CANDIDATE ORIENTATION
1. The Rationale for B-PAD

The developers of B-PAD found in their review of the public safety selection research literature over more than 50 years that only three approaches to applicant screening are shown to produce consistently valid and practically useful predictions of on-the-job performance: (1) cognitive or intelligence testing, (2) specific biodata inquiries, and (3) structured situational interviews (in which applicants are read two or so scenarios and asked to describe what they would do if faced with such a situation in real life). Among these, the situational interview has emerged as the most commonly used applicant screening approach.

As a starting point in their effort to develop a behaviorally-based public safety assessment tool, the B-PAD test developers analyzed the features of the situational interview that contributed to its effectiveness. Their study led them to conclude that the moderate predictive power of the situational interview is attributable to the fact that the questions are all standardized (every applicant gets the same set of questions) and job-referenced (the applicant must imagine himself or herself in the role, responding to a real situation), the focus of assessment (judgment) is narrow, and the raters’ interaction with the applicant is minimal.

Building on these three key components of the situational interview, the B-PAD test developers designed a new assessment tool that is behaviorally focused (i.e., that requires applicants to demonstrate their responses to scenarios rather than merely describe what they would do). The importance of a behavioral focus was three-fold: (1) behavioral assessments provide the fairest method of assessment for all ethnic and gender groups; (2) the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), while placing significant limitations on an employer’s ability to assess an applicant before making a conditional offer of employment, permits an employer at any time to ask an applicant to describe or demonstrate how he or she would perform job-related tasks; and (3) by having applicants role-play their responses rather than describe what they would do, an applicant’s job-relevant interpersonal skills could be assessed, not merely what the applicant says he or she would do.

B-PAD was designed with four key features:

1. Each scenario was to be a videotaped, realistic reenactment of an actual on-the-job incident. This would not only allow for maximum standardization of the test stimulus, but it would also optimize what is known as the “frame of reference effect” (i.e., the more the applicant is able to place him- or herself in a specific work situation while responding to the test, the more predictively valid the test).

2. Applicants would be required to respond to each scenario as if he or she was the employee in the scene responding to real people in a real situation.

3. Each applicant would be required to respond to eight (8) situations, building on previous research that showed that fewer scenarios provides an unreliable picture of the applicant’s true competency.

4. The raters and applicant would be separated--by videotaping the applicant’s responses--in order to improve test standardization and eliminate potential differential effects caused by rater behavior in the testing room.

Although validity coefficients in the low .20s have been reported frequently in the situational interview literature, implementing these methodological changes more than tripled the predictive power achieved by the situational interview. As psychologists Goldfried and D’Zurilla observed in the 1960s, the most desirable method for assessing competency involves posing specific problems and analyzing one’s ability to resolve them. B-PAD is such a method.

There are two fundamental components to the successful--that is, valid--use of B-PAD as a predictor of on-the-job performance. They are the proper, standardized administration of the test and the proper application of the scoring criteria to the applicant’s responses.

2. What B-PAD Measures

In short, B-PAD measures behavioral competence in handling job-relevant interpersonal challenges: what is called “interpersonal competence.”

B-PAD derives from the basic tenet of "behavioral consistency"--that the best predictor of performance not yet observed is performance already observed under similar circumstances.

B-PAD’s focus is narrow: it assesses social (interpersonal) judgment and skill.

3. The B-PAD Testing Procedure

The testing procedure works like this:

A. The applicant is seated before a video monitor and video camera and given instructions (once orally, once in writing, and once again on video tape).

B. The applicant views 8 professionally acted and produced video scenarios--each portraying essential functions and situations. (All scenes were developed by incumbents and were rated by a national panel of subject matter experts on the basis of realism, difficulty, and importance to the job.)

C. At a point in the action of each scene, the word "Respond" appears, and the applicant has 45 seconds to respond to the actors as if he or she is at the scene. (Applicants are instructed not to give "would do" responses.)

D. The applicant's responses are videotaped and then scored by trained raters. (Because the scoring criteria focus on social problem-solving behavior, not knowledge of law, policies, or procedures, scores are not dependent on experience.)

E. The resulting scores are then used in making decisions about the applicant’s qualifications.

The following are actual B–PAD candidate instructions.

Written Instructions for Candidate

1. A videotape will be made of your responses to eight situational scenes shown to you on the TV monitor. If the test proctor instructs you to stand during the testing, remain standing throughout the entire test. If the test proctor instructs you to sit, remain seated until the test is over.

2. In the situations, you play the part of responding to the scene. You will observe a situation developing for about 1-2 minutes on the TV monitor. When it is time for you to respond, the word "RESPOND" will appear on the TV monitor and you will have 45 seconds to respond as if you were talking to real people in a real situation. Do not respond by describing what you "would do" if you were in that situation; rather, respond as if you were actually there. You will be videotaped while you are responding. Please face the monitor and not the camera when responding.

3. Your responses will be evaluated by a panel of trained evaluators.

4. To help you warm-up, you will be asked several routine questions at the beginning of the video test, and you will be given an opportunity to respond to a practice scene. Your responses to these initial questions and the practice scene will not be scored; scoring will begin with your response to Scene 1, which is clearly marked on the tape.

5. You will not be scored on your knowledge of any policies, procedures, or law . Rather, you will be assessed for your judgment, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills in dealing with different types of people in different situations.

6. Please understand that the actors in the video scenes will not talk back to you. You are, however, to interpret their continued silence as an indication that they may need additional persuasion to comply with your directions or requests. Please respond in a manner that you believe will help to resolve the situation. It is not required, however, that you use the full 45 seconds to respond.

7. If, as the result of a disability, you will need reasonable accommodation in order to complete the video test, please request it at this time.

8. In signing this form, you acknowledge that you have read and understand the instruction and that you will not divulge the contents of this test to any third party.



Name (printed) Signature Date
© 2001 The B-PAD Group, Inc.