Latest validity study underlines the quality and value of the DNLA SC – Social Competence assessment
The empirical study on DNLA „Evaluation of the DNLA SC analysis considering the quality criteria of psychometric measurements“, by Prof. Dr. René Lehmann is now available.
Lately, a new empirical study on the quality of DNLA SC has been completed. It was conducted by Prof. Dr. René Lehmann. He is Professor of Business Mathematics and Statistics at the FOM University of Applied Sciences in Essen and a member of the Institute for Empirical Research and Statistics (ifes) and the Institute for Business Psychology (iwp). Now, this study is also available in an English version, audited and approved by Professor Lehmann.
Results of the empirical study on DNLA:
Overall, the report certifies that the DNLA SC process is of very high quality. In summary, the report states at the end: „The internal consistency is predominantly to be assessed as good to very good. The correlations of the constructs with each other as well as the results of the validity tests based on the external criteria indicate a high reliability of the DNLA SC procedure. Due to the high degree of automation and standardisation, the objectivity in particular is to be emphasised positively. Overall, the quality criteria can be rated as fulfilled to a high degree.“
Also in the case of so-called secondary quality criteria such as economy (time expenditure in relation to the benefit and gain in knowledge), test fairness (non-existence of systematic preferential treatment or disadvantage of certain persons or of discrimination with regard to the socio-cultural, ethnic or gender-specific affiliation of a person), acceptance (acceptance of the procedure, identification with the result or rejection of the procedure), usefulness (practical relevance; here therefore: Measurement of soft skills and potentials; impulses for personal development and support in counselling), unfalsifiability (protection against targeted manipulation of the test result), transparency (comprehensible procedure and understandable instructions for the participants) and standardisation (existence and quality of reference samples (calibration samples)) DNLA SC performs very well.
Nothing is ever perfect: Where we want to improve
But of course, any serious scientific investigation by competent and independent third parties also reveals points where a procedure can be further improved. At the end of the report it says: „Minor potential for improvement exists and should be taken into account for the further optimisation of the SC procedure.
Here, there are already concrete considerations on how to improve the values for two factors that are still below the average of the other factors. Thanks to the available analyses, we already have concrete starting points on how we can decisively improve the relevant values.
In the case of the „agility“ factor, by the way, it was almost to be expected that refinements and adjustments would still be necessary here, since this was still newly included in the procedure compared to the other factors. After the original conceptualisation of the factor, there is now enough data from practice to optimise the factor decisively and to successfully conclude the „development stage“ for this indicator.
About the career of the author
René Lehmann studied business mathematics at the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg (Germany). As a scientist, he was active in various fields, including as a statistician in the automotive sector and in environmental quality assessment. He received his PhD in applied statistics from the Rheinisch-Westfälisch-Technische Hochschule (RWTH) in Aachen (Germany). In 2016, René Lehmann accepted the appointment as Professor of Business Mathematics and Statistics at the FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie und Management (Essen, Germany). He is a member of the Institute for Empirical Research and Statistics (ifes) and the Institute for Business Psychology (iwp). His research fields include psychological statistics as well as quantitative methods in ecotoxicology and quality management.
