Physical Abilities

A large proportion of the labor force occupies jobs that are physically demanding or that require high levels of physical ability and skill. Physical ability tests are widely used in personnel selection and assessment, and there is a large research literature supporting their validity for this purpose. Research on physical abilities is characterized by a lack of agreement about exactly what physical abilities exist and how they should be measured, but the best strategies for validating these measures do not differ in principle from the best strategies for validating other tests and assessments. Litigation involving physical ability tests usually revolves around gender differences in the outcomes of these tests, and the bar for establishing the business necessity (but not necessarily the job relatedness) of these tests might be particularly challenging in many applications of physical ability testing. Two case studies illustrate common approaches to validating physical ability tests.