BACKGROUND
Professional and legal requirements indicate that assessment instruments/ techniques should meet certain criteria e.g. validity, reliability, and being free from bias. The domain of personality testing needs special attention in view of inconsistencies among the results of previous validation studies in South Africa.
Prof. Murray R Barrick (Michigan State University, USA) recent keynote address at the 4th Annual Industrial Psychology Conference 7 June 2001 in Pretoria, provided the spark to embark on a meta-analysis study on this domain.
Professor Barrick challenged South African researchers in the field of personality testing to undertake research in South Africa as he explains:
"As I have stated, based on my own reading of the literature in South Africa it is apparent there is considerable research interest in cross-cultural issues today. In fact, one of the dominant, if not the most critical, issue facing researchers today is the impact of cross-cultural effects on tests used in South Africa. I applaud this research and have come to the conclusion that because South Africa has even more diversity than the US, it is the perfect setting to thoroughly examine these issues".
He mentioned Meta analysis as one of the options that South African Researches need to pursue. The advantages of using meta analysis studies are:
The project is currently being setup by a few individuals: Mr. Deon Meiring, Industrial Psychologist, Dr. HS van der Walt, Industrial Psychologist, Prof. I Rothmann, Industrial Psychologist, Department of Industrial Psychology- Potchefstroom University and Prof. M Barrick of the Tippie College of Business, University of IOWA.
An invitation is hereby extended to all interested parties, SIP, PAI members, Universities, Students and test distributors to partake in this study.
AIM OF STUDY
"To conduct a Meta-Analysis study on personality testing in South Africa"
PROJECT SCOPE
The project is being divided into different phases of which phase1 consists of the project setup, Phase 2 of giving voice to the project. Phase 3 consists of data collection, phase 4 data analysis and phase 5 reporting on the project.
In an MetaAnalysis study the data collection phase requires a major effort to get information on as many studies as possible. For this purpose the co-operation of all concerned are required to present copies/references of appropriate studies.
It would be appreciated if you would be
so kind as to provide the project co-ordinators with copies of appropriate
reports/ references of work that have been done in the field of personality
testing. Only studies younger than 1985 containing indices indicating
the relationship (e.g. correlations, t -tests, Chi square) between
test scores (any personality test) and work behaviour (e.g. performance/
training results) will be suitable. Unpublished reports, memoranda etc
containing, useful information (in the field of personality testing) are
also required to provide a broader perspective.
Information from individual reports will
be kept confidential and will only be used as data in the sample. Please
assist us by responding to our request and by conveying it to others who
may be in a position to help.
A suggested format according to which information can be forward to the co-ordinators is found below. A copy of the study/report will also be needed to enable the co-ordinators to extract the relevant technical information.
Thank you
Deon Meiring
| STUDY DESCRIPTION |
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| Year study | Author of the study
Sample size (N=)
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| Personality Instruments used in study |
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| Description of criteria used |
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| Contact Details | Contact person:
Phone: Fax: Cell Phone: E-mail: |
Studies can be forward to:
Deon Meiring
PO BOX 4618
PRETORIA
0001
meiringd@yebo.co.za
Deon can be contacted at 0723454767