[IPAC-List] differential validity?

[Mark Hammer]

While not wishing to impune either the authors, reviewers, or editors of Personnel Psych, I will simply note that educational attainment is a real bear to nail down, ESPECIALLY when dealing with a multi-national sample.  People acquire education in different ways and at different points in their lives *differently* at various times in history and in different places.  I learned this the hard way when asking retirees "How much education do you have?".

Moreover, the access to post-secondary education varies so much over time and place.  One need only consider what is required to gain access to undergraduate education in North America vs many Pacific Rim nations.  Several years ago, I was acquainted with the Korean expression "Four pass, five fail".  It refers to the amount of sleep one is permitted to "indulge" oneself in, daily, when boning up for the university entrance exam.  Simply being able to get into a university assumes allocating 18hrs+ on a daily basis to exam preparation.  Forget about working part-time at Burger King so you can upgrade your IPod.  The pathways to post-secondary education are so different in Asia and North America, that it would not surprise me one bit if one observed differential validity.

Mark Hammer
Ottawa