Prevue vs. DiSC Based Pre-Employment Tests

Prevue vs. DiSC Based Pre-Employment Tests

• Assessments are job suitability tests that are given to job applicants either online or in pencil and paper format before they are hired or promoted. Assessments are also used for coaching, training and team building activities.
• To be most effective, the assessment should be designed to specifically test for qualities or attitudes that are important for the job by comparing the applicant to a benchmark of the knowledge, skills, abilities and behavior required in the job.
• Tests are based on valid principles of psychology and should be designed and developed by occupational psychologist with expertise in job profiling and test design. Such persons are referred to as Psychometrists.

Ipsative Scores & Normative Scores Explained:

Ipsative means “of the self, and is used in psychology as in the phrase “ipsative measure” to indicate a specific type of measure in which respondents compare two or more options and pick the one which is most preferred , or in other words make a forced choice. This is contrasted with measures that use Likert-type scales, in which respondents choose the score (e.g. 1 to 5) which best represents the degree to which they agree with a given statement – also referred to in this article asNormative testing.

Ipsative scores may be found in any test where there are forced choices and where each choice is scored. This means that at the end of the test the scores can represent only the relative strength of that characteristic in that individual. There must be negative correlations between some of the scores simply as an artifact of the scoring system, in that if one chooses one response as the best that excludes the others. This scoring system fails to measure the absolute strength of the characteristic.

Q&A

Q: Could you send me a comparison analysis of DiSC vs. Prevue?

A: Not all DiSC products are alike so you need to look at the DiSC product of interest to you. As a general rule, most DiSC products are not suitable for hiring or other higher stakes decisions because they are Ipsative rather than Normative instruments – the technical manual for the better DiSC products will usually confirm this limitation. Essentially most DiSC products are feel good assessments that will not offend anyone’s sensibilities when used for team building exercises where assessment results are shared. Prevue’s pre-employment tests are designed to lift the iceberg out of the water so decision makers can really understand what they are dealing with in terms of human resource management. Prevue is therefore more difficult to work with in Coaching or Training applications but provides reliable information for high stakes decisions.

It is clear that normative tests are far superior to ipsative tests as precise measures of psychological characteristics. Ipsative scores are only suitable as a basis of discussion. Since however, it is perfectly possible to use normative tests as a basis for discussion and have, in addition, scores suitable for statistical analysis, there seems no reason to use ipsatively scored tests and they are not recommended.