EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY
as a mere matter of fact, also found to be good, medium, or poor
in the other. Hence, without further analysis, the one may be
used as the sign of the other.
The statements contained in the last two sentences may
apply with equal truth to any of the four methods of test
construction. The correlation with vocational success is
the final indication of the value of the test.
Of the four methods just described, the one which has
found widest use is that of building tests which call for
operations analogous to the operations observed in the job.
Even those who resort to the random method rarely choose
their tests entirely by chance.
Resemblance to vocational tasks. The preceding section
dealt with the materials going into the test. The present
section deals with the manner of presenting this material
to the applicant so that he will want to do his best. The
test situation ought to bear at least a superficial resemblance
to the job for which it is intended, as regards its items and
mode of presentation. If the analogy method has been em-
ployed in developing or selecting the tests, they are apt to
be immediately suggestive of the vocational task, but some-
times the analogy is apparent only to the examiner. Diffi-
culties arise if the applicant cannot see any relationship be-
tween the tests he is required to undergo and the work for
which he is applying. The usual written intelligence exam-
ination seems childish and irrelevant to the business execu-
tive. To forestall this objection, the Bureau of Personnel
Research of Carnegie Institute of Technology devised in
1922 a test for use with business executives (58a). The
content of this test is taken from commerce and finance, but
its form is that of the usual intelligence tests. With groups
of business men, such a test correlates highly with, and is a
useful substitute for, an intelligence test of the ordinary
type.
Reluctance of the applicant to take the tests may be
avoided by providing the motivation in the title, the direc-
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