Bauer, Human Resource Management, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Chapter 7: Selection Processes and Procedures
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Managers increase the likelihood of selecting the best candidates when they increase
______.
A. the pool of competencies
B. the size of the applicant pool
C. the indicators of validity
D. the reliability estimates
2. Kate wants to implement a standard selection procedure for all applicants for a
particular job. How can she leverage her access to subject matter experts in setting this
selection procedure?
A. She can interview subject matter experts about the KSAOs for the job via a job
analysis.
B. She can turn to subject matter experts for analyzing data gathered from personality
tests.
C. She can ask subject matter experts to rotate jobs to get a new perspective on their
needs.
D. She can task subject matter experts to undertake a needs assessment for their
departments.
3. Annie, a recruiter, wants to hire the best possible candidate for the job. She knows
that to do this, there are two goals of recruitment to focus on. She needs to increase the
size of the applicant pool and ______.
A. hold unstructured interviews
B. increase the number of qualified applicants
C. use targeted recruiting
D. decrease the number of essential functions in the job
4. Court cases that provide interpretation for established laws and legal guidelines are
______.
A. mediation
B. settlements
C. arbitration
D. case law
5. Jenkins, a recruiter, has a legal question related to the selection process. Where can
he look for an answer?
A. Onetonline.org
B. EEOC Testing Center
C. the Uniform Guidelines
D. the Validity Selection Law
6. Noelle serves as legal counsel for a Fortune 500 company that continuously recruits,
interviews, and hires people. During the selection process, employment tests are often
administered. Noelle is concerned about this impact of these tests on protected groups.
What specifically concerns Noelle?
A. global issues
B. adverse impact
C. the amount of time required
D. unstructured interviews
7. The 80% rule determines if a prima facie case for ______ exists.
A. adverse impact
B. guidelines
C. reliability
D. disparate treatment
8. In addition to Uniform Guidelines, human resource professionals turn to ______ on
the development and administration of selection procedures published by the Society
for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
A. professional guidelines
B. optional guidelines
C. international guidelines
D. disability guidelines
9. The science of ______ is used to estimate the quality of the measures used in
personnel selection.
A. psychometrics
B. reliability
C. validity
D. utility
10. In addition to producing better outcomes, a data-driven selection process is ______.
A. more legally compliant
B. more efficient
C. less time intensive
D. less difficult
11. The ______ of selection decisions is the degree to which they are worth the time
and money to carry them out.
A. reliability
B. utility
C. validity
D. integrity
12. ______ is the consistency of measurement.
A. Validity
B. Reliability
C. Utility
D. Metric
13. Ramses is a hiring manager who often administers a skills test during an applicant’s
first interview. The applicant scores well and Ramses invites him back for a second
interview, where he administers the same test. This time the results are different.
Ramses is reviewing ______.
A. the usefulness of the test
B. the mechanics of the test
C. the reliability of the test
D. the purpose of the test
14. Layla finds that a particular test that her company using during the selection process
to measure problem-solving skills does not accurately predict an applicant’s ability on
the job to solve problems. This test is ______.
A. unreliable
B. not valid
C. too data driven
D. controlled
15. ______ relates to how accurately at test measures something.
A. Validity
B. Reliability
C. Utility
D. Correlation
16. Kim, a subject matter expert, participates in a job analysis. Her input is used to
develop a test for selection. Kim then reviews the test. What is this process meant to
ensure?
A. content validity
B. reliability
C. predictive validity
D. mechanical validity
17. ______ is an approach to test development, focused on sampling the domain such
as the job.
A. Concurrent validity
B. Content validity
C. Reliability
D. Construct validity
18. What is necessary to demonstrate content validity for a test used for selecting
applicants?
A. mechanical data and interpretation
B. a job analysis and SME review
C. reliability testing and outcomes
D. standardized selection procedures
19. Zahir aims to show that there is a statistically significant correlation between a test
and how well someone performs on the job. ______ shows an empirical relationship
between the test and performance.
A. Standard reliability
B. Relationship bias
C. Applicant diversity
D. Criterion-related validity
20. The correlation between a test score and performance is the ______.
A. correlation coefficient
B. validity coefficient
C. reliability factor
D. validity measure
21. Lila, a recruiter, administers a test to a group of applicants and later analyzes how
well the scores correlate to job performance. This is an example of ______.
A. performance validity
B. content validity
C. predictive validity
D. concurrent validity
22. Jamal, a manager, works with his human resource partner to administer a test to
current employees to show correlation between the test score and current job
performance. This is an example of ______.
