I

Principles for the

Validation and Use of

Personnel Selection Procedures

FIFTH EDITION

AUGUST 2018

IIPrinciples for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures | Fifth Edition

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Association) and was adopted as policy of the American Psychological Association (APA) by the APA Council of Representatives in August 2018.

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Principles for the Validation and Use

of Personnel Selection Procedures

FIFTH EDITION

Ad Hoc Committee on the Revision of the Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures

PAUL R. SACKETT, PHD (CO-CHAIR)

University of Minnesota

NANCY T. TIPPINS, PHD (CO-CHAIR)

Tippins Group

THEODORE L. HAYES, PHD

U.S. Department of Justice

LEAETTA HOUGH, PHD

Dunnette Group

FRED OSWALD, PHD

Rice University

I

AUGUST 2018

III

CONTENTS

Foreword ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................VI

Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................................................................1

Statement of Purpose ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 

Principles as guidance ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 

Selection Procedures Defined .......................................................................................................................................................................................

Evidence for validity and consequences of personnel decisions.....................................................................................................................

Planning the Validation Effort........................................................................................................................................................................................

Existing evidence ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

Proposed uses ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Requirements of sound inference ............................................................................................................................................................................. 

Feasibility ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 

Analysis of Work ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Purposes for conducting an analysis of work ........................................................................................................................................................ 

Level of detail ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 

Sources of Validity Evidence .......................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Choice of participants .................................................................................................................................................................................................

Data analysis for criterion-related validity ............................................................................................................................................................

Evidence for Validity Based on Content ......................................................................................................................................................................

Feasibility of a content-based validation study ....................................................................................................................................................

Design and conduct of content-based strategies ................................................................................................................................................

Defining the content domain....................................................................................................................................................................................

Developing or choosing the selection procedure ................................................................................................................................................ 

Procedural considerations .........................................................................................................................................................................................

Evaluating content-related evidence .......................................................................................................................................................................

Evidence of Validity Based on Internal Structure .....................................................................................................................................................

Bias ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 

Predictive bias ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Measurement bias .......................................................................................................................................................................................................

Operational Considerations in Personnel Selection ...................................................................................................................................25

Initiating a Validation Effort ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 

Defining the organization’s needs objectives and constraints .......................................................................................................................

Communicating the validation plan........................................................................................................................................................................

Understanding Work and Worker Requirements.....................................................................................................................................................

Strategies for analyzing the work domain and defining worker requirements ............................................................................................ 

Considerations in specifying the sampling plan .................................................................................................................................................. 

IVPrinciples for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures | Fifth Edition

Acceptability to the candidate .................................................................................................................................................................................. 

Alternate forms ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 

Selecting the Validation Strategy .................................................................................................................................................................................

Fit to objectives constraints and selection procedures ....................................................................................................................................

Individual assessments ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 

Selecting Criterion Measures ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 

Performance-oriented criteria..................................................................................................................................................................................

Other indices .................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Relevance and psychometric considerations ........................................................................................................................................................

Data Collection .................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Data accuracy and management ..............................................................................................................................................................................

Missing data and outliers ...........................................................................................................................................................................................

Descriptive statistics ...................................................................................................................................................................................................

Appropriate analyses ..................................................................................................................................................................................................

Differential prediction .................................................................................................................................................................................................

Combining selection procedures into a selection system..................................................................................................................................

Multiple hurdles versus compensatory models ...................................................................................................................................................

Cutoff scores versus rank orders .............................................................................................................................................................................. 

Bands ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Norms .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 

Identifying information ...............................................................................................................................................................................................

Statement of purpose .................................................................................................................................................................................................

Analysis of work............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Search for alternative selection procedures ..........................................................................................................................................................

Identification or development of selection procedures ......................................................................................................................................

Establishing validity .....................................................................................................................................................................................................

Research sample ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 

Results .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Scoring and transformation of raw scores .............................................................................................................................................................

Normative information ................................................................................................................................................................................................

Contact information ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 

Selection procedures ...................................................................................................................................................................................................

Applicability ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 

Information provided to candidates ........................................................................................................................................................................

Guidelines for administration of selection procedures......................................................................................................................................

Administration environment ....................................................................................................................................................................................

Scoring instructions and interpretation guidelines ............................................................................................................................................. 

Test score databases ...................................................................................................................................................................................................

Reporting and using selection procedure scores ................................................................................................................................................

Candidate feedback .....................................................................................................................................................................................................

VIPrinciples for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures | Fifth Edition

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8Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures | Fifth Edition

needs to be evaluated to determine its

competencies.

