Assessments

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

This page was created to answer a number of frequently asked assessment questions by distributors.  Items we feel would be appropriate for distributors but not necessarily items that would be of interest to clients or prospective clients.   

Question:  How do I stay within the legal guidelines when testing?
Answer:  Chapter 8 in "Practical Issues in Employment Testing" gives a full answer to this question.  Since anything one does in hiring, promoting, and evaluating processes constitutes a "test", the question has more implications than one normally realizes.  Three of the best rules to live by to stay legal (out of trouble) are: 1) consistency in all procedures; 2) create an evidence/data trail, and 3) establish empirical criteria.

Question:  Is testing really worth the effort?
Answer:  To the extent this is an expression on opinion and not a question, everyone is entitled to an opinion.  You will certainly hear this "why bother" sentiment from many prospects.  My answer is a question: How important or vital is the human decision one is trying to make?  The purpose of testing is to estimate and predict.  If one is estimating and predicting within hiring, training, or reviewing situations of little consequence to a business, don't bother testing.  Just flip a coin.

Question:  What do I need to do to make sure that I can defend the use of employment related tests?
Answer:  Learn the products and the processes fully!  The untrained individual is an accident waiting to happen.  

Question:  Is this test safe?  Will I get sued?  Is it approved, if so, by whom?  Another question pertains to standardization:  how was it standardized, what year, what was the sample used, were there minorities used, and how many, etc. 
Answer:  Our certification and book resources address the questions you cite.  Furthermore, many more fascinating issues are covered in the test manuals that accompany each of our assessment products.  Test manuals take some effort to get through but they are the best way to face these questions and know what you're talking about.  Our training and the documentation for our products is all there.  Enjoy!

Question:  The DISC is only a few bucks, why should I spend more?
Answer:  Cheap tools are good for doing cheap and easy jobs.  If that's the only type of job you try to do, no problem.  Unfortunately, there are all kinds of situations the DISC was not designed to handle.  Any tool (cheap or expensive) used in the wrong situation can cause harm and put the tool user at risk.  

Question:   Why is the Profile Evaluation more expensive than the others?
Answer: Because it's built better, does more, and is a very robust instrument.  Like any tool there are cheap ones and expensive ones.  You can set up a great demonstration using a poorly made product or a quality product.  At the end of the demonstration, you should ask yourself: "If this were an absolutely vital position, which tool would be the better value and wiser choice?"  If the psychometric task at hand is cheap, easy, and has no vital implications to the company, then select the most appropriate, cost effective tool. Most psychological testing jobs are neither cheap nor easy, but difficult with vital implications for peoples' lives.  That's why I prefer the better-built, more expensive Profile.

Question:  What is the best test for team building?
Answer:  There's no easy answer to this question.  One needs a clear and comprehensive definition (model) of the construct "team".  Add to that a need for agreement about what a "building process" entails.  There are interesting and divergent answers to these questions, and there are tests developed for these viewpoints.  The PES will assist in team building to the extent that their underlying models of "team" fit the teambuilding task set up by the organization.

Question:  What are the limits of tests?
Answer:  Tests do not work on things that do not exist.  As with all tools, tests work best on the things they were designed to handle.  That's why you need to learn each product and its process.  Remember, although it will get the job done, a hammer makes a lousy screwdriver.

Question:  Are there tests that should only be used for employees and not for applicants?
Answer:  Yes.  Tests designed internally by a company for promotion and evaluation should only be used internally.  Again, the critical issue is to know what the test was engineered to do.

Question:  Should tests be used for hire/no-hire decisions?
Answer:  This is a question you'll frequently encounter.  No test should be used as a "stand-alone" for hire/no hire decisions.  

Question:  How good are national norms?
Answer:  They're pretty good for what they are.  The issue really is the use of "criteria" and the supportable documentation for those criteria.  Since most businesses don't have data-driven criteria, national norms are better than nothing.  Well-supported (i.e., evidence and documentation that will stand up to critical review) local norms are presently in favor.  Ten or more years ago national norms were viewed as less affected by local "bias".  Today, national norms are viewed as biased in terms of insensitivity to local conditions.

Question:  Are national norms enough to base hiring/promotion decisions?
Answer:  National norms are better than using no norms at all.  However, testing and the norms associated with tests should make up only ONE part of a comprehensive hiring/promotion process.  

Question:   We used to have a ton of customized norms generated by other licensees.  Do they still exist?
Answer:  Yes, although now I think there are a few tons of them.  The problem we must address is that of misusing normative information.  The database for each norm must be specific and available so that we can justify the norm's appropriate use.  Perhaps we should concentrate on developing SMART norms just like we teach our clients to develop SMART goals.  (I have added both the standard normative patterns and additional GENERIC normative patterns to the Downloads section).

