AN OVERVIEW OF THE ARMY SELECTION AND CLASSIFICATION PROJECT (PROJECT A)

This paper serves as an introduction and background for the remaining papers in this issue, which describe in somewhat more detail the major pieces in the Army's Selection and Classification Project (Project A). The principal objectives, the methods being used, and the basic research design of Project A are outlined. Project A was a 7-year effort conducted by the Army Research Institute and a consortium of three research firms. The overall objective was to generate the instrumentation and validity information data base that are necessary for modeling and developing an organization-wide selection and classification system. Both the scientific and practical implications of the project are noted.     

PROJECT A VALIDITY RESULTS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PREDICTOR AND CRITERION DOMAINS

A predictor battery of cognitive ability, perceptual-psychomotor ability, temperament/personality, interest, and job outcome preference measures was administered to enlisted soldiers in nine Army jobs. These measures were summarized in terms of 24 composite scores. The relationships between the predictor composite scores and five components of job performance were analyzed. Scores from the cognitive and perceptual-psychomotor ability tests provided the best prediction of job-specific and general task proficiency, while the temperament/personality composites were the best predictors of giving extra effort, supporting peers, and exhibiting personal discipline. Composite scores derived from the interest inventory were correlated more highly with task proficiency than with demonstrating effort and peer support. In particular, vocational interests were among the best predictors of task proficiency in combat jobs. The results suggest that the Army can improve the prediction of job performance by adding non-cognitive predictors to its present battery of predictor tests.     

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TREATMENT-RESEARCH PROJECT FOR DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED AND AUTISTIC CHILDREN

This paper describes the development and main results over the last 30 years from the treatment-research project with developmentally disabled (autistic) children in the Psychology Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Three important dimensions in treatment research are addressed. The first pertains to the role of serendipity or accidental discoveries, the second to the importance of pursuing inductive rather than theory-driven research, and the third to the importance of adding in a cumulative and step-wise manner to improve treatment adequacy. Data from various areas of treatment research have been used to illustrate new directions for the project. These illustrations center on early and successful attempts to isolate experimentally the environmental variables that control self-injury, failure to observe response and stimulus generalization with subsequent loss of treatment gains, and the main results of intensive and early behavioral intervention in the child's natural environment. Effective treatment for severe behavioral disorders is seen to require early intervention carried out during all or most of the child's waking hours, addressing all significant behaviors in all of the child's environments, by all significant persons, for many years.     

新的发展模型和价值观念问题

今天,当代文明的发展正处于某种转折点上。这样的想法并不新颖。历史学家、哲学家和社会学家们都曾经提出过这样的论断。只要人类受到了日益恶化的全球性危机的威胁,发展战略就必须改变,这是显而易见的。不过,这里却会出现下列问题：这样的战略变化应当由什么内容构成呢？一般说来,当人们针对这个问题提出各种答案的时候,     

LARGE-SCALE PREDICTOR VALIDATION IN PROJECT A: DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES AND DATA BASE PREPARATION

The data base for the Army Selection and Classification Project (Project A) contains two major samples referred to as the concurrent validation sample and the longitudinal validation sample. The former was drawn from a cohort that joined the Army in 1983/84, and the latter from a cohort that entered in 1986/87. This paper describes the data base resulting from the concurrent sample. The sampling procedure, the distribution of sample sizes over jobs, the total array of variables, and the data collection procedures are described. Also discussed are the extensive data editing procedures that were used to deal with missing data.     

