Principles of Work Sample Testing. 3. Construction and Evaluation of Work Sample Tests

Work sample tests should be relevant to the job, objectively constructed and scored, reliable, and capable of being scored on a standardized content-referenced scale. Detailed steps in working from job analysis to establishing test specifications are presented for assuring job relevance. Methods are suggested for developing scales for scoring by a priori scaling, or by latent trait analysis, to provide a standard, content-referenced scale for scoring. Job samples should be evaluated primarily in terms of relevance and of generalizability. Seven principles of work sample testing are offered to researchers.