Question:  What reference material should I read to increase my knowledge of testing?
Answer:  We have those materials available to you in books (e.g., "Practical Issues in Employment Testing").  You should also have and read the test manual (conforming to the guidelines of the American Psychological Association) that accompanies any well-made test instrument.

Question:  What are some good ways to market testing as a product?
Answer:  This is a short question with a very long answer, most of which won't help if you don't know your products and don't have the trust and confidence of your clients.  That is, of course, a truism for all your products.  Due to their invasive manner, test products place an exceptional demand on knowledge, trust, and confidence. If misused, testing products can have serious if not harmful effects. (The Assessment Certification Manual has information on finding prospects and sales.  It includes two different presentations.)

Question:  What "facts" should be at our fingertips when promoting LMI assessments over the competition?
Answer:  Our product line consists only of assessment tools that have been built, validated, and documented in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the American Psychological Association.  Our best assessments have been validated and re-validated to assure they are performing as intended.  Each product has its own distinct application for use in the areas of hiring, training, and evaluating.  In short, our product line offers comprehensive coverage of corporate assessment needs.  We train and certify our distributors before we allow them to sell our assessments.  We have ongoing training (continuing education) for our distributors and, in certain cases, our clients as well.  We have the capacity to custom-build an assessment for any client's needs.

Question:  What other companies are using these instruments?  (i.e. Companies that the client might recognize.)
Answer:  A list of current users may not be what LMI likes to share.  It may be easier to identify companies that have used our products in the past.  Whatever the case, you will find that LMI’s assessments have been used by some well-known companies (e.g., Olin Chemicals, Arthur Andersen, American Airlines, Ford, Wal-Mart, etc.)

Question:  How much time does it take to complete each of the assessments?
Answer:  PES takes about an hour.  The others have variations based on what test components are administered to a respondent, but in general you can expect a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 90 minutes. (Time required for each assessment has been added to the Successments.com website under "More Information" for each assessment.)

Question:  Personality Assessments:  Which primary behavioral style is the best? 
Answer:  No single style is the best, the key is to understand your primary and secondary styles and be able to flex among them when it is important to communicate and work effectively with others.
Answer from Dr. Al: Another answer would be "the one you are in at the moment, as long as you understand and use it wisely".  Therefore, a given style may be "best" at a given moment and/or in a given situation.  The question then becomes one of practicing genuine versatility.

Question:   Is there a presentation or set of ideas including factual data related to "why assess and train your employees".  It may be that someone out there in the LMI family already has a 15-30 minute presentation on why you should make an investment in your employees and what the ROI will be.
Answer: To me the real issue is: why assess individuals before training them?  The Wall Street Journal published a special section on training (they called it executive education) back in 1993 (Friday, September 10, 1993 to be exact).  After reading that section you can build your own presentation on the need for assessment diagnostics prior to any training regimen.

Question:   On the validity and reliability of the ONI, some people who are statistically oriented, want more than what is published in the ONI manual regarding how reliable the questions are in getting the proper answers.  In other words, how do we know that the questions statistically provide the information sought?
Answer: The problem arising here is that one who is statistically oriented may not know enough about test construction to appreciate when statistics are appropriate and when they are not only inappropriate, but also misleading.  For example, in a true survey like ONI there is no such thing as a "proper answer".  A person's response is appropriate for that person at that moment.  If the same person answers the same item differently on another occasion, that answer is also appropriate for that person at that time and under those new circumstances.  Reliability that is statistically estimated from data representing consistency of measurement over time is an incorrect estimate to use with ONI.  There are other forms of reliability that can be calculated, but they are based on weaker expressions of the "consistency construct".  Appropriate validity expressions for ONI include face, content and construct validity, all of which are stated with words rather than statistical values.  The only statistical (numeric) validity expression is that of empirical/predictive validity, which is a completely inappropriate validity expression for ONI.  ONI only describes present corporate conditions. ONI was not set up to predict or estimate future corporate conditions.

Answer2:  There are significant differences in validation requirements for a survey and for a test. A survey relies on non-predictive validation measures. What does that mean? A survey only really needs to have face and content validation to be a decent survey (and quite frankly there's no hard-n-fast rule on that requirement either). The source of survey items will come from experience, wisdom, theory, belief, etc… This is true of all surveys, ONI included. It doesn't matter where the content comes from or even how the data are represented as long as the instrument provides a reliable, informative, and robust picture of the reportable realities in the respondent’s company. Again, because there are no to establish construct validity, all a survey must do is tell you about stuff you think you really should know about. 

