Ipsative versus Normative Assessments
Everyone involved in the marketing, sale or support of Profiles products must be entirely conversant with the points made here in an interview with Dr. P. A. Lindley, a well-established and respected assessment specialist and a member of the British Psychological Society:
Mr. Creelman: “...Myers Briggs is the test everybody knows, but at the same time experts say don't use it in recruitment. What can personality tests do for us in recruitment?”
Dr. Lindley: “Certainly I'd agree that Myers-Briggs should not be used for selection. The people who developed publish and market Myers-Briggs would also stress that. It isn't a tool for selection; rather it's a tool for personal development. It can be used in groups to help individuals understand one another but it's certainly not a selection test.
“For selection, you want to rule out tests that are just referring to yourself rather than comparing you to a larger population. Anything that talks about how you are better at one thing than another, but doesn't compare you to the outside world, isn't helpful. The technical term for these types of tests is Ipsative tests. An Ipsative test would ask: ‘Which do you prefer, being in control or being active?’ You might like both or you might hate both and you may say you would like to be in control even though you might actually prefer to be active. You might be operating at a very low level or a very high level but all Ipsative tests tell you is which one you prefer rather than how that preference compares to the other candidates.”
Ipsative assessments use the “self” as the standard for comparison. In example, “You report that you are more assertive than you are social.” There is no basis for comparison between your scores and any other scores.
With normative assessments, your scores are compared with a specific population. In example, “Your assertive scores are as high, or higher, than 85% of the working population.”
a normative assessment overcomes the shortcomings of Ipsative tools. it compares the assessed candidate to two key audiences in the ‘outside world’ referred to by Dr. Lindley above:
... “must-know” knowledge for all HIRING PROFESSIONALS
The following extract was taken from an interview in July 2005. It outlines a point we all make frequently on why DISC-type tools like Myers-Briggs, Thomas and other Ipsative assessments (the largest class of assessments you are likely to encounter in competitive situations) offer us no competition in a hiring situation.
Everyone involved in the marketing, sale or support of Profiles products must be entirely conversant with the points made here in an interview with Dr. P. A. Lindley, a well-established and respected assessment specialist and a member of the British Psychological Society:
Mr. Creelman: “...Myers Briggs is the test everybody knows, but at the same time experts say don't use it in recruitment. What can personality tests do for us in recruitment?”
Dr. Lindley: “Certainly I'd agree that Myers-Briggs should not be used for selection. The people who developed publish and market Myers-Briggs would also stress that. It isn't a tool for selection; rather it's a tool for personal development. It can be used in groups to help individuals understand one another but it's certainly not a selection test.
“For selection, you want to rule out tests that are just referring to yourself rather than comparing you to a larger population. Anything that talks about how you are better at one thing than another, but doesn't compare you to the outside world, isn't helpful. The technical term for these types of tests is Ipsative tests. An Ipsative test would ask: ‘Which do you prefer, being in control or being active?’ You might like both or you might hate both and you may say you would like to be in control even though you might actually prefer to be active. You might be operating at a very low level or a very high level but all Ipsative tests tell you is which one you prefer rather than how that preference compares to the other candidates.”
Ipsative assessments use the “self” as the standard for comparison. In example, “You report that you are more assertive than you are social.” There is no basis for comparison between your scores and any other scores.
With normative assessments, your scores are compared with a specific population. In example, “Your assertive scores are as high, or higher, than 85% of the working population.”
a normative assessment overcomes the shortcomings of Ipsative tools. it compares the assessed candidate to two key audiences in the ‘outside world’ referred to by Dr. Lindley above:
- The general working population as represented by a sample of more than 140,000 assessment takers that form part of the validation and reliability studies
- The population of “top performers” in the position that the person is applying for in the form of the concurrent pattern developed from these top performers’ results.