Question 1

Which of the following acts explicitly prohibits the granting of preferential treatment to minority groups?
A)The Civil Rights Act of 1964
B)The Tenure of Office Act of 1867
C)The Judiciary Act of 1801
D)The Third Liberty Bond Act of 1918
E)The Civil Rights Act of 1991

Accepted Answer

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 explicitly prohibits the granting of preferential treatment to minority groups. Preferential treatment is often attractive because many of the most valid methods for screening people, especially cognitive ability tests and work sample tests, often are high in adverse impact.

Question 2

The Americans with Disabilities Act _____.
A)protects individuals with physical disabilities but not mental disabilities
B)does not require an organization to make accommodations that cause undue hardship
C)demands affirmative action to increase representation of minorities
D)does not require that employers make reasonable accommodation for disabled individuals
E)requires organizations to make all accommodations necessary to ensure that individuals with disabilities are represented in the company

Accepted Answer

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)of 1991 protects individuals with physical and mental disabilities (or with a history of the same), and requires that employers make "reasonable accommodation" to disabled individuals whose handicaps may prevent them from performing essential functions of the job as currently designed. The ADA does not require an organization to hire someone whose disability prevents him or her from performing either critical or routine aspects of the job nor does it require accommodations that would cause "undue hardship."

Question 3

A test that has _____ validity exposes the job applicant to situations that are likely to occur on the job, and then tests whether the applicant currently has sufficient knowledge, skill, or ability to handle such situations.
A)criterion-related
B)probabilistic
C)predictive
D)content
E)concurrent

Accepted Answer

Content validation is performed by demonstrating that the questions or problems posed by the test are a representative sample of the kinds of situations or problems that occur on the job. A test that is content valid exposes the job applicant to situations that are likely to occur on the job, and then tests whether the applicant currently has sufficient knowledge, skill, or ability to handle such situations.

Question 4

Rollerbeam Inc., a provider of engineering services, is looking to hire several maintenance engineers. Rollerbeam's HR department checks with the company's engineering department to confirm that the scenarios mentioned in the test are plausible real world scenarios maintenance engineers might face. Which of the following types of validation is Rollerbeam's HR team performing?
A)Concurrent validation
B)Predictive validation
C)Content validation
D)Criterion-related validation
E)Subjective validation

Accepted Answer

Content validation is performed by demonstrating that the questions or problems posed by the test are a representative sample of the kinds of situations or problems that occur on the job. A test that is content valid exposes the job applicant to situations that are likely to occur on the job, and then tests whether the applicant currently has sufficient knowledge, skill, or ability to handle such situations.

Question 5

Content validation:
A)seeks to establish an empirical relationship between test scores taken prior to being hired and eventual performance on the job.
B)refers to the degree to which a measure is free from internal defects of standardization.
C)is performed by demonstrating that the questions or problems posed by a test are a representative sample of the kinds of situations or problems that occur on the job.
D)is an estimate of whether a test appears to measure a certain criterion.
E)assesses the validity of a test by administering it to people already on the job and then correlating test scores with existing measures of each person's performance.

Accepted Answer

Content validation is performed by demonstrating that the questions or problems posed by the test are a representative sample of the kinds of situations or problems that occur on the job. A test that is content valid exposes the job applicant to situations that are likely to occur on the job, and then tests whether the applicant currently has sufficient knowledge, skill, or ability to handle such situations.

Question 6

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act does NOT:
A)permit business necessity as a ground to avoid a guilty verdict.
B)protect younger workers.
C)allow for jury trials.
D)allow punitive damages.
E)permit promotions based on performance.

Accepted Answer

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act does not protect younger workers (thus there is never a case for "reverse discrimination" here), and like the most recent civil rights act, it allows for jury trials and punitive damages. This act outlaws almost all "mandatory retirement" programs (company policies that dictate that everyone who reaches a set age must retire).