3-6岁幼儿在分类实验中概括能力的发展

本研究通过设计不同性质的分类实验,探讨3-6岁幼儿抽象概括能力的发展。我们根据年龄将幼儿分为四个组,每组80人,共320人。通过实验获得以下几点。①幼儿在各种不同性质的分类实验中可表现为四级不同的水平,如从根据表面的个别特征进行分类发展到根据内部的本质特征进行分类,从一维角度的分类发展到从两维角度来分类等。⑦达到各个水平的年龄不是截然划分的,而是互相交织的,随着年龄的增加,低级水平的人数不断减少,高级水平的人数不断增加。所以年龄阶段之间既有质的变化,又有量的变化。③对于不同性质的分类材料,各年龄所达到的概括水平也不同,分类材料的难度越大,概括水平越低。④儿童概括水平的高低受教育条件的影响。     

控制理论:诠释毕生发展的新视点

控制发展理论的基本概念包括初级控制与次级控制。初级控制指的是指向外部环境的行为和改变环境以适应个体需求的企图：次级控制的目标是指向个体自身,目的是将初级控制的丧失最小化、维持并提高当前的初级控制水平。次级控制一方面帮助个体应对初级控制的失败,另一方面通过选择功能提高初级控制水平。与次级控制相比,初级控制对个体发展的适应性机是居首位的。该详细阐述了两种控制的含义、维度模式及其相互作用,并从毕生发展的角度讨论了控制的发展特点。     

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A COMPUTERIZED INTERPRETATION SYSTEM FOR PERSONNEL TESTS

A computerized system was developed for generating narrative interpretations of scores from a battery of personnel screening tests. The report structure and interpretive statement library were designed to capture the test expertise and interpretive strategies of a panel of testing experts. This was accomplished by enumerating the questions that the experts believed the battery could answer, developing answers to these questions, and devising rules for selecting the appropriate answers based on test-battery scores. The accuracy, thoroughness, readability, and coherence of the computer-generated reports were evaluated in comparison to reports generated by human experts for the same examinees. Results of the evaluation showed the computerized reports to be more accurate and thorough, as readable, and somewhat less coherent than interpretations generated by the typical human expert. The computerized system development and validation strategies described are useful for other applications in which numbers are interpreted in a narrative report format.     

RETEST EFFECTS IN OPERATIONAL SELECTION SETTINGS: DEVELOPMENT AND TEST OF A FRAMEWORK

This study proposes a framework for examining the effects of retaking tests in operational selection settings. A central feature of this framework is the distinction between within-person and between-person retest effects. This framework is used to develop hypotheses about retest effects for exemplars of 3 types of tests (knowledge tests, cognitive ability tests, and situational judgment tests) and to test these hypotheses in a high stakes selection setting (admission to medical studies in Belgium). Analyses of within-person retest effects showed that mean scores of repeat test takers were one-third of a standard deviation higher for the knowledge test and situational judgment test and one-half of a standard deviation higher for the cognitive ability test. The validity coefficients for the knowledge test differed significantly depending on whether examinees' test scores on the first versus second administration were used, with the latter being more valid. Analyses of between-person retest effects on the prediction of academic performance showed that the same test score led to higher levels of performance for those passing on the first attempt than for those passing on the second attempt. The implications of these results are discussed in light of extant retesting practice.     

陆军初级指挥院校新学员潜在能力测验及其选拔模式的研究

针对陆军初级指挥院校在选材方面的现状,通过百名专家问卷调查,参阅国际现行的有关标准及我军多年来能力培养方面的研究成果．比照陆军初级指挥院校教学大纲所提出的能力培养要素及其要求,构建了陆军初级指挥院校新学员的选拔摸式,确立了淘汰标准。     

APPLICANT REACTIONS TO SELECTION: DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELECTION PROCEDURAL JUSTICE SCALE (SPJS)

This paper describes research that fills a void in the applicant reactions literature by developing a comprehensive measure of Gilliland's (1993) procedural justice rules, called the Selection Procedural Justice Scale (SPJS). Five separate phases of scale development were conducted. In Phase 1 we generated and refined the items. For Phase 2 we reduced the items through exploratory factor analysis using data gathered from 330 applicants for the job of court officer and found higher-order factors consistent with Greenberg (1993a, 1993b). In Phase 3 we confirmed the factor structure using a separate sample of 242 applicants and trainees for the court officer job. In Phase 4 we assessed the initial convergent and divergent validity of the scale. In Phase 5 we tested the generalizability of these items in general and for those receiving positive and negative selection outcomes using 2 student samples. The results demonstrated the usefulness of the SPJS in differentiating each of Gilliland's procedural justice rules and relating them to outcomes included in his model of applicant reactions. A copy of the SPJS is included in the Appendix.     

