10.2307/2343921
Publisher site
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Abstract

Reviews 137 1966] This useful study with its systematic compilation of Indian budget data appeals to reasoning. H. C. HILLMANN University of Leeds 21. Psychological Tests and Personnel Decisions. By Lee J. Cronbach and Goldine C. GIeser. Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1965. viii, [6] 347 p. 9". $7.95. This is a new and enlarged edition of a monograph which originally appeared in 1957, and it has been re-issued to meet demands arising from several sources, particularly in the teaching of graduate students. The original monograph presented psychological tests in the framework of statistical decision theory and by so doing reoriented the theory of psychological tests and challenged traditional views about the value of using a test. The original text is retained with only minor emendations because, as the authors say in their preface, their thinking about psychological testing has not changed in any significant way since the first edition. But the monograph has been brought up to date by the addition of new material comprising a guide to relevant literature published in the years 1955-63 and six papers by various authors written within the general framework of decision theory. The value of decision theory to an understanding of the use of psychological tests may be illustrated by the question: How should we measure the benefit from using a test? It has been customary to assess the benefit by some function of the validity coefficient (the correlation between test score and ultimate outcome) and at least four different measures have been proposed in the past. Cronbach and GIeser, on the other hand, compare the best strategies available with and without the test, and show that the gain in utility from using a test depends intimately upon the particular decision that has to be made and the situation in which the test is administered. Indeed, their decision-theoretic analysis reveals a formidable array of factors which, though relevant, have hitherto been ignored. The main body of the text does not demand much mathematical ability on the part of the reader; it is well illustrated with diagrams, and mathematical technicalities are placed in appendices. But the entire work is written at a considerable level of psychological abstraction. It will be very helpful to those engaged in psychological and educational measurement and personnel management who are concerned with the optimally efficient use of psychological tests; to such people it presents a clear analysis of the factors involved. But it is emphatically not an introduction to this field. It is entirely theoretical in its approach and presupposes an acquaintance with the flesh and blood of psychological tests. This book also illustrates the typical usefulness of statistical decision theory in its practical applications, for here is an analysis of the problems involved in using psychological tests, clearer and more fundamental than ever before, but no royal road to their mathematical solution. The guide to relevant literature in the years 1955-63 will be much appreciated by those making intensive studies in this field. It is very clear and classifies the papers reviewed according to the main trends in the research of that period. These trends include the use of Bayesian statistics, attempts to construct a valid utility scale, and the further develop­ ment of the mathematics of both single-stage and sequential testing. The papers included in this edition illustrate these several trends and will prove valuable in the conduct of graduate seminars. This second edition of Psychological Tests and Personnel Decisions does not, of course, have the significance for the development of the theory of psychological testing that the first edition had, but it will fulfil its intended purpose well. D. R. J. LAMING University College, London

Journal

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (Statistics in Society) – Oxford University Press

Published: Dec 5, 2018

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