A Strategy for Examining the Validity of Job Analysis Data

A strategy for examining the validity of job analysis inventory data is introduced. This strategy involves the testing of hypotheses regarding expected consistencies within the data, and between the data and independent sources of information. Although the purpose of the job analysis is to obtain an empirical description of work patterns, some relationships among the data can be predicted with a high degree of confidence, and these predictions can then be used to test the validity of the job analysis data. An example investigates the validity of data collected as part of a job analysis for nurses. Licensure examinations (e.g., teacher certification) involve high stakes decisions about new graduates seeking to enter the professions. Such examinations can therefore have a strong impact on the institutions that prepare these graduates as well as on the settings in which they subsequently work. Empirical job analyses support claims for the validity of score interpretations for licensure and certification examinations by linking the content domain of the test directly to what is done in practice. The chapter on licensure and certification examinations in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education, 1985) states that, "a rationale should be provided to support a claim that the knowledge or skills being assessed are required for competent performance in an occupation" (p. 64) and that "Job analyses provide the primary basis for defining the content domain" (p. 64).