Question 7

Federal Auto Corp. (FAC)is looking for experienced ergonomic design engineers and wants to keep training costs to a minimum. The upper management instructs its HR team to develop a test that would test the design and ergonomic knowledge of the potential engineering candidates. This test is a _____ valid test.
A)predictive
B)subjective
C)criterion-related
D)content
E)concurrent

Accepted Answer

Content validation is performed by demonstrating that the questions or problems posed by the test are a representative sample of the kinds of situations or problems that occur on the job. A test that is content valid exposes the job applicant to situations that are likely to occur on the job, and then tests whether the applicant currently has sufficient knowledge, skill, or ability to handle such situations.

Question 8

When a company provides evidence from previous criterion-related validity studies conducted in other situations to show that a specific test is a valid predictor for a specific job performance, it is trying to prove the test's:
A)reliability.
B)utility.
C)variance.
D)generalizability.
E)legality.

Accepted Answer

Validity generalization is a three-step process. In the first step, the company provides evidence from previous criterion-related validity studies conducted in other situations that shows that a specific test is a valid predictor for a specific job.

Question 9

The degree to which the information provided by selection methods enhances the bottom-line effectiveness of the organization is known as the selection method's:
A)reliability.
B)validity.
C)generalizability.
D)utility.
E)legality.

Accepted Answer

Utility is the degree to which the information provided by selection methods enhances the bottom-line effectiveness of the organization. In general, the more reliable, valid, and generalizable the selection method is, the more utility it will have.

Question 10

The _____ allows the individual filing the complaint to have a jury decide whether he or she may recover punitive damages (in addition to lost wages and benefits)for emotional injuries caused by the discrimination.
A)Civil Rights Act of 1871
B)Age Discrimination in Employment Act
C)Americans with Disabilities Act
D)Civil Rights Act of 1991
E)Civil Rights Act of 1964

Accepted Answer

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 act allows the individual filing the complaint to have a jury decide whether he or she may recover punitive damages (in addition to lost wages and benefits)for emotional injuries caused by the discrimination. This can generate large financial settlements as well as poor public relations that can hinder the organization's ability to compete.

Question 11

Which of the following forms of validation becomes relatively more attractive as the sample available for validation becomes smaller?
A)Predictive validation
B)Concurrent validation
C)Content validation
D)External validation
E)Criterion-related validation

Accepted Answer

When sample sizes are small, an alternative test validation strategy, content validation, can be used. Content Validation is performed by demonstrating that the questions or problems posed by a test are a representative sample of the kinds of situations or problems that occur on the job.

Question 12

The _____ defines employers' explicit obligation to establish the business necessity of any neutral-appearing selection method that has had adverse impact on groups specified by the law.
A)Rehabilitation Act of 1973
B)Patriot Act
C)Civil Rights Act of 1991
D)Volstead Act
E)No-FEAR Act of 2002

Accepted Answer

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 defines employers' explicit obligation to establish the business necessity of any neutral-appearing selection method that has had adverse impact on groups specified by the law. This is typically done by showing that the test has significant criterion-related or content validity.

Question 13

The percentage of people chosen relative to the total number of people tested gives the _____ ratio.
A)break-even
B)furlough
C)retention
D)turnover
E)selection

Accepted Answer

The selection ratio refers to the percentage of people selected relative to the total number of people tested.

Question 14

The utility of any test generally _____ as the selection ratio gets lower.
A)increases
B)decreases
C)remains the same
D)becomes zero
E)becomes negative

Accepted Answer

The selection ratio refers to the percentage of people selected relative to the total number of people tested. The utility of any test generally increases as the selection ratio gets lower, so long as the additional costs of recruiting and testing are not excessive.

Question 15

Which of the following legislations prohibit discrimination and mandates that employers take affirmative actions to hire qualified minority applicants?
A)The Federal Tort Claims Act
B)The Revenue Act of 1913
C)Executive order 11246
D)The Federal Reserve Act
E)The Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution

Accepted Answer

Executive Order 11246 parallels the protections provided by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but goes beyond the 1964 act in two important ways. Not only does this executive order prohibit discrimination, it actually mandates that employers take affirmative action to hire qualified minority applicants.

