Assessing the effects of selection bias on validity data for the General Aptitude Test Battery.

Abstract

Previous analyses have suggested that the database of 755 studies of the validity of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) demonstrates a small but consistent positive correlation with criteria relevant to job performance. Critics have noted that some of the validity studies conducted were not included in the database and have speculated that these studies may have found negligible or even negative validities, so that the extant database is subject to selection bias. The authors use a mathematical model to estimate the magnitude of possible selection and its effects on the mean and variance of GATB validities