EVALUATING INTERVIEW AND EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION DATA.

The purpose of the present study was to attempt to determine the main effects and interactions of some of the variables which may influence an interviewer's final decision. In particular, the effect of three psychometric characteristics of items used in constructing hypothetical applicants—favorableness, and inter- and intra-rater agreement, and their interaction with the type of decision being made—a rating, a ranking, or a decision to hire or not to hire—was to be investigated. The use of a straightforward factorial design to make these comparisons also provided a number of "pure type" applicants—that is, applicants made up of specific known characteristics—which could serve as normative information against which the results of later studies could be compared. Having each judge make three kinds of evaluations also permitted an evaluation of the effect an individual's rating characteristics has on inter-rater agreement. Finally, an identical study was repeated using photographs of individuals in an attempt to determine if results obtained for written items of information would generalize to appearance data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]