A. performance validity
B. content validity
C. predictive validity
D. concurrent validity
23. ______ involves administering the test to job applicants and then seeing how well
the test scores correlate with their later job performance scores.
A. Content validity
B. Predictive validity
C. Data validity
D. Validity coefficient
24. Tom is hiring for mechanical engineers for his team and wants to test mechanical
ability. He works with the human resource manager to contact test publishers for the
evidence that their test actually measures mechanical ability. What is Tom interested in
confirming in this example?
A. reliability
B. construct validity
C. content validity
D. data measurement
25. Marie purchases a test to use for customer service representative applicants. The
vendor that sells her the test explains that the test has been successfully used for
similar positions at similar companies. As a result, Marie feels confident that the test will
work for her selection process. This is an example of ______.
A. content validity
B. construct validity
C. generalization validity
D. local validation
26. ______ is the assumption that selection procedures that have been validated for
similar jobs in similar organizations can be assumed to be valid for new situations.
A. Reliability
B. Content validity
C. Validity generalization
D. Utility
27. A tool for determining selection procedures’ relationships with each other is ______.
A. a job analysis
B. a work sample
C. an assessment center
D. a correlation matrix
28. Keaton is examining a suite of tests available to his company to determine their
suitability for adding to a selection procedure. All of them correlate strongly with the job
performance measure. Keaton analyzes how the tests correlate with each other and
finds that Cognitive Ability Tests A and B correlate with each other strongly (.87) but
correlate only weakly with Cognitive Ability Test C and the Personality Test (.21). Which
tests should Keaton keep?
A. Cognitive Ability Test A, Cognitive Ability Test B, and the Personality Test
B. Cognitive Ability Test A and the Personality Test
C. Cognitive Ability Test A, Cognitive Ability Test C, and the Personality Test
D. Cognitive Ability Test C and the Personality Test
29. Karen, a recruiter, knows that there isn’t one selection procedure that is better than
another one when choosing applicants. How does Karen decide which selection
procedures to use given that there is not one best procedure to implement?
A. Karen chooses selection procedures that overlap each other.
B. Karen chooses selection procedures that are innovative.
C. Karen chooses selection procedures that confirm her preferences.
D. Karen chooses selection procedures that complement each other.
30. Ayo receives a large number of applications for nursing positions at the hospital
where he works as a recruiter. This job has a 6-month learning curve, so retention is
important. How could he problem-solve using a low-cost method to reduce the number
of applicants to a number he could manage to interview within a given time frame?
A. administer personality tests
B. administer situational judgment tests
C. review resumes for biographical data
D. assess specific cognitive abilities
31. What is the most common type of selection procedure?
A. interview
B. personality tests
C. integrity tests
D. cognitive ability tests
32. In the ______ interview, the interviewer has a conversation with the job applicant
with no set of questions for each applicant.
A. unstructured
B. structured
C. behavioral
D. situational
33. In the ______ interview, all job applicants are asked the same, job-related
questions.
A. standardized
B. structured
C. situational
D. behavioral
34. A structured interview is ______ an unstructured interview.
A. more valid than
B. less valid than
C. equally valid to
D. less reliable than
35. Jean is interviewing applicants for a job on her team. She has a list of questions that
she asks them to help determine what they would do in a given hypothetical situation.
What type of interview is this?
A. behavioral interview
B. unstructured interview
C. situational interview
D. initial interview
36. Mary asks applicants she interviews how they have handled given situations in the
past. What type of interview is this?
A. behavioral interview
B. situational interview
C. unstructured interview
D. initial interview
37. Josie, a recruiter, is in charge of the summer intern program. She interviews college
students for entry-level work. Since the applicants are typically young and do not have
much experience, which type of interview is likely to yield better results?
A. unstructured
B. online
C. situational
D. behavioral
38. In the ______ interview, job applicants are asked what they would do in a
hypothetical work-related situation.
A. standardized
B. structured
C. situational
D. behavioral
39. In the ______ interview, applicants are asked how they handled a work-related
situation in the past.
A. standardized
B. structured
C. situational
D. behavioral
40. According to the textbook, ______ of employers use personality tests for hiring.
A. 25%
B. 42%
C. 52%
D. 62%
41. Anika is hiring for entry-level positions for a job that requires a high degree of
teamwork. Applicants will go through extensive training. They need to be willing to learn
new things and be conscientiousness performers as well as be sociable and sensitive to
their teammates’ feelings. Finally, since the job is in a fast-paced, high stress, and quick
to change environment, applicants need to be able to cope well with anxiety and worry.
