Reactions of African-American and White applicants to written and video-based police selection tests

The present study compared the reactions of African-American and White applicants for a law enforcement job to multiple-choice and video-based tests. Overall, applicants reacted more negatively to the video-based test than to the multiple-choice test in terms of predictive validity, fairness, and general affect. There was also a Test Method x Race interaction such that African-Americans reacted more positively than Whites to the video-based tests. Results are discussed in terms of implications for the use of video-based test, implications for reducing adverse impact, and directions for future applicant reactions research.