DQ 2-2

DQ 2-2 Responses

1.

Recruiting new staff and finding the best match for a job can be a daunting task. When analyzing reliability as it relates to employee testing the goal is that “a reliable test is one that yields consistent scores when a person takes two alternate forms of the test or when he or she takes the same test on two or more different occasions” (Dessler, 2017). One way this can be utilized in the selection of staff is conducting two panel interviews with some similar questions. Answers can be compared to see if candidates are answering questions, when worded differently, in a similar manner. A downfall with reliability is one must take into consideration things that could cause the test to be unreliable. Some of that can be candidate related (had a bad night, didn’t sleep well, nervous, has a headache) or environmental (smells, difference in room temperature, noises, etc).

 

While reliability looks at consistency, validity is looking at if what is being measured is what was/is supposed to be measured. According to (Dessler, 2017) there are several ways to test validity including criterion validity, content validity, and construct validity. Content validity ‘is a demonstration that the content of a selection procedure is representative of important aspects of performance on the job” (Dessler, 2017).  This probably most closely represents how my agency measures validity.

 

I would say that, as an agency, we do better with validity then reliability for general lower level to midlevel positions. Our HR departments compares job descriptions and requirements to interview questions to make sure we are asking the questions needed to capture the skills we are looking for. This content validity can also include shadowing the job and also writing samples from candidates to see if they possess the important aspects needed to perform the job they are interviewing for. However, when it comes to reliability I think our agency is still growing with this. For many job, there is only one interview, and some positions are interviewed and hired by staff other then who will be their supervisor. Any candidate can give great answers on a few questions, but there is not a process in place for comparison then we can’t be sure we are hiring the best persons possible. One thing we do at our agency to counter this is  by requiring at least two people on the interview panel for all interviews as well as have those same people for all candidates being interviewed. This gives us an inter-rater reliability with two or more people scoring interview responses (Phelan & Wren, 2005-06). Both validity and reliability are important factors when considering how an agency picks candidates to interview and hire. We need to know that we are testing/interviewing consistently and gathering the actual information we need to decide on the right candidate (Dessler, 207).

 

Dessler, G. (2017).  Human resource management (15th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN-13: 9780134235455

 

Phelan, C. & Wren, J. (2005-06). Exploring Reliability in Academic Assessment. Retrieved on 7, 26, 2018 from https://chfasoa.uni.edu/reliabilityandvalidity.htm