Situational Judgment Tests

Situational Judgment Tests (SJTs) are a special format for task types of psychological tests that can be used to assess personality traits, as well as abilities and knowledge. In an SJT, the test takers are typically presented with a text- or multimedia-based description of a specific situation, along with several options that represent different ways of responding to that situation. In this way, the test format enables the presentation of more complex and situationally embedded stimulus material. In SJTs constructed to assess personality traits, the test takers are asked to select the option that best represents the behavior they would most likely show in the given situation. In contrast, in SJTs aimed at assessing abilities or knowledge, the test takers must select the option that is best, that is, the one that represents what one should do in the situation. Alternatively, test takers may be asked to rate the likelihood or effectiveness of each response option. Hence, the SJT format is a rather flexible task type that can be used for many different constructs and diverse response types as well.

Our research activities focus on the construction and evaluation of new SJTs for the assessment of different abilities and traits that require more complex and situationally embedded stimulus material (e.g., socio-emotional abilities and traits). In this context, we address issues related to determining the best or correct answer in a described situation and the calculation of the test takers’ item scores.

Interested in collaborating with us? Considering a Bachelor or Master Thesis in Psychology or an internship in this area? Great! Please contact us -> Prof. Dr. Ralf Schulze & Dr. Maike Pisters