TWO PITFALLS IN ASSESSING FAIRNESS OF SELECTION TESTS USING THE REGRESSION MODEL

This note examines two potential pitfalls in applying the Cleary or regression model of test fairness. The first lies in a misinterpretation of significance tests on intercept differences which can result when the researcher is unaware of the properties of analysis of covariance tests for intercept differences and relies on computer printouts of regression equations. The second lies in the dependence of some tests for intercept differences on predictor scaling. Once aware of them, the researcher can avoid both these pitfalls.     

FURTHER WITHIN-SETTING EMPIRICAL TESTS OF THE SITUATIONAL SPECIFICITY HYPOTHESIS IN PERSONNEL SELECTION

The situational specificity hypothesis in personnel selection holds that variation in observed validity coefficients across studies for the same test and job is due to subtle variations from setting to setting in what constitutes job performance. This hypothesis therefore predicts that, if the setting does not vary, validity will not vary. Using data from a single large-sample validity study ( N = 1,455), this research generated numerous small-sample studies for which the setting (organization, job, test, criterion measure, applicant pool, time period, and sample size) was held constant. It was found that even under these circumstances there was substantial variability across studies in (a) observed validity coefficients, (b) significance levels, and (c) (using traditional data analytic methods) conclusions about the presence or absence of validity. These findings disconfirm the situational specificity hypothesis and argue strongly against traditional data-analytic procedures and the practice of reliance on single small-sample studies. In contrast to the erroneous conclusions produced by traditional data-analytic procedures, meta-analytic methods correctly estimated the population observed validity at .22 and correctly indicated that all between-study variance in observed validities was due to sampling error alone.     

企业新产品开发决策的不确定性和决策策略模拟实验研究

本文以企业新产品开发为决策内容,根据决策策略的规定性理论框架和先前调查所得决策案例,设计四种决策情景来代表四种不确定状态,通过５６名来自５个工厂的管理人员的现场模拟实验,着重研究这类决策的不确定性和决策策略之间关系。结果发现,在新产品开发的决策中,决策策略随不确定状态而改变;决策情景的不确定程度和决策策略没有严格的—一对应关系;在四类不确定决策情景下,都有管理人员采用混合型策略。这一发现同混合扫瞄策略观点和垃圾罐模型的思想相一致。并且,随着决策情景的不确定程度加大,决策时间逐渐延长。最后我们提出了应继续研究的课题。     

USE OF THE GATB IN PREDICTING SUCCESS ON THE TESTS OF GENERAL EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

An attempt was made to determine how useful the General Aptitude Test Battery can be when used as a predictor of success on the Tests of General Educational Development. The General Ability and Verbal Aptitude subtests of the GATB were found to be the best predictors. Estimating the applicant's chance of passing the GED from the ‘G’ and ‘V’ scores was discussed.     

A CONCEPTUAL RATIONALE FOR THE DOMAIN AND ATTRIBUTES OF BIODATA ITEMS

There is considerable disagreement among researchers regarding the defining attributes of biodata items, especially in contrast to other self-report measures. This paper provides a conceptual rationale for the use of biodata in order to evaluate various proposed attributes of biodata, and to clarify similarities and differences between biodata and temperament items. It is suggested that the core attribute of biodata items is that the items pertain to historical events that may have shaped the person's behavior and identity. Other attributes advanced as antidotes to socially desirable responding and faking are that biodata items reflect external events, that they be limited to objective and first-hand recollections, that they be potentially verifiable, and that they measure discrete, unique events when appropriate. Some researchers also require that the life events being sampled be controllable and equally accessible to all respondents. Items may also need to be visibly job relevant and nonintrusive to avoid legal censure. Disagreements among researchers regarding the importance of these attributes are discussed, and implications for practice and research are proposed.