Anika is searching for a personality test to administer. Given the needs of the job she is
hiring for, which test could she use?
A. the integrity test
B. the cognitive ability test
C. the emotional intelligence test
D. the Big Five
42. In the Five Factor Model personality typology, ______ has to do with a person’s
inquisitiveness and willingness to learn new things.
A. openness to experience
B. conscientiousness
C. extroversion
D. neuroticism
43. In the Five Factor Model personality typology, ______ includes traits such as
dependability and achievement orientation and was found to relate to job performance
across most jobs.
A. openness to experience
B. conscientiousness
C. extroversion
D. neuroticism
44. In the Five Factor Model personality typology, ______ which includes traits such as
sociability was related to jobs such as sales and management.
A. openness to experience
B. conscientiousness
C. extroversion
D. neuroticism
45. In the Five Factor Model personality typology, ______ is the degree to which the
person is kind, sensitive, and pays attention to others’ feelings.
A. agreeableness
B. conscientiousness
C. extroversion
D. neuroticism
46. In the Five Factor Model personality typology, ______ relates to anxiety and worry.
A. openness to experience
B. conscientiousness
C. extroversion
D. neuroticism
47. What kind of test helps employers screen out applicants who are high risk for
negative on-the-job behaviors such as stealing, illicit drug use, or fighting with
coworkers?
A. situational judgment test
B. cognitive ability test
C. physical ability test
D. integrity test
48. A(n) ______ test is an assessment of the ability to perceive, process, evaluate,
compare, create, understand, manipulate, or generally think about information and
ideas.
A. emotional intelligence
B. cognitive ability
C. integrity
D. situational judgment
49. Very broadly, ______ is defined as one’s ability to recognize and appraise emotions
in oneself and others and behave accordingly.
A. emotional intelligence
B. cognitive ability
C. integrity
D. situational judgment
50. Maci is charged with hiring an executive administrative assistant. This person must
possess solid writing skills as they will be drafting documents for the top management
team. In order to assess the level of the applicants writing skills, they are assigned to
write a memo that demonstrates the specific criteria for the job. Once the applicants
complete the writing assignment, other administrative assistants review it to ensure that
the writing quality is what the executive management team requires. What kind of
selection procedure does this scenario describe?
Bauer, Human Resource Management, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
A. work sample
B. cognitive ability test
C. physical ability test
D. situational judgment test
51. What kind of test provides a simulation activity that assesses how applicants
respond given specific job-related scenarios?
A. assessment centers
B. situational judgment tests
C. physical ability tests
D. training experience
52. ______ tests are sometimes referred to as “low–fidelity simulations” because they
capture some realism of work samples in a format that can be used more easily with
large numbers of applicants.
A. Emotional intelligence
B. Cognitive ability
C. Integrity
D. Situational judgment
53. A specific type of work sample known as the ______ was developed to assess
management skills and are typically carried out over a series of days at a remote site.
Bauer, Human Resource Management, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
A. situational judgment
B. assessment center
C. behavioral interview
D. biographical data test
54. Which type of document asks an applicant about their work-related education,
training, and experience and is then scored based on a preexisting rubric?
A. screening form
B. employability form
C. training and experience forms
D. reference and background check
55. Asking an applicant how many jobs they have had in the 3 years in order to predict
how long they are likely to stay in a job is an example of collecting ______.
A. application information
B. biographical data
C. structured interview
D. references
56. What is the most commonly used first-hurdle screening method that helps narrow
down the applicant pool to a more manageable size?
A. biodata
Bauer, Human Resource Management, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
B. training and experience form
C. resume
D. assessment center
57. A downfall of references is that applicants tend to only provide the names of people
whom they know will provide a positive recommendation. Despite this downfall, what
makes a hiring manager likely to still use references?
A. to help screen out applicants who might be high risk
B. to make the applicant nervous
C. to identify applicants with the most personal references
D. to complete a credit check
58. Billy is a recruiter at a children’s hospital. He has a rigorous selection process in
place to ensure not only the best educated and trained professionals are hired but also
that the people he hires do not have criminal histories. What method does Billy use to
ensure that applicants are not a criminal risk to others?
A. resume
B. biodata
C. background check
D. references
59. A driver for a lumberyard needs to be able to lift a minimum of 50 pounds by
himself. How might the hiring manager determine if an applicant is able to meet this
physical demand of the job?
