V1 
6 
SELECTION OF EXAMINATIONS 
Principles governing the selection and construction of tests: Objectivity; 
reliability ; simplicity; analogy of test and ability to be measured; resem- 
blance to vocational tasks. Sources of material: The vocational apparatus; 
former studies of the vocation; general test publications; miscellaneous 
sources of information. 
THE investigator has at this point chosen a criterion of 
success in the profession, occupation, or job being studied, 
has selected those who are to serve as subjects for his in- 
vestigation, and has drawn up a tentative list of abilities 
considered essential to success in the occupation. He is 
now faced with the task of choosing or constructing suitable 
examinations for the abilities deemed essential to success. 
Later he must test the validity of these examinations. Mea- 
sures obtained with them will have to be compared with the 
status of the workers in the criterion of actual vocational 
accomplishment, in order to determine which examinations 
if any have sufficient validity in predicting success in this 
vocation to warrant their use in selection. 
Serviceable types of measuring devices from among which 
a choice will be made are psychological tests, rating scales, 
and certain forms of questionnaires, such as application 
blanks and interest analyses. Subsequent chapters will 
treat in detail of the construction and use of each of these 
types of examination. Here attention is focused on basic gen- 
eral principles governing the selection and construction of 
measuring instruments. While these principles apply par- 
ticularly to psychological tests, several of them are equally 
pertinent to other kinds of device for gaging abilities essen- 
tial to vocational success.