SITUATIONAL SPECIFICITY AND WITHIN-SETTING VALIDITY VARIABILITY

Ghiselli (1966) compiled the results of most of the published and unpu blished studies on the validity of tests used to predict performance i n different jobs. He found chat observed validity coefficients vary co nsiderably across studies even when jobs and tests appear to be very s imilar. Because of Ghiselli's work, most other psychologists concluded that a validation study must be conducted when the test is to be used in a different job, situation, company or group of applicants. This c onclusion has been labelled the situational specificity hypothesis. Th is hypothesis holds that, if the setting does not vary, validity will not vary. Two studies were conducted to prove this prediction, the fir st study using a composite test and the second study using a psychomot or test. it was found that (a) even when the setting was held constant , there was great variability in observed validity coefficients; (b) t he variability was similar for both composite and psychomotor tests. T hese findings contradict the situational specificity hypothesis. Howev er, they are consistent with the predictions of the validity generaliz ation hypothesis. Furthermore, the findings are consistent with result s obtained by Schmidt & Hunter (1984).