The IMAGE 2018 An Open Letter to Our Clients - Bartell & Bartell, Ltd.
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The IMAGE 2018
An Open Letter to Our Clients
By: Dr. William Brashers
Welcome IMAGE 2018!
Your partners at Bartell & Bartell, Ltd. are delighted to introduce to you an updated
IMAGE assessment. We believe that this highly improved instrument will provide you
with a much more precise assessment of candidates’ and incumbents’ workplace
personalities. We are very appreciative of the confidence those we serve have gained in
our methods, and understand that modifications in our proven methods can raise
questions. This letter is aimed at answering some of those questions so that you, whom
we serve, can feel increasingly confident that the IMAGE instrument can be relied on to
provide even better information than our prior methods (notably The Profile instrument
which the IMAGE is replacing).
The Purpose of the IMAGE
The purpose of the IMAGE instrument is to assess dimensions of the assessee’s
workplace personality. It has been designed to capitalize on the best aspects of prior
IMAGE versions, and to reproduce, with greater precision, the greatest strengths of The
Profile instrument. The IMAGE has been designed to include all of the personality
indices of The Profile. One need not be concerned that the information provided by The
Profile will be lost — they are retained and sharpened.
The greatest change from The Profile is the removal of off-work related items. The
Profile is a general personality measure. It includes work related and off-work related
items. It has made sense to us that our clients were more interested in the assessee’s
432 Rolling Ridge Dr., Suite 4, State College, PA 16801
Copyright © 2018personality in the workplace than the one they exhibit away from work. The IMAGE
focuses solely on the personality the assessee displays at work. This sharpens the focus
of the instrument and also results in a substantial reduction in the time required to
complete the instrument. This provides considerable relief to the person completing the
instruments, and perhaps some to those who are assigning the instruments for
completion.
What was the motive for developing the IMAGE?
Our primary motive for creating the IMAGE instrument was the recognition that there
was a gap in the range of personality instruments available. While there are a number of
special-purpose instruments that can be migrated to workplace applications, we felt
that a personality instrument specifically focused on the unique requirements of the
workplace was called for.
Additionally, having created the earlier versions of the IMAGE — and having applied it
for a number of years — it became clear to us that completing the voluminous Profile
instrument AND the IMAGE was an unreasonable demand on candidates’ and
incumbents’ time and energy. By replacing the Profile, the updated IMAGE reduces the
time-burden for the respondent dramatically.
432 Rolling Ridge Dr., Suite 4, State College, PA 16801
Copyright © 2018What was the history of developing the IMAGE?
The IMAGE instrument’s development began with an analysis of what workplace-
relevant personality dimensions were not reflected in The Profile instrument.
Dimensions were identified — including, for example, Creativity, Curiosity, and Self-
Esteem. Questions were then created by our profiling professionals.
In a number of Alpha-tests, the items were reduced based upon their correlations
(positive and negative) with the dimension set and with other items across the
dimension sets. Correlations were also established between the dimension items and
the interpretations from The Profile which we had utilized to get at these dimensions
obliquely. Several rounds of item creation, item analysis, and item reduction were
conducted.
We then began Beta-tests with clients who were open to helping us refine the
instrument. Much refinement has occurred over the years, including the replacement of
The Profile mental aptitudes battery with that of the new IMAGE version. The prior
mental aptitudes battery was deemed deficient due to an over-emphasis on culture-
specific and English language-based items. This necessarily reduced the scores achieved
by non-native English speakers. The new mental aptitudes battery in the IMAGE is now
culture fair, and considerably more challenging than that of the Profile.
432 Rolling Ridge Dr., Suite 4, State College, PA 16801
Copyright © 2018What is the validity of the IMAGE?
In any discussion of personality measurement, the question of validity arises. The
question usually amounts, not to a technical issue, but to the question, “Why should we
trust the IMAGE?”
Validity has essentially four components.
1. Content validity.
All personality instrumentation starts here. In answering the question, “Does this
instrument in fact measure what it purports to measure?”, one must first ask,
“What questions are you asking?” Content validity simply means that the
questions being asked within a dimension “look like” a good question for that
dimension. Not very technical, we grant, but fundamentally necessary.
2. Concurrent validity.
This speaks to the question of “is this true now” for the people we have on board,
available to measure. The shortcoming of this approach to validity is it yields no
post-hire data on those who were not hired. This results in a restriction of range.
Concurrent validity is still highly useful.
3. Predictive validity.
This speaks to the question of “is this true” in what it leads us to expect about a
person’s performance in future. This number is obtained by correlating the
instruments with features of behavior and performance on the job.
Organizational/Personality instruments predict how a person can be expected to
operate in the work environment; they do not speak to skill competence.
432 Rolling Ridge Dr., Suite 4, State College, PA 16801
Copyright © 20184. Construct validity.
This is a validity number yielded by a very broad scale correlation of the
instrument with a variety of instruments that purport to measure the same
things, and negligible correlations with instruments that measure unrelated
things. Construct validity is extremely time-consuming, expensive, and useful
primarily in the field of tests and measurements and behavioral science for
confirmation of fundamental theories of personality and their components. This
is far less useful in the workplace where we are less concerned with technical
minutia than measurable workplace outcomes.
For the technically minded the question comes down to the criterion of validity.
No instrument, in itself, has any validity whatsoever. Validity applies not to the
instrument itself, but to its interpretation and application. The best an
instrument can achieve on its own is reliability. An instrument’s reliability means
that it will measure the same thing the same way within its expected shelf-life.
That is, a ruler should measure you the same height each time it’s used. The ruler
is then reliable for measuring your height. It is also valid for measuring your
height. It is completely invalid for measuring your weight. The question becomes,
“Validity for what?”
In the case of personality measures, one must ask, “What is the criterion of
validity, and who is fit to assess it?” With personality measures, the only criterion
can be, “Does it match the assessee’s real personality?” The only person fit to
answer that question is the person being assessed. Only the assessee is in a
position to say whether the description rendered by the interpreter of the
instrument fits them or not. The validity is not in the instrument, but in the skill
and discernment of the interpreter.
432 Rolling Ridge Dr., Suite 4, State College, PA 16801
Copyright © 2018What evidence do you have that the IMAGE is working?
Our initial results on this new version of IMAGE are showing much more normal data
distributions than earlier versions, and along with the integration of Profile-parallel
dimensions, far fewer uncorrelated, or poorly correlated items. Furthermore, assessee’s
responses to questions of whether or not the IMAGE instrument accurately reflects
them at work have been universally positive and strongly so.
Our culture at Bartell is one of constant, continuous improvement and development.
This involves, from time to time, rather dramatic shifts in our approach. The move from
The Profile to The IMAGE is such a shift. Please feel confident that no such shifts are
taken without deep consideration of the benefits to our business partners. The
instruments will continue to be refined and improved, and when necessary invented.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, we are available at any time to answer
questions and collaborate in solving problems. We are ever, as always, at your service.
Sincerely,
Your Team at Bartell & Bartell, Ltd.
432 Rolling Ridge Dr., Suite 4, State College, PA 16801
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