The problem of classification of personnel.

The personnel classification problem arises in its pure form when all job applicants must be used, being divided among a number of job categories. The use of tests for classification involves problems of two types: (1) problems concerning the design, choice, and weighting of tests into a battery, and (2) problems of establishing the optimum administrative procedure of using test results for assignment. A consideration of the first problem emphasizes the desirability of using simple, factorially pure tests which may be expected to have a wide range of validities for different job categories. In the use of test results for assignment, an initial problem is that of expressing predictions of success in different jobs in comparable score units. These units should take account of pre-dictor validity and of job importance. Procedures are described for handling assip'nment either in terms of daily quotas or in terms of a stable predicted yield. The past decade, and particularly the war years, have witnessed a great concern about the classification of personnel and a vast expenditure of effort presumably directed towards this end. In all branches of the military establishment were found "general classifi-cation" tests or test batteries planned to serve a classification function. Since the war the number of published test batteries designed for differential prediction has rapidly multiplied. It seems timely, therefore, to look into the problem of the classification of personnel to see what the concept means, what issues it raises with respect to the theory of measurement, and what problems it presents with respect to the practical operation of a testing program. It must be indicated that much of the present discussion represents an examination of concepts, a raising of questions, and an offering of intuitive suggestions, rather than a presentation of mathematically established answers. The defining of questions represents a first step in answering them. It is hoped that clarification of the problems and issues in the following pages may stimulate others to solve them. Personnel classification, as the term is used here, is best de