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A New Coefficient: Application to Biserial Correlation and to Estimation of Selective Efficiency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Hubert E. Brogden
Hubert E. Brogden*
Affiliation:
Personnel Research Section, A.G.O.
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Abstract

A coefficient of selective efficiency is proposed which can be usefully applied to selection problems involving the evaluation of the validity of (1) dichotomous predictors and (2) continuous predictors at a particular or at successive points of cut. Previously the author has shown that the product-moment correlation can be interpreted as a direct index of selective efficiency if the distribution forms of the criterion and the predictor are similar and the regression of the criterion on the predictor is linear. The coefficient proposed in the present article may be employed to evaluate selective efficiency of a continuous predictor at particular points of cut even when these assumptions are not tenable or are not applicable. It also is demonstrated that the proposed coefficient of selective efficiency may—with somewhat simpler and more generally applicable assumptions than those required in deriving the conventional formula—be employed as a substitute for the biserial correlation coefficient.

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , September 1949 , pp. 169 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © 1949 Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

*

The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and are not to be interpreted as representing official Department of the Army policy.

References

Brogden, Hubert E. On the interpretation of the correlation coefficient as a measure of predictive efficiency. J. educ. Psychol., 1946, 37, 65–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richardson, M. W. The relation between the difficulty and the differential validity of a test. Psychometrika, 1936, 1, 33–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar