Exploring the benefits and risks associated with online preparation resources for situational judgment tests

Selecting the right person for a job or admitting the right individual into a medical school of similar professional program is an important but complex task. Decision-makers rely on assessment tools to help them know more about the knowledge, skills, and abilities of potential applicants before they make their choices. The Casper test by Acuity Insight is one such tools, which is used by schools in Canada and around the world to assess thousands of applicants every year.
Because performing well on that test can be the difference between being admitted into (or rejected from) an attractive program, applicants sometimes invest a lot of time and money preparing themselves. This might involve relying on advice and resources made available by the test provider, but also external ones (e.g., on social media platforms like Reddit, for-profit coaching or preparation companies, or via artificial intelligence). Yet, we do not know whether these external resources are beneficial or harmful to applicants. This project will explore this problem, relying on both in-depth analyses of the content available via such resources and an experiment testing the effectiveness of response strategies based on different types of resources.

Faculty Supervisor:

Nicolas Roulin

Student:

Partner:

Acuity Insights

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Saint Mary's University

Program: