Forced choice test score of p ≤ .20 and failures on ≥ six performance validity tests results in similar Overall Test Battery Means

Abstract

Objective: To determine if similar levels of performance on the Overall Test Battery Mean (OTBM) occur at different forced choice test (FCT) p-value score failures. Second, to determine the OTBM levels that are associated with failures at above chance on various performance validity (PVT) tests. Method: OTBMs were computed from archival data obtained from four practices. We calculated each examinee’s Estimated Premorbid Global Ability (EPGA) and OTBM. The sample size was 5,103 examinees with 282 (5.5%) of these scoring below chance at p ≤ .20 on at least one FCT. Results: The OTBM associated with a failure at p ≤ .20 was equivalent to the OTBM that was associated with failing 6 or more PVTs at above-chance cutoffs. The mean OTBMs relative to increasingly strict FCT p cutoffs were similar (T scores in the 30s). As expected, there was an inverse relationship between the number of PVTs failed and examinees’ OTBMs. Conclusions: The data support the use of p ≤ .20 as the probability level for testing the significance of below chance performance on FCTs. The OTBM can be used to index the influence of invalid performance on outcomes, especially when an examinee scores below chance.

Keywords:

• Below chance
• performance validity
• forced choice tests
• Overall Test Battery Mean

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the following individuals for their assistance in the completion of this research through the donation of data: W. John Baker, Roger Gervais, Paul Green, Manfred Greiffenstein, and John E. Meyers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.