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What is a Distortion
Scale?
A scale labeled Distortion has been incorporated into
these Hiring Suite™ assessments: Personality Plus™, Sales Plus™,
and The Insure Survey™. The questions contained in the Distortion Scale,
also called a Lie Scale, are ones for which the correct answers are already
known and the applicant must answer the majority of these with the "right"
response. The Distortion SCORE refers to the reliability of the results, not
the honesty of the applicant. If the distortion scale suggests distortion some
doubt may be cast upon the openness of the individual in their responses to the
other questions (which have no right or wrong answer).
How Important Is
It?
A Distortion Scale is vitally important in a pre-employment
situation. A low score on this scale suggests that the applicant may have
distorted their responses in the 'look good" direction. An example would be
trying to appear outgoing and competitive for a sales opening. If the
assessment asked "Do you like meeting new people?" the applicant knows that
meeting new people would be part of the salesperson's duties so will answer
YES, even though it may be against his/her nature to enjoy this type of
activity. By using the Distortion score, the interviewer can gauge if the
applicant is trying to "look good" to get the job.
Accept No
Substitutes!
Beware of pre-employment personality assessments without
distortion scales! Most of these are Word-Matching (or Choosing) assessments
which were originally intended for helping a person become more self-aware of
why they ACT the way they ACT. Most give a choice of two words like OUTGOING or
RESERVED. They are often headed by the phrase 'I SEE MYSELF AS.... on one side
of a paper above a list of adjectives and on the other side of the paper with
"OTHERS SEE ME AS..." above the same list of adjectives. They really work well
in self awareness sessions, but NOT pre-employment!
Why is This So
Essential?
In self awareness sessions there is no pressure to respond
in a "correct" manner. After all, the exercise is for their own self
attainment, not to get a job! Conversely, job applicants are under a tremendous
amount of pressure to respond in the "right way" so they can get the job.
Choosing OUTGOING instead of RESERVED seems to be the most correct answer.
Therefore, they will probably mark OUTGOING if it will get them the
job.
DO All Pre-employment
Assessments Require Distortion Scales?
NO. Skills testing, like for
spelling or math, do not require Distortion Scales because there is only one
true right answer to each question. For example "potatoe" is always wrong and
2+2 always equals 4. |
