The Psychometric Problems Of Democratic Appraisal And Its Countermeasure

As an important method of cadre management, the evaluation of cadreperformance plays a fundamental role in cadre election and appointment,which is directly determined by the justice, objectiveness and accuracy of theresult, and thus influences the construction of cadre troops. Therefore, how toimprove the validation of tools for cadre performance evaluation has been ahot topic and difficulty in both of domestic and foreign cadre management.Democratic appraisal, as the main implement of cadre performanceassessment, is an approach to know the masses’ opinions and the informationof cadres; moreover, it is of great significance in promoting the democraticelection and appointment of the capable personnel. However, since theimplementation of democratic evaluation, its effect and capability of reflectingthe real situation of cadres has been controversial. According to theresearch,the phenomena of unpublicized and unreal public opinions whichcaused seriously influenced its result. Nonetheless, the current researches aremostly qualitative and theoretical but not those relevant quantitative ones, sohow to solve the present problems of democratic evaluation by psychometricsstudy and new techniques has become an urgent issue to focus on. Validation,as an important and effective concept, can reflect whether democraticappraisal accurately and faithfully reflect the situation of cadres. By the way,through the analysis of the factors which influence the validity of democraticappraisal, the strategies and methods can be found to strengthen the accuracyof the appraisal result and thus provide the appropriate reference to cadreperformance evaluation.Objective:1To explore the present psychometric problems of democratic appraisal.2To analyze the validity of democratic appraisal. 3To compare the validity of democratic appraisal and InterpersonalPerception Test.4To explore the possibilities of applying Interpersonal Perception Testinto cadres evaluation and provide theoretical reference and practicalexperience.Method:137cadres and72sergeants were administered the democratic appraisal;one day later72sergeants were administered the Interpersonal PerceptionTest;2Raters：platoon leaders and commanders in the same team wereselected as raters；Requirement: a thorough understanding of the ratees andindependent judgment; the raters should assess the performance according tothe requirements of every dimensions, and give the bests and the worsts, andthen the middles. The final results should base on several examiners.3To analyze the characteristics of democratic appraisal result by gradedistribution; To analyze the identify ability of democratic appraisal dimensionsby discrimination. To analyze the relevance of supervisor rating anddemocratic appraisal and Interpersonal Perception Test by Perason correlationcoefficient; To compare the validity of democratic appraisal and InterpersonalPerception Test by the significant test of correlation coefficient differences.Result:1Cadres democratic appraisal result of excellent, good and off-gradewere:84.77%,15.19%,0.04%; Sergeants democratic appraisal result ofexcellent, good and off-grade were:58.19%、41.16%、0.65%.2Except the discrimination of the professional competence dimension ofsergeants was0.231, the rest discrimination of dimensions were under0.2.3The correlation coefficient of democratic appraisal and supervisorrating of cadres were between0.070-0.390, with an average of0.193,diligence work was the highest and psychological quality was the lowest; Thecorrelation coefficient of democratic appraisal and supervisor rating ofsergeants were between0.163-0.370, with an average of0.182, comprehensive evaluation was the highest and behavior appropriate was the lowest.4The correlation coefficient of Interpersonal Perception Test and leader-as-raters of sergeants was between0.382-0.665, with an average of0.513,comprehensive evaluation was the highest and dedication was the lowest.5The significant test of correlation coefficient differences of democr-atic appraisal and Interpersonal Perception Test were1.077,1.862,1.728,1.037,1.428,1.913,1.895, where the P value of the ability, behaviorappropriate, psychological quality, comprehensive evaluation was less than0.05, with statistical significance.Conclusion:1The problems of unfaithfulness and low validity appeared in democra-tic appraisal.2By contrast, Interpersonal perception test got a higher validity thandemocratic appraisal.3Interpersonal perception test can be well applied into cadre examinationfor its qualification in psychological tests.