Psychometrics

By

Syed Kashan Ali shah

Definition:Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement. It deals with the objective measurement of skills, knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality traits and educational achievement.

What is a psychometric test?

• Aim to measure aspects of your mental ability, aptitude or your personality

• Used as part of the recruitment or selection process

• Provide employers with a method of selecting the most suitable job applicants or candidates for promotion

• Used by 80% of Fortune 500 and 75% of Times Top 100 companies

What do psychometric tests measure?

• How well you work with other people• How well you handle stress• Whether you will be able to cope with the

intellectual demands of the job• Your personality, preferences and abilities • Most do not analyze your emotional or

psychological stability• Best match of individual to occupation and

working environment

What types of test are there?

What are they used for?

Psychometric tests

Recruitment& Selection

Career Progression

A psychometric test should be:

• Objective: – The score must not affected by the testers' beliefs or values

• Standardized: – Must be administered under controlled conditions

• Reliable: – Must minimize and quantify any intrinsic errors

• Predictive: – Must make an accurate prediction of performance

• Non Discriminatory: – Must not disadvantage any group on the basis of gender,

culture, ethnicity, etc.

Some of the popular psychometric tests are:

• 16 PF• MBTI• FIRO-B• OPQ32 • Thomas Personal Profiling System• Gordon’s Personal Profile Inventory• Rorschach Ink-Blot Test• Picture Frustration Test• Thematic Apperception Tests (TAT)

The Five Factors Model

Basis of many tests: Uses five personality traits:

• Openness

• Conscientiousness

• Extraversion

• Agreeableness

• Neuroticism

Openness is an overarching concept or philosophy that is characterized by an emphasis on transparency and free unrestricted access to knowledge and information as well as collaborative or cooperative management and decision making rather than a central authority. Openness can be said to be the opposite of secrecy.

Conscientiousness is the personality trait of being thorough, careful, or vigilant. Conscientiousness implies a desire to do a task well. Conscientious people are efficient and organized as opposed to easy-going and disorderly

Extraversion tends to be manifested in sociable, talkative, energetic behavior, whereas introversion is manifested in more reserved and lonely behavior

Neuroticism is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology characterized by anxiety, fear, moodiness, worry, envy, frustration, jealousy, and loneliness

Agreeableness is a personality trait manifesting itself in individual behavioral characteristics that are perceived as kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm and selfless

Five Factor Scoring:

-ve +ve

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Neuroticism

Openness to experience

MBTI: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• Based on theories of Gustav Jung

• Most widely-used questionnaire based test

• Uses four bi-polar dimensions– Sensing –Intuition (SI)– Thinking – Feeling (TF)– Extraversion-Introversion (E-I)– Judging-Perceiving (J-P)

• To create 16 ‘Personality Types’

MBTI is used for:

• Individual development

• Management and leadership development

• Team building and development

• Organizational change

• Improving communication

• Education and career counseling

• Relationship counseling

FIRO-B:

• Devised by American psychologist, Will Schutz, in the 1950's

• Helps people to understand themselves and their relationships with others

• Based on a 2-hour, 54-question questionnaire• Describes interpersonal behavior in terms of three

primary dimensions:– 1. Need for Inclusion – 2. Need for Control

– 3. Need for Affection

FUNDAMENTAL INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP ORIENTATION-BEHAVIOUR

FIRO-B is used for:

• Team building and team development

• Individual development and executive coaching

• Conflict resolution

• Selection and placement

• Management and leadership development

• Relationship counseling

16 Personality Factor model (16PF)

• Developed in the 1940s and refined in the 60s

• Attempts to define the basic underlying personality

• Questionnaire based

• Analysis using 16 personality factors

Factor Descriptors

A Warmth Reserved Outgoing

B Reasoning Less Intelligent More Intelligent

C Emotional StabilityAffected by

feelingsEmotionally stable

E Dominance Humble Assertive

F Liveliness Sober Happy-go-lucky

GRule Consciousness

Expedient Conscientious

H Social Boldness Shy Venturesome

I Sensitivity Tough-minded Tender-minded

L Vigilance Trusting Suspicious

M Abstractedness Practical Imaginative

N Privateness Straightforward Shrewd

O Apprehension Self-Assured Apprehensive

pOpenness to Change

Conservative Experimenting

q Self-RelianceGroup-

dependentSelf-sufficient

r Perfectionism Self-conflict Self-control

s Tension Relaxed Tense

The 16 factors with their word descriptors of each scale

16 PF is used for:

• Selection

• Development

• Executive coaching

• Teambuilding

Aptitude and Ability Tests

• Designed to assess one’s logical reasoning or thinking performance

• Usually consist of multiple choice questions, administered under exam conditions

• Typical test might allow 30 minutes for 30 or so questions

• At least 5000 aptitude and ability tests on the market

• On-line testing increasingly popular

Types of aptitude and ability tests

The GRE revised General Test measures your verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking analytical writing skills

these are the skills that have been developed over a long period of time and are not related to a specific field of study but are important for all.

Graduate Record Examination

GMAT Test Section # of Questions Question Types Timing

Analytical Writing Assessment

1 Topic Analysis of Argument 30 Minutes

Integrated Reasoning 12 Questions Multi-Source ReasoningGraphics InterpretationTwo-Part AnalysisTable Analysis

30 Minutes

Quantitative 37 Questions Data SufficiencyProblem Solving

75 Minutes

Verbal 41 Questions Reading ComprehensionCritical ReasoningSentence Correction

75 Minutes

Total Exam Time 3hrs, 30 minutes

The GMAT Exam

GAT™Graduate Assessment Test GAT™-GENERAL is for admissions in MS / M.Phil programs.

-> GAT™-A Curriculum

Verbal Reasoning

Quantitative Reasoning

Analytical Reasoning

Total

GAT™ A Business andEngineering Students

35% 35% 30% 100%

For more information:BOOKS Anastasi Anne, Urbina Susana, Psychological Testing,

Pearson Education, 2003.

Mcshane S, Glinow A M, Sharma R, Introduction to Organization Behavior, Tata McGraw Hills, 2006.

E-BooksD.Constantine-Simms,

Everything you need to know to pass psychometric tests.Magazines

HRM Review February 2013Websiteshttp://www.teamfocus.co.uk/different_types_of_psychometric_tests.htmhttp://changingminds.org/disciplines/hr/selection/psychometric.htmhttp://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.orgwww.humanmetrics.comhttp://www.opp.co.uk