Treatment of Outliers in Cognitive and Psychomotor Test Data

Abstract

Many statistical tests and review articles have pointed out the possible adverse effects that outliers can have on model parameter estimates, and have suggested several methods for detecting and treating outliers. In the present study, the effects of two different methods for treating outliers in aptitude tests (data deletion and data transformation) were investigated at the item and total-score level on the internal consistency and criterion-related validity of six computerized tests being evaluated by the U.S. Air Force. Over 2,000 pilot training candidates were tested. Results indicated that neither outlier treatment method at either level of analysis had significant effects on tests' psychometric characteristics. Possible reasons for these findings include the rarity with which outliers actually occur, and the robustness of linear modeling methods. Computer-based tests, Test reliability, Outliers analysis, Test validity

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1993
Accession Number
ADA285856

Entities

People

  • Amy M. Stewart
  • Charles E. Lance

Organizations

  • University of Georgia

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Anomaly Detection
  • Applied Psychology
  • Change Detection
  • Computers
  • Consistency
  • Flight Training
  • Human Resources
  • Information Processing
  • Information Science
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Pilots
  • Psychological Tests
  • Psychology
  • Reaction Time
  • Square Roots
  • Training

Readers

  • Approximation Theory.
  • Neural Network Machine Learning.
  • Psychometric Testing or Psychological Assessment.