ABSTRACT
The purpose of assessment is to provide a basis for decisions. Whether the assessments lead to valid decisions, or are even considered in making decisions, depends partly on the way assessment data are presented. Statistical prediction is feasible when common criterion and predictor data can be collected for a lot of people. In these cases, employment decisions can be evaluated in terms of mean performance of those selected. Clarification is the first and perhaps most essential aid to reliable judgments, but it is not easily achieved. For each candidate, at each step, the decision may be to move the candidate to the next step-which may mean getting new information or new assessments-or to drop the candidate from further consideration. Utility analysis is a formal, analytic study of usefulness that can serve as a decision aid when statistical information is available on predictor-criterion relations, even if only from meta-analyses or expert judgments of validity.
