EVALUATING CLASSIFICATIONS OF JOB BEHAVIOR: A CONSTRUCT VALIDATION OF THE ABILITY REQUIREMENT SCALES

This article discusses the major inferential issues arising in the development of behavioral classification systems. Subsequently, we discuss the implications of these inferential issues for evaluating the construct validity of systems designed to assess the requirements of human task performance. Fleishman's (1975b, 1982) ability requirement taxonomy and its associated job analysis system, the Manual for the Ability Requirement Scales (MARS), were then evaluated with respect to these criteria. In particular, a variety of criteria relevant to internal and external validity was reviewed. It was found that the ability requirement taxonomy and the associated measurement system provides a meaningful description of job activities with respect to these criteria. It was argued that application of these construct validity principles might contribute much to our understanding of human performance.