On March 22nd, 2024, the Human Resource Competency Development course at GHRM MBA, led by Prof. Chen Shyh-Jer and Prof. Heidi Chang, was honored to host NSYSU Assistant Professor Shin-I (Sophie) Shih, a prominent specialist in judgment and decision-making as well as positive psychology. Prof. Shih brought a wide range of expertise and experience to the classroom, hoping that it could provide some insights not only from academia but also from the collaboration with the industrial side. Her lecture covered two critical topics: the importance of employment testing and the complex process of developing and validating the Foxconn Critical Thinking Test.

At the beginning of the speech, in discussing the concepts of employment testing, Professor Shih emphasized the importance of evaluating the quality of a test in the context of employee selection. She highlighted that while interviews use structured questions to ensure consistency across candidates, tests require good reliability and validity measures. Reliability, referring to the consistency of measurement of an attribute, ensures that a test provides consistent scores to represent that attribute. Prof. Shih noted that perfect reliability is rarely achieved due to measurement errors, highlighting the need for reliability to be a matter of degree. Validity, on the other hand, measures the degree to which a test accurately measures the intended attribute. She emphasized that judgment of validity is based on gathering data and evidence to assess the accuracy of measurement and prediction, such as whether a test can predict future job success. She reiterated the importance of the quality of measures, emphasizing reliability for consistency and validity for accuracy in both measurement and prediction.

Furthermore, Prof. Shih introduced the Foxconn Critical Thinking Test, a significant project spearheaded by Prof. Shih from April 2022 to July 2023, aiming to assess critical thinking abilities in employees. This test is designed to evaluate crucial skills such as recognizing assumptions, evaluating arguments, and drawing conclusions. Prof. Shih emphasized the meticulous process of test development, which includes item writing, revision, pilot testing, and content validation. These steps are essential in ensuring the test's reliability and validity, crucial factors in effective employee selection.

In addition to exploring the complexities of test development, Prof. Shih asked students to consider the effectiveness of psychological tests in evaluating characteristics such as emotional control capacity. She emphasized the necessity of reliability and validity in developing tests that appropriately assess these subtle characteristics. Prof. Shih illustrated this point by presenting a scenario where HR professionals were tasked with selecting employees with good emotional control abilities. This example underscored the challenges of designing tests that accurately measure such attributes and emphasized the need for careful consideration of test items and their relevance to the desired trait.

Throughout the lecture, Prof. Shih emphasized the role of expertise in addressing real-world business challenges. She stressed the importance of understanding industry needs and aligning test development with organizational goals. By sharing her experiences in test development and validation, Prof. Shih provided students with valuable insights into enhancing employee selection through psychometric testing. Her speech demonstrated her experience and practical knowledge, making a lasting impression on students' understanding of the process of developing an employment test from the initial stages.