Why Assessment Centers Do Not Work the Way They Are Supposed To

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles E. Lance
Keyword(s):  
Construct Validity ◽  
Assessment Centers ◽  
Role Based ◽  
Candidate Behavior ◽  
The Way

Assessment centers (ACs) are often designed with the intent of measuring a number of dimensions as they are assessed in various exercises, but after 25 years of research, it is now clear that AC ratings that are completed at the end of each exercise (commonly known as postexercise dimension ratings) substantially reflect the effects of the exercises in which they were completed and not the dimensions they were designed to reflect. This is the crux of the long-standing “construct validity problem” for AC ratings. I review the existing research on AC construct validity and conclude that (a) contrary to previous notions, AC candidate behavior is inherently cross-situationally (i.e., cross-exercise) specific, not cross-situationally consistent as was once thought, (b) assessors rather accurately assess candidate behavior, and (c) these facts should be recognized in the redesign of ACs toward task- or role-based ACs and away from traditional dimension-based ACs.

scholarly journals Validating a nutrient profile model

2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carukshi Arambepola ◽  
Peter Scarborough ◽  
Mike Rayner
Keyword(s):  
Construct Validity ◽  
Energy Intake ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Healthy Foods ◽  
Nutrition Survey ◽  
Nutrient Profile ◽  
Profile Model ◽  
Convergent And Discriminant Validity ◽  
The Way

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the validity of nutrient profiling Model WXYfm – developed for the purpose of regulating the promotion of ‘less healthy’ foods to children. The model ranks foods according to their healthiness and categorises foods into ‘healthier’ and ‘less healthy’ foods.DesignConvergent and discriminant validity was tested by comparing the way Model WXYfm categorises foods with the way the UK’s national food guide – the Balance of Good Health (BGH) – categorises foods. Construct validity was assessed by testing a hypothesis relating the constructs of ‘healthiness’ of foods (as measured by Model WXYfm) and the ‘healthiness’ of diets (measured using the Diet Quality Index) and assessing whether this hypothesis was confirmed or refuted by using data on the dietary patterns of subjects (n= 1117) of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey of adults carried out in Great Britain in 2000–01.ResultsModel WXYfm showed good convergent and discriminant validity: the level of agreement between the way the model categorises foods and the way the BGH categorises foods was good (κ= 0.69). Model WXYfm also showed good construct validity: the energy intake from ‘less healthy’ foods amongst subjects with the least healthy diets was nearly twice the energy intake from ‘less healthy’ foods amongst the subjects with the healthiest diets.ConclusionsModel WXYfm demonstrated good validity in categorising foods in a way that is related to the healthiness of diets both recommended and achieved. The methods for assessing the validity of a nutrient profile model used in this paper have not, to our knowledge, been used before.

Learning to Read Nature

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 405-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Giglioni
Keyword(s):  
Human Experience ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Standard View ◽  
Learning To Read ◽  
Book Of Nature ◽  
Role Based ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Human Intellect ◽  
The Way

Francis Bacon’s elusive notion of experience can be better understood when we relate it to his views on matter, motion, appetite and intellect, and bring to the fore its broader philosophical implications. Bacon’s theory of knowledge is embedded in a programme of disciplinary redefinition, outlined in the Advancement of Learning and De augmentis scientiarum. Among all disciplines, prima philosophia (and not metaphysica) plays a key foundational role, based on the idea of both a physical parallelism between the human intellect and nature (psycho-physical parallelism) and a theological parallelism between nature and God (physico-theological parallelism). Failure to assess Bacon’s distinctive position concerning the way in which the mind mirrors both the natural and the divine world, that is to say, the meaning of “reality,” has resulted in notoriously jejune discussions on Baconian empiricism, monotonously driven by epistemological concerns. As a result, the standard view on Bacon’s empiricism is as epistemologically comforting as it is imaginary, an “idol” in a genuinely Baconian sense. In this article, Bacon’s notion of experience will be discussed by examining those steps that he considered to be the crucial initial stages in the formation of human experience, stages described as a process of experiential literacy (experientia literata) or, in emblematic terms, as a hunting expedition led by the mythological figure of Pan (venatio Panis). I argue that a well-rounded analysis of Bacon’s experientia literata needs to take into account the complementary notion of the “spelling-book of nature” (abecedarium naturae), that is, the original code of the primordial motions of matter. By getting acquainted with the first rudiments of experience through its spelling-book (on both an individual and a cosmological level), one learns to read the book of nature and, most of all, to write new pages in it.


A new frame for frame-of-reference training: Enhancing the construct validity of assessment centers.

2002 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deidra J. Schleicher ◽  
David V. Day ◽  
Bronston T. Mayes ◽  
Ronald E. Riggio
Keyword(s):  
Construct Validity ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
Assessment Centers ◽  
Frame Of Reference Training

The Assessment Center: An Examination of the Effects of Assessor Characteristics on Assessor Scores

1993 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 487-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip E. Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Fire Service ◽  
Assessment Center ◽  
Assessment Centers ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Experience Education ◽  
Managerial Experience ◽  
Managerial Level ◽  
The Way

The effects of nine assessor characteristics on exercise scores in three police and six fire service assessment centers for local governments were investigated. Assessors included those who had and who did not have experience in the job under consideration, and who differed on several other characteristics including: age, race, gender, previous assessment center experience, education, managerial experience, assessor managerial level, and tenure in that position. Age and the rank of the assessor were the only characteristics that had a significant effect on the scores. However, the magnitude of the effect was quite small (less than 2% of the variance was explained by these two factors). The results might be attributed to the process used to select the assessors, the way the centers were conducted, and the type and intensity of assessor training. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.

Where Have We Been, How Did We Get There, and Where Shall We Go?

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles E. Lance
Keyword(s):  
Construct Validity ◽  
The State ◽  
Assessment Center ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Validity Criteria ◽  
Role Based ◽  
Urban Legend

Commentators expressed a wide variety of views on my evaluation of the state of assessment center (AC) research and practice. In this response, I first trace the evolution of the construct validity paradox “urban legend.” Next, I consider the commentators’ comments as they relate to (a) my recommendation to abandon dimension-based ACs in lieu of task- or role-based structures (b) my recommendation to discontinue design fix attempts toward making ACs conform to multitrait–multimethod construct validity criteria, and (c) considerations of construct validity and validation evidence. Finally, I offer some directions for future AC research and practice.

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