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What are psychometric instruments?
Psychometric instruments are questionnaires or tests that help businesses to select the right people, facilitate individual and team development, and increase organisational effectiveness.
In the main, they fall into the following categories:
- Personality: powerful methods of predicting how someone will typically behave
- Ability: measure aptitudes such as how someone will perform when solving problems or reasoning with verbal information; many measure potential rather than current level of knowledge
- Career interests: help to identify the types of work to which someone would be suited
- 360-degree feedback: gather feedback on an individual's performance or personal attributes from a range of sources, from juniors to superiors
Read more about OPP's psychometric instruments >>
What should I expect from one of OPP's psychometric questionnaires?
OPP's tools can assess personality style and preferences, critical reasoning ability and overall competence for a particular job or role. Depending on what exactly you want to measure and why, our assessments can be used for development or selection, and are usually accompanied by other types of assessment, such as a coaching programme or interviews.
In general, a respondent is asked to fill in a multiple-choice questionnaire, either online or in paper and pencil format. A qualified practitioner will then discuss and validate their results with them during a one-to-one feedback session, structured around a particular application.
Find out which questionnaires are used for which applications >>
Why use psychometric instruments?
Simply put, because they work.
Individual tests are among the best predictors of job performance and are even more powerful when combined with other tests or interviews. They are proven to:
- Increase objectivity in staff selection and development
- Improve individual and interpersonal effectiveness
- Enhance teamwork and organisational performance
- Improve staff performance, morale and retention
When used effectively, they also increase the transparency, speed and quality of line-management decisions about people, ensuring that best practices are more readily transferred from HR processes into action.
And they are manifestly not just for use in recruitment. Leadership development, teambuilding and organisational change are just three other contexts where psychometric tools are proven to deliver results.
Why is an understanding of personality relevant to the workplace?
Practitioners may be asked this question by respondents who are cynical about the ability of a psychometric to accurately represent them. Often, job candidates may have had bad experiences of being assessed in this way, and need reassurance that they are not being 'trapped' or 'tricked' by the process.
In fact, understanding your own and others' personality can lie at the core of feeling happy and fulfilled in your work. Self-awareness and the motivation to empathise with others can be the trigger for concrete improvement in the quality of working relationships and in overall performance and productivity.
Done in an ethical and credible way, psychometric assessment hits at the heart of who you are, which couldn't be more relevant to the place where you spend so much of your life - at work.
 Read OPP's research report on dream careers >> [pdf]
Surely personality cannot ever be 'measured'? Can we really reduce a person down to numbers?
Some people feel uncomfortable with the idea that something as intangible as 'personality' can be pinned down and measured with scores and results. They question whether it is morally or philosophically right to aspire to collecting this type of personal information about people.
OPP recognises this uncertainty. The argument in favour of psychometric assessment is that it is much fairer than more traditional methods of assessment such as interviews, where the personality and prejudices of a small number of individuals determine the fate of the candidate in the organisation. Instead, a psychometric introduces a degree of objectivity based on many years of research and development by academics and psychologists working in the field.
Read more about ongoing research and development >>
How can I be sure that a personality assessment is fair?
Two factors are absolutely vital in ensuring fairness in psychometric assessment: accuracy and ethical practice.
All of OPP's instruments have been developed on a well-respected theoretical basis, then checked for accuracy via a validation and improvement process that sometimes takes years to complete. This accuracy is measured by accepted industry standards of reliability and validity.
OPP actively promotes the ethical use of all its instruments, based around a set of unshakeable principles:
- Practitioners should be qualified before being allowed to purchase restricted materials
- A feedback session for respondents is always recommended to validate their results
- Instruments should not be used for the wrong application or for something they cannot measure (eg the MBTI® tool is for development only)
- It should be recognised that psychometrics do not tell the whole story about a person, and should always be used in conjunction with other measures
- Psychometric test administration should adhere to the British Psychological Society's ethical guidelines, including the administration of tests under controlled conditions, telling people which tests they will be taking in advance and providing preview or practice materials
Read OPP's Ethical Test Use Policy >>
Is it possible to fake a psychometric assessment?
Ability tests are extremely difficult to fake, and most instruments that are used in selection and recruitment have built-in measures that enable a qualified practitioner to identify where faking or distortion has occurred. For example, the Saville Aptitude Assessments have measures of test-taking styles, speed, accuracy and caution, and the 16PF questionnaire contains Response Style Indices that tell the practitioner about Impression Management, Acquiescence and Infrequency.
It is also worth noting that distortion in test results is not always the product of deliberate faking. Respondents may feel nervous or cynical about the assessment, or they may have misunderstood the instructions. Different cultures also respond differently to the test-taking situation.
Psychometric instruments are not open to any more bias than interviews, where people can be trained in interview technique. People are best prepared by being relaxed and rested on the day of testing.
Read a white paper about how the 16PF addresses this >> [pdf]
How can I be convinced that psychometrics are good value for money?
Many people dismiss psychometrics as expensive and time-consuming. Whilst there is an initial outlay in training administrators and test interpreters, running costs are low and the long-term benefits are unrivalled. For example, their accuracy in predicting job-performance makes psychometrics really cost-effective - as anyone who knows the costs of recruiting replacement staff will testify.
Administering a test or questionnaire varies from ten minutes to over an hour. Often the questionnaires can be administered to many people at the same time, which can make them more time-efficient than other assessment or development methods.
OPP has developed many supporting materials and products for practitioners that provide ready-to-use solutions for applications from large-scale assessment centres to individual coaching.
Find out about a book that helps you measure the ROI of MBTI training >>
How can an off-the-shelf solution be genuinely relevant to my situation?
Before using any assessment tool, an employer should determine which attributes and competencies are needed for the job. The chosen psychometric assessments should measure these and will therefore reflect and be relevant to the job.
In addition, practitioners are trained to be competent in applying psychometric tools appropriately in different contexts. Use of a psychometric with a team or an individual is always grounded with an agreement about what the desired outcomes of the intervention are.
OPP can also offer professional services for assessment, development and teams, where we tailor a programme for clients using a combination of psychometric tools and tried-and-tested business simulations. This provides a fully developed and bespoke solution to your business requirement.
Find out more about OPP's professional services offering >>
Can psychometrics be used with people with disabilities?
Yes. It is straightforward to make reasonable adjustments to the assessment process in order to alleviate any potential disadvantage, depending on the specific requirements of the individual. OPP's Customer Service team are happy to provide advice for practitioners looking to adapt their assessment.
OPP also provides Braille versions of the MBTI and 16PF questionnaires.
Contact OPP Customer Service >>
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