Evaluating Tests of General Cognitive Ability - Research Paper Example

? Evaluating Tests of General Cognitive Ability Part A Cognitive Abilities Tests are tests which are designed to test and determinethe various abilities of an individual such as verbal abilities, quantitative and spatial abilities. These tests are designed to determine how an individual thinks and how they are able to interact with the world around them (GL Assessments, 2012). Although these tests have been known to be very effective in most cases, there are some instances where the tests may have disadvantages. For instance the tests are likely to cause adverse impact in people from minorities and this may mean that such people may be judged unfairly in terms of their abilities. Some people may have special abilities and lack in some of the most common abilities which are there in the average person. This however wouldn’t mean that these individuals would not be able to functions in a certain job. For instance, a special person may have an increasingly high talent in numbers but lack some skills which are tested by the Cognitive Abilities Tests. If such a person would have to love a job as a statistician or an accountant, because of the other areas where the person is lacking, this would be unfair for the individual. The other adverse result which would result from using these tests is in differences between female candidates and male candidates. Female candidates may be poorer in subjects such as mathematics on average when compared to their male counterparts (Reilly & Warech, 1994,). This would that using the same gauge to measure the abilities of an individual would mean that the individual will be unfairly judged. Part B There are a number is instances where using the cognitive abilities tests would be inappropriate. Every time when the tests stand a chance of not bringing out the abilities of the person, the tests must not be used. Cognitive abilities tests seem to be more effective and to produce more valid results when used to test people for higher profile jobs as compared to low profile tests (Schrank et al,2012). In this case, these tests should only be used in high profile jobs and not in low profile jobs. Most low profile jobs do not require the individual to use all the three faculties of intelligence and therefore the test may not be necessary because they would make some people to be out of the job even though the things that would make them look unfit for the jobs are those they would not require in their job. Part C Clerical amplitude tests These tests are geared towards testing the individual on how they are able to relate with the daily clerical chores in the office (Menkes, 2005). While these tests are mostly used for those who do work in office environment where clerical skills are necessary such is in banks, they are also good in indicating a person’s cognitive abilities. The candidates are asked to carry out the specific tasks such as arranging words in a specific ways such as in alphabetical orders. These is use to see how an individual is able to think and relate to things around them. Mechanical aptitude tests These are tests which are given to a person to look at their mechanical aptitude or abilities. Mechanical aptitudes are mostly directed towards those people whose jobs are more likely to involve mechanical movements. These include manufacturing plant workers, police men, fire fighters etc. The tests are used to see if a person is able to have good mechanical abilities which are very necessary in these jobs (Thomas & Scroggins, 2006). For example, in a manufacturing plant, people with better mechanical abilities are able to be more productive. In fact with regard to other professions such as police and fire-fighters, good mechanical skills are not only meant to increase productivity but also for the safety of the person and the person who may need their protection. Spatial aptitude tests These are tests which are mean to test the individual on how they are able to manipulate flat objects to envisage three-dimension space. These tests are good tests which are necessary for those whose jobs require the individual to have high ability in envisaging three D spaces. For instance, architects, engineers, surveyors and designers. Par D: reliability and validity of these tools As Reilly and Warech (1994) say, the validity and reliability of these amplitude tests will depend on whether the individual being tested understands what the intensions of the tests are. More importantly, the complexity of these tests may compromise or improve the validity as well as the reliability of the tests because too simple questions will not really test the person’s abilities. If for instance the tests are too simplistic, the validity of the tests and the reliability of the test to provide a way to determine the person’s aptitudes will be compromised. For example, one of the questions asked on some clerical tests is to arrange words in an alphabetical order. At the same time, mechanical aptitude tests also depend on the level of difficulty as well as the relevancy of the tests given. For instance, in one mechanical aptitude test, a picture of two men carrying a load hanging one a level placed in their shoulders with the load closer to one individual asks the person who of the two men carries the greater load. This kind of a simple question which may even be answered by a very young child may to be reliable as a way to measure the aptitude of the person. Too simple tests are as unreliable as the too difficult ones. The best thing to look at before deciding is a test is reliable is by looking at how the information being asked may apply directly into a person’s line of work. Asking questions which are irrelevant to a person’s line of work may mean that the person will not be given a correct test which will yield the results which show why the individual is able to deal with specific issues. The same case applies with the special aptitude tests which may not be reliable in testing a person’s ability to understand the three dimension space around them. For instance, as Thomas and Scroggins (2006) argue, with regard to spatial aptitude tests, there are some issues which would need to be considered. Most spatial aptitude tests involve the person being give some flat objects and asked to produce three dimension objects. Yet, in a modern world where there are so many computer aided software which can be used to produce three dimensions structures. Because the main issue is about the aptitude tests is to determine how well a person is equipped to handle their job, it is necessary to consider all the issues which may affect the individual at work. For instance, if the individual is not able to produce three dimensional models from plat structures such as paper but is able to easily use three computer aided design (CAD) software to produce the software, it would be necessary to consider this. Otherwise, this would be unreliable and the results from such tests would be unreliable and not valid. There are other issues which arise with regard to the reliability and validity of these tests. One such issue is the fact that some people are not very comfortable with tests, especially when they know that the tests will affect their career. In such a case, a candidate being tested may score much lower than their actual abilities if they are nervous during the testing. All these issues must be looked to in order to make sure that the tests are valid and that all the issues which must be looked at. Part E There are some advantages of using these tests as a way to determine the aptitudes of the individuals. To begin with, these tests are easy and very cheap to carry out, both for the individual and the organisation. Unlike intelligence quotient tests which can be very expensive, cognitive abilities tests are very cheap. These tests are necessary and useful in cases where the organisation wants to know who should be given what functions (Schrank et al, 2012). They should be used in cases where the intention is not to decide on whether to hire or fire an individual, but in cases where the information will be used to decide who gets to do what in the team. For instance, in testing the people for spatial abilities, if one individual in the organisation proves to be better off with converting physical flat materials into three dimension models and another person proves to be better with computer aided design software for doing the same, the two should be placed together in order to make sure that they compliment and supplement each other’s work. These tests should however not be used to provide information for firing or determine the career paths for individuals because the information so achieved may not be fully used to determine a person’s abilities. The tests should only be used where the firm using them is completely sure that they have considered all factors which could be used to determine the abilities of the person. References GL Assessments. (2012). The Cognitive Abilities Test Third Edition (CAT3) is the most widely used test of reasoning ability in the UK. Retrieved July 09, 2013, from: http://www.gl-assessment.co.uk/products/cat3-cognitive-abilities-test-third-edition Menkes, J. (2005). Hiring for Smarts. Harvard Business Review, 1-12. Reilly, R.R. & Warech, M.A. (1994). The Validity and Fairness of Alternatives to Cognitive Tests. Evaluation in Education and Human Services, 35: 131-224 . Schrank, F.A. et al. (2012). Essentials of WJ III Cognitive Abilities Assessment. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Thomas, L.S. & Scroggins, W.A. (2006). Psychological Testing in Personnel Selection: Contemporary Issues in Cognitive Ability and Personality Testing . Journal of Business Inquiry, 5: 28-39. Read More