The reduction of adverse impact in an employment setting using a short-term memory test

Research suggests that less adverse impact should result from the use of em ployment tests assessing memory abilities than is obtained from tests asses sing cognitive abilities. To test the application of this principle, a Shor t-Term Memory test and a Reading Comprehension test were administered as pa rt of a selection battery for entry level police. Subjects were 1423 police officer applicants for a Midwestern city in the U.S. The results for the o verall sample showed a smaller standardized difference between the scores o f Blacks and Whites on the Short-Term Memory test than on the Reading Compr ehension test, a difference which was further reduced when a subsample of B lacks and Whites was created which had been matched on gender, years of edu cation and age.