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Journal of Applied Psychology 1962, Vol. 46, No.

6, 417-419

RE-EVALUATION OF A WEIGHTED APPLICATION BLANK FOR OFFICE PERSONNEL


PAUL F. WERNIMONT University of Minnesota The validity of weighted application blank scores in predicting length of service of female office personnel of a large midwestern manufacturing company showed a slow but consistent decline from 1954 to 1959. After reweighting the application blank variables by the usual procedure, a Pearson r of .39 was obtained between WAB scores and tenure on a cross-validation sample of 208 individuals. Only 3 variables (high proficiency at shorthand; did not leave last job because of pregnancy, marriage, sickness, or home problems; and will begin work on the new job 1 week or more from now) retained their predictive validity from 1954 to 1959. Some of the variables were assigned different weights, and others were given weights for the 1st time. It was recommended that weights assigned to application blank responses be reviewed at least every 3-5 years.

In recent years, the weighted application were employees of the same large midwestern blank has come into increasing prominence as manufacturing company. Dunnette, Kirchner, a selection device in industry. This trend re- Erickson, and Banas (1960) have already reflects, in part, the desire to express selection ported 1- and 2-year follow-ups on this same methods in quantitative terms, and in part, set of application blank weights. Their rethe increasing recognition that the application sults indicated that the predictive validity, blank has potential value beyond its use as while fairly high, had decreased somewhat anecdotal information. England (1961) pre- from that of the initial study. sents a detailed account of the methodology METHOD of the development of a weighted application blank, as well as an extensive list of referAs a starting point for this study, a sample of apences in this area. Of those studies using turn- proximately one-fourth of the weighted application over as the criterion, Pearson r's near .40 have blank scores of the female office employees hired in 1959, for the home office, was correlated with tenure. generally been reported. A tetrachoric r of .07 was found, indicating that the Reports of long-term studies of the validi- predictive value of the variables weighted in 1954 ties of weighted application blanks are virtu- had deteriorated considerably. It was decided to atally nonexistent in the literature. Perhaps the tempt a reweighting of the application blank responses. need for subsequent review of such validities The application blanks for all new female office is too obvious to require mentioning. At any workers hired during 1959 were divided into two rate, when turnover is used as the criterion, groups and systematically reviewed. Those hired durit is certainly not to be expected that the ing the first half of the year were used for the main part of the those hired during the last same application blank information, for in- half of 1959 study, whilethe holdout, or cross-validacomprised stance, highest past salary, should indefinitely tion group. As in the initial study, length of service retain its predictive validity for new job ap- was chosen as the criterion. The primary sample was grouped as follows: 5 months and under (N = 7 5 ) , plicants. The purpose of this report is to present the 6-18 months (iV = 53), 19 months and over (N = 83). Tenure was divided in this way because of results of a re-evaluation of the weighted ap- clear breaks in the distribution at the 6- and 19plication blank developed by Kirchner and month points. Using the traditional approach, application blanks Dunnette (1957) on the basis of female office personnel hired in 1954. The female office of the long-term group were compared with those of group on a total of personnel included in this study held essen- the short-term found to differentiate, 37 variables. Of these, 16 were on the basis of tially the same types of jobs as those included at least a 10% difference in the frequency of rein the earlier study, and in both instances, sponses, between the two groups. Weights of 1, 0,
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PAUL F. WERNIMONT TABLE 1


QUARTILES AND MEANS OF WEIGHTED SCORES FOR LONG- AND SHORT-TERM OFFICE EMPLOYEES HIRED IN LAST HALF OF 1959

and 1 were then assigned to responses for each variable. Total scores were not computed for the application blanks used in deriving the weights, but all three (long-, medium-, and short-term) cross-validation groups were scored on the 16 weighted variables, and total scores were obtained. This cross-validation sample was grouped as follows: 5 months and under (N = 71), 6-18 months ( # = 61), 19 months or more (N = 76).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

(Cross-validation group) Group Short Long


Qi

Median 1 4

Q* 3 6

M .80 3.84

SD 3.72 3.44

N 71 76

-2 1

From Table 1, it may be observed that the new total scores do effectively differentiate between the long- and short-term groups, with the long-term group receiving, on the average, higher scores than did the short-term people. The difference between the means is highly significant statistically, in this, the cross-validation sample. The relatively small overlap found provides impressive evidence that these 16 weighted variables are effective in differentiating the long- from the shortterm employees. It was found that 84% of the long-term group equal or exceed the median of the short-term group, and none of the long-term group scored below a 2, or <2i of the short-term group. A product-moment r of .39 was obtained when length of service was correlated with these new weighted application blank total scores. This coefficient compares favorably with those found in other studies of this kind. Since some of the variables used in deriving the old application blank scores were also included in the new set of weighted variables, it is evident that the office employees had already been partially screened. This situation would, of course, tend to produce an apparent shrinkage of the obtained validity coefficient. From the results of this study, it is readily apparent that scoring weights based on application blank responses need to be re-evaluated from time to time. There were some variables in this study that had to be assigned different weights from those assigned in the earlier study, and there were several variables that operated in 1959 to differentiate longterm from short-term employees that did not do so in 1954. There were also a few variables that still held up, and in the same way, from the 1954-59 groups. The variables which were weighted differently include length of time in last position, number of past positions, age, and other office

training. The new weights for these variables indicate that the long-term employee in 1959 was an older, more experienced individual than her 1954 counterpart. Among the new variables which were found to differentiate on the tenure criterion were average high school grade, type of work in last position, length of time expected to stay with the company, salary expected, position desired, and an evidence of leadership statement. It appears that the long-term employee, having been dissatisfied with her salary and chances to advance in her previous job, took the advice of relatives to join this company, where she expects to advance in both salary and position. There were three variables which consistently held up in the same way from 1954 to 1959, including the 1956 follow-up study. These variables are high proficiency at shorthand; did not leave last job because of pregnancy, marriage, sickness, or home problems; and will begin work on the new job 1 week or more from now. This group of variables suggests that the long-term female job applicant is still working on her previous job, but intends to leave it, if the new job meets her expectations for advancement. Tetrachoric r's between total application blank scores and tenure have been computed by Dunnette et al. (1960) as follows: 1954 .74, 1955.61, 1956.38. The 1955 group was a cross-validation group, and the 1956 correlation was based on a follow-up study. The tetrachoric r of .07 obtained in the present study, based on the same weights, indicates that there was a slow but continuous deterioration of the ability of the weighted application blank scores to differentiate longfrom short-term employees. After a period of 5 years, the results of using these scores are little better than chance. Scores based on the revised weights and set of variables, when

WEIGHTED APPLICATION BLANK

419
REFERENCES

computed on the cross-validation group, show a tetrochoric r of .57 with tenure. The maximum time that a given set of weights can safely be used without review probably depends upon a large number of factors, among them economic conditions, locale, type of industry, selection ratio, the criterion used, etc. It seems safe to say, however, that weights assigned to application blank responses ought to be reviewed at least every 3-5 years.

J. R., & BANAS, P. A. Predicting turnover of female office employees. Personnel Admin., 1960, 23, 4S-S0. ENGLAND, G. W. Development and use of weighted application blanks. Dubuque, la.: Wm. C. Brown, 1961.
KIRCHNER, W. K., & DUNNETTE, M. D. Applying the

DUNNETTE,

M.

D.,

KIRCHNER,

W.

K.,

ERICKSON,

weighted application blank technique to a variety of office jobs. / . appl. Psychol, 1957, 41, 206-208. (Received January 25, 1962)

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