Meanwhile, ONI is a very solid track-tested instrument probing concepts recognized in most business circles as fundamental to good organizational effectiveness. It uses rich scaling methods that make the most of the respondents' data (low data wastage, which is something psychometricians and psychophysicists worry about). It wisely calls for two judgments per item, thereby providing location and variability estimates on correlated pairs of observations. Add to that the emphasis on "gap interpretation" and you end up with a very thorough vehicle.

Question:   Will I get charged twice/more if I print a report twice or request hiring and personal in addition to the coaching report in the PES Software?
Answer:   No.

Question:   What do I do if after I have finished scoring a PES I realize I have misspelled the candidate's name?
Answer:  The newest version of PES allows you to correct the spelling of both the candidate's name and/or the company name.

Question:   What should I do if a candidate's results are invalid because of a high V1 or V2 score?
Answer:  In general the client deserves to know and the candidate does not.  Assuming you're in a hiring scenario, a high V1 is explained as "The candidate chose not to reveal to us who he/she really is.  I can't tell why he/she chose to do this.  I can only tell you he/she chose very idealistic/exaggerated responses to certain items.  Because of this, I can provide you with no additional information that will help you in your decision."  Note: NEVER RECOMMEND AGAINST A CANDIDATE BASED ON HIGH V-1 SCORES.  For high V-2 I state: "I cannot tell you about this person because he/she did not follow directions but rather chose an excessive number of indecisive, middle answers".

Question:   How much will someone change if they take it again (usually asked about a year later)?
Answer: For PES the answer is "not very much at all" unless the person undergoes a life-altering experience in that one-year period.  

Question:   Which traits can be most easily changed (real change, not adaptation)?
Answer:  I assume this question refers to PES, which measures one's more basic "disposition" rather than situational adaptation.  My experience is that, with training, D3, D4, and D9 can shift.  D1 and D5 are open to change as well.  Please understand that you must decide what "real change" really means.  My personal view is that we don't really change too much but with training we learn the versatility to handle different types of situations.  So for me, greater versatility is a real change.

Question:   Which traits are hardest to coach for improvement?
Answer:  D2, D6, D7, D8, and D10.  The latter 4 are "interpersonal" in nature and those transactional matters are the hardest to successfully coach.

Question:   Which ones really don't change (my answer has been D6 and D8, although we can learn to adjust)?
Answer:  The one you're most fond of changes the least.  My personal favorite is D7.

Question:   How does the PES compare to Myers-Briggs?
Answer: This question is the basis for an entire course in psychological testing.  To make one brief response, you must first develop a working understanding of three terms:, "types", "traits", and "factors".  These are the building blocks for personality descriptions.  Types have been used since the Greek philosophers.  Traits have been used descriptively for a few hundred years.  Factors emerged in the mid-20^th century as reliable and valid diagnostic descriptors.  It might help to understand these three terms by recalling the game, 20 Questions.  The first question, "Is it animal, vegetable or mineral?" uses types to crudely, but effectively narrow the field in identifying an unknown item.  The second question, "Is it a warm-blooded animal," hones in on more detail by seeking trait information beyond the basic type classification.  Finally, one may ask, "Is this warm-blooded animal at the top of the food chain, capable of killing and eating anything else alive on the planet?"  This question addresses a factor larger than type and trait and critical in distinguishing the human from other warm-blooded animals.

The MBTI relies on types (4 and 2 respectively) and traits for their descriptive powers.  PES uses factor information (18 factors) for its descriptions.  All three are descriptively useful, however, as the need for detailed information increases, the knowledgeable test user will turn to devices capable of making the finest descriptive distinctions.

Question:   How can I make the pages print properly (margins, etc.) on some reports? 
Answer: Call Sam or print the PES report to a PDF file. (Each instrument has software, which is different.  We redesigned the reports in PES to give a larger margin on the left side.  

Question:   Will the results change as a person gets older?
Answer:  They may change slightly over time.  
Answer from Dr. Al: What doesn't change too much is one's general disposition, which may show up as a single "style" or combination of styles.  Age by itself is a very poor predictor of change in any personality measure

Question:   Can I store the hard copies in personnel files?
Answer:  Yes, they have to be handled properly like all personnel information.

Question:   How much of my decision can I base upon the assessments?
Answer:  The recommended amount is "no more than one-third".  You should base your decision on three sources of information: history, compatibility, and suitability.

Question:   Are they valid for foreigners?
Answer:  The foreign language ones are for the foreigners of that language and culture.  Validity drops when a non- English speaking person takes a English test.  If English is not the native language, or 1st language, the speed by which they process information will drop and the Timed areas will be affected.  

Thanks to the following people who assisted in the creation of the above list.  I appreciate all the questions we received.  Without them we could not have created such an extensive list of Frequently Asked Questions.  

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