PsyAsia International is pleased to once again be supporting Singapore’s Human Resource professionals as a sponsor of the Singapore Human Resources Institute’s Annual Human Resource Congress.
The Singapore HR Congress and Business-Connect Exposition 2010 will address the newly derived term of HR TransmutationTM and explore the topic in deeper context. The current economic churning has made it explicitly clear that industry is not just facing another downturn but it is accompanied by impactful structural, demographic and mindset changes across industry and top management cannot afford to respond with anything less than a complete overhaul of the system to survive and sustain. Renowned speakers and leaders from the HR fraternity will share their experiences and provide useful insights on the know-how of managing paradoxes in a turbulent world.
PsyAsia’s clients are entitled to a 35% discount on the price of conference tickets. Please contact us in the first instance to avail of this special offer.
“A strong and capable HR community can be the catalyst and change agents to initiate and implement people development efforts in organisations, and help build stronger capabilities amongst our business leaders and managers.”
PM Lee Hsien Loong
11th World HR Congress 2006 organised by SHRI
PsyAsia International is Asia’s leading independent distributor of Psychometric Tests of Personality and Aptitude. From offices across Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong, our psychologists assist the world’s top organisations and local governments to recruit, select, assess and retain the best employees. Our services are only offered by fully registered organisational psychologists with years of experience in their field. PsyAsia also offers world-class training in Psychometric Testing in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Online.
Click the image to register!
This 90-minute webinar will cover some basic principles in recruitment and selection. Despite being basic, the principles are essential in ensuring integrity in delivery of service to the client of a recruitment consultant. In our work in Asia we come across many recruitment consultants each week. We value them as clients and recognise from our interactions that much of what they are doing goes against best practice and wish to help!
This webinar aims to address some of these issues and will cover topics such as:
- What information do I need from my client?
- What questions should I be asking my client when I meet with them?
- How do I do a brief job analysis?
- What is a person specification? Why is it important?
- How do I produce a person specification if my client doesn’t give me one?
- How do I choose which psychometric test(s) to use?
- Basic Behavioural Interviewing skills
- What other assessments could I use?
- Is there an easy way to collate all of my data on multiple candidates and rank order it for presentation to my client?
The webinar is aimed primarily at recruitment consultants, however the material covered will be useful and applicable to anybody involved in employee recruitment/selection.
There is a small US$10 fee for the webinar to be paid by credit card at paypal.com* and you will receive details after registration. All paid registrants will receive a one-week access to a recorded version of the webinar at our online learning center. This will help you recap information and will be useful if you are unexpectedly unable to attend the live session.
*Fee waived for PsyAsia clients who have made any purchase in the past 3 months.
The session will be conducted by a fully registered organisational psychologist with years of experience in recruitment, selection and development for multi-nationals as well as governments in Asia. There will be ample time for questions and answers – if more time is needed, an additional session can easily be arranged without further fee.
Click the image to register!
Types of Bias in Psychometric Test Translation
With the demand and need for psychological tests increasing in various different cultures and countries, there has been much greater awareness regarding some of the issues that are associated with the development or adaptation of tests to be used in contexts and situations that may be different from which the test was developed for. This article focuses on one of the key aspects of translating tests, the types of bias that can occur.
When utilizing the test in a new cultural group, it is not quite as simple as directly translating the test, administering it and then comparing the results for its validity. There are a number of issues that need to be considered such as whether the area assessed with the test applies to the new culture or whether is may be biased towards that group and whether what is assessed by the test also has similar behavioral indicators? These are just some of the potential areas where bias can be found in the translation of tests and affect the validity of the test being utilized in the new context.
Van der Vijer & Hambleton (1996) differentiates between three distinct types of bias that may affect the validity of tests that have been adapted for different cultural contexts and these are construct bias, method bias and item bias.
Construct bias occurs when the construct (e.g. personality) that is measured by the test displays significant differences between the original culture for which it was developed and the new culture where it is going to be utilized. These differences can occur in the way that the construct was formulated and developed as well as in the relevant behaviors that are associated with the construct. It is critical to examine whether the underlying theory of the test is subject to construct bias and this can be examined through the studies examining the construct and its associated behaviors in the context that it will be utilized in. If there are significant differences found in these studies, it may indicative that there is construct bias. Major revisions may be required to overcome this bias. If not, the validity of the test will be affected.
Method bias refers to factors or issues related to the administration of the test that may affect the validity of the test. Examples of areas that method bias can occur include social desirability, acquiescence response styles, the conditions in which the test was conducted and the motivation of the respondents. Across cultures, there potentially can be differences that can occur in these areas and these can affect the way that the respondents answer the items in the test. This potentially may lead to differences between found that can be erroneously attributed to cultural differences when in fact, these differences are the result of differences in the administration procedures. As a result, it is threat to the validity of tests that have been adapted for use in new cultures. Test developers also not only need to focus on the adaptation of the test itself but also need to be aware of issues regarding the implementation of the test in a new context.
Item bias is another source of bias that can occur in the translation of tests and these refer to biases that occur with the items in the test. This is usually the result of either poor translation choices for items or due to culturally inappropriate translations. For example, the phrase “kick the bucket” is essentially a phrase that referring to passing away in the Western context and is commonly known by most people in that culture; unfortunately, this phrase would have no meaning for people from cultures without any prior experience with that phrase. In this manner, a literal translation of that phrase would be a poor translation as it does not convey the correct meaning of the item. The items in the test need to be culturally equivalent, where the meaning of the items needs to be correctly translated so as to maintain the validity of the test in the new cultural context.
These are some of the biases that may occur during the translation of tests. Test developers will need to be aware of the sources of bias and take the appropriate measures to avoid these biases.
References:
Van der Vijer, F. and Hambleton, R. K. (1996). Translating tests: some practical guidelines. European Psychologist, 1, 89-99.
Psychometric Training in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and China
If you are serious about using psychometric tests properly then we recommend joining PsyAsia International’s Psychometric Assessment at Work Course which leads to a certificate of competence in Occupational Testing Level A and Level B from the British Psychological Society. The Course is run publically in Singapore and Hong Kong or in-house anywhere.
More details about BPS Level A and B in Singapore and Hong Kong
Online Psychometric Training – Worldwide
Alternatively, you might be interested in introductory Online Psychometric Test Training presented live by a registered psychologist. PsyAsia is offering a special fee of just US$12 for anybody who registers for the February online psychometric training course!
More details about online psychometric test training
Identity Psychometric Personality Questionnaire Webinar
Attendees will be introduced to this personality assessment which produces the most comprehensive assessment of personality on the market. Key decision-makers will also have an opportunity to trial Identity.
-Overview of the Identity Self Perception Questionnaire
-Scales of Identity
-Derived Psychological Models
-Identity Reports
-Identity Online
-Benefits of Identity
-Applications of Identity
-Comparison with other leading questionnaires
-Identity Accreditation
Click here to register