2009 Wonderlic test scores: Way to keep them confidential NFL

I do not.

…from what i’ve read about the wonderlic…it’s garbage in the NFL context. i’d absolutely love to take a look at the user’s manual for the WPT-R to see what kind of validity evidence they cite. all i can ascertain from searching the net is that WPT test scores correlate somewhere between .3 and .8 with academic achievement. whether they’ve even done work establishing the validity of applying WPT scores in employee selection specific to professional football is an open question, though i assume that the NFL wouldn’t be so wonderlic-reliant if they haven’t. overall though, i’d imagine that using scores on a measure of cognitive ability to select employees for a physical occupation is invalid on the face of it. cognitive ability is no doubt important for NFL success because certain positions have to learn complicated playbooks and process information at lightning speed during plays. however, being that football is so much more of a physical sport than, let’s say, baseball, i think the relevant yogism has it backwards in the context of cognitive ability impacting football performance.

one more thing. the six cognitive factors measured by the wonderlic have vastly different conceptual definitions, some of which seem irrelevant to intelligence. this is an issue of utmost importance when it comes to psychological measurement. the ability to solve problems and apply knowledge to new situations are examples of fluid intelligence. the ability to learn a specific job and understand instructions are examples of crystallized intelligence. as intelligence measures usually include both fluid and crystallized intelligence within them, there’s nothing wrong so far. the problem lies with the other two factors. “benefitting from specific job training” seems to be an outcome of the already-measured “learning a specific job.” in measurement, it’s a big no-no to consder a predictor and its outcome the same thing on a test. in terms of the remaining factor, what the hell does job satisfaction, aka “being satisfied with a specific job,” have to do with cognitive ability. more accurately, can we actually consider job satisfaction and cognitive ability to be the same thing?

so basically, in terms of inappropriately applying cognitive ability scores to football hiring practices, and the poorly conceptualized extraneous factors of training benefit and job satisfaction, the WPT seems to fall short. like i said, though, i’ll reserve final judgment until after i see the validity evidence that wonderlic has gathered to justify their methods and suggested applications in the NFL draft context.

Of all the WRs out there he seems to have the test scores to learn nfl routes. Even though everyone seems to be down on him. Go mizzou