Response Latency Measures for Biographical Inventories

Abstract

This study assessed the usefulness of response latency data for biographical inventory items in enhancing the inventory's validity. The Armed Services Applicant Profile (ASAP) was computer administered to Navy recruits, and the regular score, latency‐weighted scores, and measures of deviant latencies were obtained. The latency‐weighted scores did not improve the ASAP's validity in predicting six‐month retention, when used instead of or in addition to the regular score, and the deviant latency measures did not function as suppressor or moderator variables to increase the ASAP's validity. But subgroups of items with differing latencies varied systematically in their internal‐consistency reliability (with increased reliability for subgroups with shorter latencies), and a small subgroup of items with moderate latencies was almost as valid as the regular score, suggesting that latency data may be useful in writing and selecting inventory items.