A. a reference
B. an assessment center
C. a cognitive ability test
D. a physical ability test
60. A technological advance that has created ethical complications in selection is the
rise of ______.
A. the online interview
B. e-mail communication
C. the smart phone
D. social media
61. Jane often looks at applicants’ Facebook pages when she is making hiring
decisions. Which of these is a true statement that Jane should keep in mind while doing
so?
A. Social media is not as helpful a screening method as credit history is.
B. Job applicants are always very conscientious about their social media usage.
C. Applicants tend to provide similar types and amounts of information across platforms.
D. Research has suggested that decisions based on social media may reflect
unintentional bias.
62. If an applicant perceives that they were treated unfairly during the selection process,
their reaction can affect whether they ______.
A. pass a cognitive ability test administered as a first hurdle
B. accept the job, if offered at the end of the process
C. submit a resume after filling out an online application
D. are viewed as someone with the right skills for the job
63. Requesting that an applicant for a graphic design job produce a work sample is
evidence that the selection procedure is ______.
A. timely
B. personable
C. job related
D. consistent
64. Sandy is interviewing for a management position. She is asked to participate in an
assessment center. This is evidence that the selection procedure provides applicants
______.
A. isolated testing
B. opportunity to perform
C. interpersonal treatment
D. consistency
65. When an applicant is treated with respect during an interview, this shows the
selection procedure is ______.
A. timely
B. consistent
C. interpersonal
D. job related
66. After an interview, Jennifer lets the applicant know when they can expect to hear the
result of the application process. Jennifer then follows up within an appropriate time
frame. Jennifer’s quick follow-up is evidence of ______.
A. consistency
B. opportunity to perform
C. feedback timeliness
D. job relatedness
67. Jennifer treats all applicants fairly and asks them each the same questions. This is
evidence of ______.
A. feedback timeliness
B. consistency
C. opportunity to perform
D. job relatedness
68. Of the all the possible selection procedures, which is one that applicants feel the
least positive about?
A. integrity tests
B. work samples
C. assessment centers
D. resumes
69. Work samples are a preferred selection procedure by applicants, however can be
______ when there are a lot of applicants.
A. impractical
B. distracting
C. unnecessary
D. indeterminate
70. In a multiple-hurdle approach to deploying selection procedures, the ______ are
administered first.
A. most expensive
B. least expensive
C. the easiest
D. the most difficult
71. Timely feedback between selection hurdles is important to avoid ______.
A. delaying opportunities to perform
B. delivering bad news
C. procedures that are not reliable or valid
D. losing the best candidates to other employers
True/False
1. Finding the right talent helps to propel an organization in the right strategic direction.
2. Adverse impact is a critical issue in understanding the implementation of selection
procedures.
3. Showing content validity generally involves complex statistics.
4. Psychoanalysis is the science use to estimate the quality of measures used in
personnel selection.
5. If a test is developed using a content validity approach, it should also show positive
criterion-related validity.
6. It is recommended to have redundant selection processes to confirm validity across
multiple tests.
7. Without fail, predictors for job performance are consistent across different cultures.
8. Personality tests tend to elicit high adverse impact.
9. General cognitive ability tests can have adverse impact against certain protected
groups.
10. Due to high administrative costs, recruiters and hiring managers tend to use work
samples as a final step in the selection process.
11. Some researchers say personality tests are still valid even if people cheat on them.
12. A cognitive ability test is meant to assess a person’s general ability to consider
information as it relates to on-the-job performance.
13. Some employers think that poor credit history correlates to a high degree of
problem-solving skills.
14. Research shows that people want to be treated fairly during the hiring process.
Perceptions of being treated unfairly influence attitudes and behaviors.
15. When recruiters deploy selection procedures, they generally start with the least
expensive ones first and then build a multiple-hurdle approach where the final
procedures are the more resource intensive ones.
Essay
1. How does job analysis and legal issues apply to recruitment and selection?
Bauer, Human Resource Management, 1e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
2. Examine the difference between reliability and validity. Provide examples.
3. Differentiate between cognitive ability tests and physical ability tests by analyzing the
main differences for deployment as well as adverse impact.
4. Demonstrate, using a scenario, three reasons that companies should be cautious
about using credit histories in the selection process.
5. Apply what has been learned about deployment selection procedures to design an
approach to fill five vacancies from a pool of 50 strong candidates.