Qutest Construction and Psychometric Evaluation as Test of Attention and Willpower for Employee Selection Screening

Attention and willpower are some of the primary modalities for work, so it is necessary to evaluate those potentials. However, standard tests for assessing the two aspects, such as the Pauli or Kraepelin test, are bias-prone to numerical ability. Due to that concern, Qutest was designed as an attention and willpower (screening) test with symbolic stimulus adapted from the d2 test (Brickencamp, 1998). Two studies were conducted for Qutest psychometric properties evaluation. In the first study, 261 participants finished Qutest on a web-based platform with a maximum of 96 pages, each containing 24 symbols of key stimuli (a symbol Q with two dots) and distractors that had to complete in a maximum of 30 minutes. Analyses of internal consistency and correlation with Pauli test results were performed to establish test psychometric properties. The results supported adequate internal consistency and convergent validity claim for Qutest. In addition to internal consistency, a second study was conducted to develop further and evaluate parallel-form consistency between mobile and computer versions. In the second study, 371 participants completed a maximum of 192-page Qutest with a similar amount of time to the previous study. Participants took the mobile version first and then the computer versions of the test with a minimum of one lag day. Statistically significant correlation index of results across devices supported parallel-form reliability of both mobile and laptop/desktop Qutest version. A follow-up analysis of answering aids (mouse, trackpad, touch screen) for the computer version recommended using a mouse or touch screen instead of a trackpad due to statistically significant difference in performance among the three tools. Thus, Qutest can be used as a psychometrically adequate test and be flexible in various devices to assess attention and willpower for (prospective) employee screening.