If there is reason to question whether people with similar job

10Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures | Fifth Edition

ior or work outcomes (criteria). The choice of predictors and criteria

use, job information, and

they reduce error variance and enhance reliability, standardized pre-

dictor measures and standardized criterion measures are preferred.

of the research sample, and the adequacy of

statistical power are very important in determining the feasibility of

conducting a criterion-related study. Depending on their magnitude,

a criterion-related validation study.

is critically important. Of these characteristics, the most important

is relevance. A relevant criterion is one that reflects the relative

strategy is not feasible.

on a sample that is reasonably representative of the workforce and

validity.

size required to achieve a given level of power. Note that statistical

artifacts, such as the degree of range restriction present in one’s

also increases the coefficient’s standard error. Thus, when judging

corrected validity coefficients when it comes to estimating power. If

collected on incumbents at approximately the same time.

dictive and

differ with respect to the basis for the

respect to the population sampled. For example, the design may use

In contrast, when dealing with self-report measures of noncognitive

with the goal of presenting a positive image; Ziegler, MacCann,

& Roberts, 2012). To the extent such faking-related variance is

bent data to estimate these relationships among applicants. Thus,

findings from predictive and concurrent designs cannot be general-

and criteria.

employed and available for advancement progress to the higher

criteria that reflect performance

rotated among

jobs.

learning

job-specific criteria (e.g., working collaboratively across business

units).

dom from

convenience. This implies that the

are (a) clearly stated, (b) supportive of the

sures that are unrelated to the purposes of the study to achieve the

appearance

Criterion relevance

Criteria should represent important organizational,

individual outcomes such as work-related behaviors, outputs,

of the validation study, various criteria, such as a standard work

sample, behavioral and performance ratings, success in work-

relevant training, turnover, contextual performance/organizational

citizenship, or rate of advancement may be appropriate. Regardless

of the measure used as a criterion, it is necessary to ensure its

relevance to the work.

12Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures | Fifth Edition

one’s criterion measures, the conditions of measurement one wish-

Many factors, including critical KSAOs or competencies identified

Selecting predictors

Variables chosen as predictors should have a theoretical, logical,

tionship exists between it and the behavior it is designed to predict.

cation with

an independent sample.

without regard for personal bias or prejudice. Therefore, the testing

ry and the findings of relevant research rather than personal

dictors and method/construct comparisons (e.g., the comparative

meta-analytic estimates of criterion-related validity of interviews

and general mental ability tests) that are fundamentally uninter-

test in the same context are informative.

Predictor contamination

tribute to predictor contamination, such as

Predictor deficiency

deficiency in measuring a specific construct of interest (e.g., a stat-

only taps the orderliness facet of conscientiousness without tap-

ping the industriousness facet). The second stems from not includ-

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the second form of deficiency is problematic, professional judgment

tests, reference checks, interview results) into a final

selection deci-

who weights and summarizes all the information. Ideally, it is this

basis for that use should be sufficiently documented to establish a

against relevant subgroups.

reliability estimates that evaluate whether scores generalize to the

said conditions). Once again, in the event it is not possible to gather

should be qualified accordingly.

underlying one’s predictor measures, the conditions of measure-

not choose a

14Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures | Fifth Edition

and standard errors or confidence intervals for interrelationships

among all variables studied.

Adjustments to validity estimates

Testing professionals should obtain as unbiased

an estimate as

or based on professional judgment).

When combining scores, care must be taken to ensure that

15

weights assigned to the components by the testing professional.

ity resulting from capitalization on chance, especially when the

battery

observed relations with the criterion in the research sample, then

the resulting validities for the predictor measure will be inflated,

and cross-validity estimates should be provided. Rational or unit

validity estimates.

Walmsley, 2014; Schmidt & Hunter, 1998).

credence

limited to, suppressor or moderator effects, nonlinear regression

samples the important work behaviors, activities, and/or

eralization

such

qualifications of the SMEs. SMEs define the work domain;

work

Cost and time constraints can affect the feasibility and the fidel-

16Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures | Fifth Edition

cedure is sufficient for the organization’s purposes.

important work behaviors, activities, and/or work-

uating the effectiveness of the validation effort.

The characterization of the work domain should be based on accu-

job. The testing professional should indicate what important work

describe how the content of the work domain is linked to the selec-

tion procedure, and explain why certain

parts of the domain were or

were not included in the selection procedure.

is labeled an

to perform all of the important

ing is provided, the testing professional should define the selection

will be

job

company technical manuals.

of specific prior training, experience, or achievement. This evidence

between the content of the experience variables and the content

of the work is required (Buster, Roth, & Bobko, 2005). For example,

cesses performed, or the KSAOs required by the work.

prerequisite KSAOs. The selection procedure should reflect ade-

quate coverage of work behaviors and activities and/or worker

requirements from this restricted domain to provide sufficient

basis for the inference.

a rationale

KSAOs needed to perform the work. Random sampling of the

comes (e.g., accidents, turnover). The rationale underlying the sam-

pling should be documented in a test plan specifying which KSAOs

are to be measured by which assessment methods.

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In defining the work content domain,

the degree of specificity need-

procedure for a job involving the preparation of electronic docu-

ments, the procedure may exclude content such as demonstrating

content that is less specific, such as demonstrating proficiency with

software program principles and techniques.

The degree to which the results of content-based validation

of error variances (Aguinis, Peterson, & Pierce, 1999); alternative

be appropriate for examining predictive bias (e.g., Berry & Zhao,

2015).

linguistically.

25

responsible for recruiting qualified applicants.