Question 16

_____ is defined as the degree to which the validity of a selection method established in one context extends to other contexts.
A)Utility
B)Generalizability
C)Reliability
D)Validity
E)Exclusivity

Accepted Answer

Generalizability is defined as the degree to which the validity of a selection method established in one context extends to other contexts. There are two primary "contexts" over which people like to generalize: different situations (jobs or organizations)and different samples of people.

Question 17

The _____ protects individuals from discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, and national origin with respect to hiring as well as compensation and working conditions.
A)False Claims Act
B)Civil Rights Act of 1991
C)Age Discrimination in Employment Act
D)Americans with Disabilities Act
E)Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Accepted Answer

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 protects individuals from discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, and national origin with respect to hiring as well as compensation and working conditions. The act defines employers' explicit obligation to establish the business necessity of any neutral-appearing selection method that has had adverse impact on groups specified by the law.

Question 18

Content validity is achieved primarily through a process of _____.
A)quantitative analysis
B)empirical study
C)statistical analysis
D)procedural study
E)expert judgment

Accepted Answer

Content validity is achieved primarily through a process of expert judgment. The ability to use content validation in small sample settings makes it generally more applicable than criterion-related validation.

Question 19

In case of _____ validation, it is critical to minimize the amount of inference involved on the part of the judges because their subjective judgment could bias the findings.
A)predictive
B)concurrent
C)content
D)criterion
E)standard

Accepted Answer

As subjective judgment plays such a large role in content validation, it is critical to minimize the amount of inference involved on the part of judges. Thus, the judges' ratings need to be made with respect to relatively concrete and observable behaviors.

Question 20

As per the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, if any neutral-appearing practice happens to have adverse impact on those over 40, the employer must _____.
A)show business necessity to avoid a guilty verdict
B)make accommodations despite facing hardships
C)facilitate pre-mature retirement for the employees
D)compensate the employee prior to court trials
E)provide special incentives to the suffering employees

Accepted Answer

Court interpretations of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act mirror those of the Civil Rights Act, in the sense that if any neutral-appearing practice happens to have adverse impact on those over 40, the burden of proof shifts to the employer, who must show business necessity to avoid a guilty verdict. The act does not protect younger workers (thus there is never a case for "reverse discrimination" here), and like the most recent civil rights act, it allows for jury trials and punitive damages.

Quiz 6: Selection and Placement

Which of the following acts explicitly prohibits the granting of preferential treatment to minority groups?

The Americans with Disabilities Act _____.

A test that has _____ validity exposes the job applicant to situations that are likely to occur on the job, and then tests whether the applicant currently has sufficient knowledge, skill, or ability to handle such situations.

Content validation:

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act does NOT:

When a company provides evidence from previous criterion-related validity studies conducted in other situations to show that a specific test is a valid predictor for a specific job performance, it is trying to prove the test's:

The degree to which the information provided by selection methods enhances the bottom-line effectiveness of the organization is known as the selection method's:

The _____ allows the individual filing the complaint to have a jury decide whether he or she may recover punitive damages (in addition to lost wages and benefits) for emotional injuries caused by the discrimination.

Which of the following forms of validation becomes relatively more attractive as the sample available for validation becomes smaller?

The _____ defines employers' explicit obligation to establish the business necessity of any neutral-appearing selection method that has had adverse impact on groups specified by the law.

The percentage of people chosen relative to the total number of people tested gives the _____ ratio.

The utility of any test generally _____ as the selection ratio gets lower.

Which of the following legislations prohibit discrimination and mandates that employers take affirmative actions to hire qualified minority applicants?

_____ is defined as the degree to which the validity of a selection method established in one context extends to other contexts.

The _____ protects individuals from discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, and national origin with respect to hiring as well as compensation and working conditions.

Content validity is achieved primarily through a process of _____.

In case of _____ validation, it is critical to minimize the amount of inference involved on the part of the judges because their subjective judgment could bias the findings.

As per the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, if any neutral-appearing practice happens to have adverse impact on those over 40, the employer must _____.