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About
TestMaster,
Inc.
Testmaster, Inc. is an Oregon corporation
owned by myself, William McConochie, the author of the tests marketed under
this business name.
I began my professional career over 30 years
ago, as a diagnostician of juvenile delinquents and then school psychologist
during graduate school, as a University professior in Ohio, and then as a
psychotherapist in Eugene, Or. Through membership in a business executive
association I was asked to help a long-haul trucking company in 1986. In
graduate school I had learned Fortran computer programming. With these
skills and consultation with Dr. Lewis Goldberg from the Oregon Research
Institute and the U. of O. and from programming and statistical consultants
I was able to build a battery of tests for screening heavy truck drivers.
This Driver Battery has saved companies millions of dollars in reduced
accidents and turnover of employees, has helped companies win state and
national first place safety awards and has the endorsement of a Great West
Casualty Company, which insures trucking companies. I was so encouraged by
the success of this battery that I built another one.
My second battery is generic, so it can be
used for all jobs. Like the Driver Battery, it measures intelligence,
personality traits and factual knowledge with different combinations of
tests. One combination of tests in this battery has helped a semiconductor
company hire "the best operators in the industry", according to engineers
working for this company and who have worked at many other companies around
the country.
This battery includes tests for business
management aptitude, nursing aptitude and occupational stress tolerance,
among several others. It has been used by law firms to hire secretaries, by
a research institute to screen applicants for a senior management position,
by a pesticide spray company and by a street-sweeping company, among others.
I have continued to build tests which I have
used in my continuing clinical practice to help diagnose mental retardation,
PTSD, ADHD, depression, vocational disability and related mental disorders.
I do work for government agencies.
I have developed tests to measure violence and
criminal-proneness, and terrorism endorsement. I and other researchers have
conducted numerous studies documenting the prevalence of these tendencies in
teenagers and adults in various parts of the United States. I have developed
a related inventory measuring numerous traits that put adolescents at risk
for delinquent behavior. In the fall of 2003 I assisted a high school senior
to conduct a school research project which demonstrated a clear relationship
between my measure of violence-proneness and interest in popular music with
violent lyrics.
I have developed a clinical version of Dr.
Lewis Goldberg's 50-trait measure of the Big Five personality traits and 9
facets for each. Dr. Goldberg's instrument is the AB5C. I call my applied
version the "Big 5/45". My version of this 485-item inventory also generates
a Career Area Predicted Preferences report. This CAPPs report is based on
numerous significant correlations between the 50 traits of the test and
scores on the Campbell Interest and Skills Survey, from research done by Dr.
Goldberg. From Internet-based research I have done, my report now provides
scores on an additional 305 specific jobs in the U.S. Economy. Thus, the
CAPPs report provides scores on a total of 341 career areas, indicating how
skillful one is likely to feel in them based solely on his/her unique
personality profile.
In 2003 I did research on the psychology of
warmongering political leadership inspired by a theory of psychologists Roy
and Judy Eidelson published in the American Psychologist journal in March,
2003. I have created three tests, one which measures the five Eidelson
personality traits assumed to underlie warmongering attitudes. These traits
measure what I term "social disenfranchisement". Another test is a measure
of warmongering endorsement itself. The third is a measure of endorsement of
sustainable government practices.
In the fall of 2003, as a member of the
planning committee for the 2004 Oregon Psychological Association convention,
I designed a survey and tabulated results of association members' interest
levels in proposed convention formats and topics. I also helped a regional
church organization conduct a study of members' endorsements of budget
categories, to guide leadership in planning.
General Professional and Business Philosophy:
I have found the process of test-building very
interesting. My tests have sound statistical properties and have been helpful to me in my
private practice as a clinician and to customers I have served in business.
I have found that persons who take my tests are not uncomfortable doing so
and report the test content to be appropriate and relevant to the issues
assessed. My tests can provided both clinicians and others, such as business
managers, with objective, useful information that improves their decisions.
Research with tests has led me to some very
interesting discoveries , making it a rewarding activity that drives me to
build more instruments independent of immediate practical or commercial
value. For example, I have learned that:
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Personality traits strongly underlie work-related interests and aptitudes.
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Most serious truck driving accidents can be eliminated by proper use of
psychological tests.
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Low scores on personality traits and intelligence account for much of what
has been called "ADHD" in many children.
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Negative outlooks, such as feeling like a failure and feeling socially
rejected, underlie much of what we can measure as proneness toward
violence and criminal tendencies.
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Violence-proneness is easily measured and more effectively treated when
carefully measured.
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There are violence-prone teenagers and adults in virtually all American
communities, and probably throughout the world.
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Personality trait scores provide information that can help psychotherapy
patients learn about themselves and how to adjust who they are to the
world as it is and thus simplify and shorten psychotherapy.
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Warmongering, sustainability endorsement and social disenfranchisement are
traits that are easily measured in people and are related to one another.
By measuring these traits we could avoid electing national leaders prone
to warmongering to help protect our world from future wars.
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The majority of the general public, business managers and teachers in
training appear to endorse sustainable public programs and policies, such
as a proportional school budgeting system, reduction in global warming,
reduction in reliance on fossil fuels, protection of farmland and
fisheries and even population control.
I feel a sense of mission to continue learning
and serving my community through my insights, skills and services. My
greatest professional reward would be to win a Nobel Peace prize, though I
realize the chances of this may be remote and I do not work directly to
achieve this goal.
My business philosophy is to build and share
high-quality tests to help people better understand themselves and others
and thus make wiser decisions.
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