Validation of the Noncommissioned Officer Special Assignment Battery
Abstract
This report describes research on noncognitive measures for screening Army recruiters with potential application to other Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) assignments. One limitation has been that previously validated instruments for this purpose required proctored testing. To make it easier for Soldiers to be tested, reduce costs, and build upon previous work, ARI was requested to assist with the following: (1) developing a computerized, noncognitive measure suitable for unproctored administration; and (2) validating this instrument against measures of recruiter performance. This new instrument is called the Noncommissioned Officer Special Assignment Battery (NSAB). The NSAB is a computer-adaptive, forced-choice assessment that incorporates recent advances in noncognitive measurement that have been shown to be highly faking resistant and suitable for high-stakes testing environments. The NSAB has 18 scales. Results from a sample of 1,032 experienced Army recruiters indicated that Soldiers with high NSAB composite scores reported the following: (1) lower job stress, and (2) higher satisfaction with recruiting duty. These high-scoring recruiters also were rated by their peers and supervisors as performing better than recruiters with lower NSAB composite scores. These findings indicate that the NSAB can help to identify Soldiers with high potential for recruiting duty success, and it also has the potential for screening in other NCO assignments.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA578567
Entities
People
- Christopher D. Nye
- Fritz Drasgow
- Jeffrey S. Conway
- Kate A. Laport
- Kristen E. Horgen
- Leonard A. White
- Oleksandr S. Chernyshenko
- Richard R. Hoffman Iii
- Stephen Stark