Cyber Selection Test Research Effort for U.S. Army New Accessions

Abstract

This paper focuses on the test development and validation efforts for the Army's cyber selection/classification research for new accessions. Four research efforts will be discussed two validation efforts and the development of two new measures of cyber aptitude. The Army validated the use of the Cyber Test (a joint service, knowledge-based cyber assessment) for two cyber occupations using a variety of outcomes (e.g., peer ratings, attitude measures, job knowledge test, and training grades) and found evidence of validity for classification purposes. Similarly, the Cyber Test is also currently being validated for use with two other entry level cyber occupations. Use of knowledge-based tests has both benefits and disadvantages, which will be discussed. At the same time, the Army is also planning to develop two aptitude measures that are independent of knowledge. One of these, the Common Cyber Capability (CCC) Test, involves assessing which skills and abilities are common across all or most of the Army's Cyber jobs and building an assessment that measures the top 5-7 most common skills and abilities. The CCC is domain dependent and is being designed with input from the SMEs from the Army's major cyber jobs. Another aptitude measure that is being developed is the Systems Thinking (ST) test. This will be a computer simulation, which involves a combination of behavioral and self-response measures of the major systems thinking dimensions. The ST test can be used for classification in a wide variety of jobs in addition to cyber where ST is important.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 12, 2017
Accession Number
AD1044605

Entities

People

  • Alexander P. Wind
  • Jonathan C. Willford
  • Kristophor G. Canali

Organizations

  • U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Cyber

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Application Software
  • Attrition
  • Classification
  • Cognitive Complexity
  • Computer Network Security
  • Computer Simulations
  • Computers
  • Information Systems
  • Military Research
  • Network Protocols
  • Pattern Recognition
  • Ratings
  • Security
  • Social Sciences
  • Thinking
  • Training
  • Validation

Readers

  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Military Science and Technology Research and Modernization.
  • Psychometric Testing or Psychological Assessment.

Technology Areas

  • Cyber