4 ms·

Businesses don't use IQ tests in general because the tests have a racial bias. Considering that income and debt to income ratio are racially skewed as well, wo

by learc83 14y ago

Businesses don't use IQ tests in general because the tests have a racial bias. Considering that income and debt to income ratio are racially skewed as well, wouldn't credit reports display the same bias, and require that companies prove that there is a legitimate business case in order to use them?

Estragon 14y ago
It's unethical (and stupid) to use IQ tests for hiring decisions because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. If a measure has such predictive power, it's not necessarily unethical to use it just because it also correlates with race. I don't actually know whether bad credit is predictive for job performance, though the story for why it might be is easy to imagine.
- Zak 14y ago
  The story for why an IQ test would correlate with good job performance is also easy to imagine, but it doesn't appear to match reality. I never see studies finding a correlation between credit scores to job performance when I read about this issue, which makes it puzzling that employers continue to use them. Could it be that the people making the decisions here are making them based on the credit reporting agencies' marketing rather than concrete data?
  - Estragon 14y ago
    I was commenting on a problem with the argument that they shouldn't be used because they may have a racial bias. I don't really have a position on whether credit reports are a useful tool in hiring decisions.
- nazgulnarsil 14y ago
  >because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. Care to back that up?
- yummyfajitas 14y ago
  It's unethical (and stupid) to use IQ tests for hiring decisions because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. This is incorrect. http://www.siop.org/workplace/employment%20testing/testtypes.aspx http://www.siop.org/workplace/employment%20testing/testtypes... http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%20Validity%20and%20Utility%20Psychological%20Bulletin.pdf http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%... http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2012/8532/pdf/preprint_j.1468_2389.2010.00485.x.pdf http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2012/8532/pdf/prepri... If a measure has such predictive power, it's not necessarily unethical to use it just because it also correlates with race. This is true. While certainly ethical, it is still illegal in the US.
  - walshemj 14y ago
    If its illegal by definition it can not be ethical.
    - geoffschmidt 14y ago
      So Rosa Parks was the bad guy?
      - yummyfajitas 14y ago
        A charitable interpretation of walshem's comment would be that he believes her actions were moral but not ethical.
        walshemj 13y ago
        mm I take your point but I would quote sewards "higher law" and the UNHCR as overriding Jim crow laws
    - EmmEnnEff 14y ago
      Criticizing the leader was illegal in Stalin's Russia. That does not make it unethical.
    - 14y ago

by learc83 14y ago

Estragon 14y ago

It's unethical (and stupid) to use IQ tests for hiring decisions because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. If a measure has such predictive power, it's not necessarily unethical to use it just because it also correlates with race. I don't actually know whether bad credit is predictive for job performance, though the story for why it might be is easy to imagine.

Zak 14y ago
The story for why an IQ test would correlate with good job performance is also easy to imagine, but it doesn't appear to match reality. I never see studies finding a correlation between credit scores to job performance when I read about this issue, which makes it puzzling that employers continue to use them. Could it be that the people making the decisions here are making them based on the credit reporting agencies' marketing rather than concrete data?
- Estragon 14y ago
  I was commenting on a problem with the argument that they shouldn't be used because they may have a racial bias. I don't really have a position on whether credit reports are a useful tool in hiring decisions.
nazgulnarsil 14y ago
>because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. Care to back that up?
yummyfajitas 14y ago
It's unethical (and stupid) to use IQ tests for hiring decisions because they have very little predictive power with respect to job performance. This is incorrect. http://www.siop.org/workplace/employment%20testing/testtypes.aspx http://www.siop.org/workplace/employment%20testing/testtypes... http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%20Validity%20and%20Utility%20Psychological%20Bulletin.pdf http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%... http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2012/8532/pdf/preprint_j.1468_2389.2010.00485.x.pdf http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2012/8532/pdf/prepri... If a measure has such predictive power, it's not necessarily unethical to use it just because it also correlates with race. This is true. While certainly ethical, it is still illegal in the US.
- walshemj 14y ago
  If its illegal by definition it can not be ethical.
  - geoffschmidt 14y ago
    So Rosa Parks was the bad guy?
    - yummyfajitas 14y ago
      A charitable interpretation of walshem's comment would be that he believes her actions were moral but not ethical.
      - walshemj 13y ago
        mm I take your point but I would quote sewards "higher law" and the UNHCR as overriding Jim crow laws
  - EmmEnnEff 14y ago
    Criticizing the leader was illegal in Stalin's Russia. That does not make it unethical.
  - 14y ago