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Ambiguous visual stimulus assessments
Systems using controlled visual ambiguity as the primary assessment surface.
Independent certification body / established 2018
Certification standards for projective assessment systems.
Independent construct parity certification, synthetic validation, and distributional audit standards for ambiguous-stimulus instruments.
PAG-PAS-001
PAG-SYN-004
PAG-AIR-009
Section 7 Protocol
Projective Systems
Scope
Projective assessments require a different validation architecture.
PAG certifies instruments where interpretive behaviour is measured against construct frameworks: not what a subject knows, but what a subject imposes on ambiguous material.
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Response-latency scoring systems
Models that treat hesitation, sequence position, and timing variance as scored features.
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Construct-level inference engines
Engines that convert projective response classes into occupational constructs.
04
Synthetic population validation models
Population simulations generated from approved demographic and role-family assumptions.
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Projective hiring instruments
Selection tools that use ambiguous-stimulus interpretation in candidate evaluation.
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Cross-population response distributions
Comparative analysis of distributional stability across protected and operational groupings.
Public Registry
Active certifications are published at instrument level.
Registry entries identify certification scope, standard, validation basis, and current status. They do not reproduce restricted Section 7 materials.
| Client | Instrument | Scope | Standard | Level | Basis | Live data | Status | Audit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haldane Selection Systems | Interpretive Leadership Profile v4.2 | Executive Response Sequence | PAG-PAS-001 / PAG-CON-011 | Level 6 - Construct Boundary Stability | Synthetic population audit | Not required | Active | Jan 2025 |
| Obscura | Obscura Candidate Insight Engine | Core Projective Construct Suite | PAG-PAS-001 / PAG-AIR-009 | Level 9 - Core Construct Parity | Synthetic population audit | Not required | Active | Feb 2025 |
| Northbank Human Measurement | Role-Fit Inference Battery | Visual Inference and Latency | PAG-SYN-004 / PAG-AIR-009 | Level 5 - Distributional Equivalence | Synthetic population audit | Not required | Active | Dec 2024 |
| Civic Role Allocation Service | Municipal Suitability Index | Public-Facing Temperament Profile | PAG-SYN-004 / PAG-CON-011 | Level 3 - Interpretive Stability | Synthetic population audit | Not required | Active | Nov 2024 |
| Merrow Group | Leadership Pipeline Assessment v3 | Construct Boundary Suite | PAG-CON-011 | Level 4 - Preliminary Construct Parity | Synthetic population audit | Not required | Probationary | Oct 2024 |
Certification is maintained where all audited constructs remain at or above the approved adverse impact ratio threshold. Probationary instruments may submit evidence of remediation within 90 calendar days.
Method
Validation without live candidate exposure.
Live candidate datasets are jurisdictionally uneven, historically contaminated, and difficult to compare. PAG therefore evaluates projective assessment systems against approved synthetic candidate populations generated for each role family, construct domain, and operating region.
PAG certification confirms distributional stability within approved synthetic populations and does not require exposure to live candidate response data.
Synthetic cohorts are generated from published demographic parameters, client role-family taxonomies, occupational exposure assumptions, and response-distribution priors. Each construct is evaluated at a minimum simulated population threshold of n = 200,000 per audited grouping.
PAG does not assess individual candidate outcomes, client hiring decisions, downstream interview behaviour, criterion-related validity, or job relevance. Those remain the responsibility of the deploying organisation.
Standards
A standards library for ambiguous-stimulus instruments.
PAG standards describe how projective assessment systems should define constructs, model populations, calculate distributional parity, and restrict materials that cannot be safely summarised in public certificates.
PAG-PAS-001
Projective Assessment System Certification
General certification framework for instruments that infer occupational constructs from ambiguous stimulus responses.
PAG-SYN-004
Synthetic Candidate Population Generation
Rules for simulated population construction, cohort balancing, protected grouping assumptions, and sampling tolerance.
PAG-AIR-009
Adverse Impact Ratio Thresholding
Construct-level distributional parity thresholding across approved synthetic cohorts and role-family variants.
PAG-CON-011
Construct Boundary Stability
Stability requirements for constructs whose client-facing label differs from internal scoring nomenclature.
PAG-SEC-007
Restricted Technical Materials and Section 7 Access
Access controls for restricted assumptions, variance tolerances, exclusions, and non-public audit materials.
Restricted Protocol
Section 7 is not reproduced in public materials.
PAG-SEC-007
Section 7 materials are available only to certified clients, recognised review bodies, and designated technical auditors. Public certificates indicate whether Section 7 review was completed; they do not reproduce Section 7 materials.
- Synthetic population construction assumptions
- Excluded demographic distributions
- Construct instability flags
- Threshold deviation treatment
- Known variance tolerances
- Classes excluded from public parity tables
Taxonomic Basis
The domain-transfer problem is historical, not new.
Projective assessment systems move interpretive taxonomies across stimulus domains. PAG treats that transfer as auditable only when the construct boundary, response surface, and population model are separately documented.
References
- Croft, A. W. (1971). The classification of ambiguous stimuli. Institute for Projective Sciences.
- Voss, H. M. (1976). Full Inkblot Matrix: Field classification notes, 1973-1976. Institute for Perceptual Studies. Restricted archive.
- Taneja, R. S. (1982). Cross-population variance in projective response distributions. University of Chicago, Department of Psychometric Method.
- March, E. P. (1997). Towards a general taxonomy of ambiguous perceptual domains. Unpublished manuscript, archival reference retained.
- March, E. P. (1997). Unpublished taxonomy [Restricted manuscript]. Institute for Candidate Assessment.
- Voss, H. M. (1973–1977). Field observation notebooks [Restricted archival records]. Institute for Projective Sciences.
Independence
Independence is maintained by procedure.
PAG certification outcomes are governed by committee review, recusal protocol, and documented voting thresholds. Individual committee membership is not published for reasons of audit continuity and reviewer independence.
Committee for Construct Integrity
Reviews construct definition, boundary stability, label variance, and technical correspondence between client-facing and internal scoring terms.
Committee for Distributional Parity
Maintains adverse impact ratio thresholds and approves probationary certification actions.
Committee for Synthetic Validation Standards
Sets population generation protocols, minimum power thresholds, and synthetic cohort composition rules.
Committee for Audit Independence
Reviews client relationships and applies the PAG Independence Charter, including recusal and exception provisions.
Section 7 Access Review Panel
Determines whether restricted assumptions, exclusions, and variance tolerances may be released to recognised technical auditors.