A sales manager hoping to improve the selection process for the position of product sales compiled the data file “Sales.sav.” The manager administered several tests to her current employees and also collected basic demographic information. Simultaneously, the manager collected performance data in the form of quantity of products sold by each employee in the past month. Table 8.2 shows the variables in the data

Table 8.2

1. What type of validation study is the manager conducting? Explain. 

2. Examining the zero-order correlations, what variables are significantly related to selling? 

3. What percentage of variance in selling is accounted for by impression management? 

4. If impression management were measured with an a = .80, what would be the validity estimate of this variable following correction for attenuation due to unreliability? 

5. Cognitive ability has little relationship to performance in these employees. 

a. Is this finding likely due to poor reliability in the measure of cognitive ability? Explain. 

b. Is this finding likely due to very poor reliability in the measure of “selling”? Explain. 

c. Even if cognitive ability were highly related to selling, what other information provided in this data set would make you wary of using cognitive ability for selection of new employees? 

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Variable Name sex ethnic w1-w50 cogab sde impress selling Description Sex of employee, coded 0 = female, 1 male Ethnicity of employee, coded 0 = Caucasian, 1 = African American Each indicates the employee's score on a separate item on the test of cognitive ability, coded 0 = incorrect, 1 = correct Employee's total cognitive ability score Employee's score on a test assessing one's level of self- deception Employee's score on a test of impression management Number of products employee sold in the past month