PROJECT A - SPECIFICATION OF THE PREDICTOR DOMAIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SELECTION CLASSIFICATION TESTS

A major goal of the Army Selection and Classification Project was to develop an experimental predictor battery that would best supplement the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery for making selection and classification decisions for entry‐level enlisted personnel. That is, what predictor measures would best serve the needs of all the jobs in an entire selection/classification system? This paper describes the characteristics of the new test battery and the procedures that were used to develop it. The major steps in the procedure were a structured literature search using a standard protocol, an extensive expert judgment study of expected true validities for a population of predictor variables against a population of performance components, fabrication of modularized software and a special response pedestal for computerized measurement of perceptual and psychomotor abilities, evaluations of experimental measures in three iterative pilot tests and one major field test, and a series of reviews by a panel of scientific advisers. The test battery that resulted from this 2 1/2‐year development effort is described. The basic psychometric properties of each measure, as determined in a large concurrent validation sample, are also described. Copyright © 1990, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved