MAP3 has now been updated with a new global norm.

Assessio continuously updates its norm groups in order to reflect the current state of normal, work-related behavior and be able to make predictions based on this information. A new global norm has been implemented for MAP. All new Recruitment and Talent Management processes will use this norm. Recruitments and Talent Management Activities created before this implementation will remain unchanged, using the old norm. Self-Awareness Insights will also be updated with the new norm. Scores for candidates or employees reusing scores for new Recruitments or Talent Management Activities will be automatically updated.

The effects of this implementation will for most sub-facets result in small or negligible score differences and are mainly targeted at ensuring the most optimal norm composition, following the major update of MAP in mid-2025.

Norm group update for MAP

Assessio continuously updates its norm groups in order to reflect the current state of normal, work-related behavior and be able to make predictions based on this information. As of March 2026, a new global norm group has been implemented on the newest version of Assessio’s personality assessment, MAP. All new recruitment processes started after March xx will use this new norm. Scores that were already in the Assessio Platform remain unchanged.

Overview

The new MAP norm group consists of 1,752 people. It is based on data collected from May 2025-October 2025. Data collection took place in high-stake selection setting. People in the norm group are aged 18-70 (Mean age is 34.8) and 49.8% identified as female, 49.8% as male and 0.4% other. The group contains 127 nationalities with none of these nationalities exceeding 2.7% of the group. Education level ranges from Elementary school (2.2%) to PhD (1.4%), with the largest group having completed a master's degree or equivalent (35.6%). More than 25 job families are included, such as Business and financial operations (15.6%), Office and administrative support (5.7%), Sales and related (10.4%), Management (7.2%), Computer and mathematical (9.4%), Transportation and material moving (4.8%), Production (6.1%) and Architecture and Engineering (6.7%).

Criteria

The norm group was updated based on quality standards derived from various international standards, including EFPA, COTAN, and ITC guidelines. These guidelines set out criteria for various aspects of the norm group, such as time since the last update, size of the norm group, and composition. A discussion of these can be found below.

Update

Over time, what is considered normal behavior changes. Major events and crises have an impact on the way people in general behave and new generations may also challenge the existing standards. Therefore, with respect to assessments, it is highly important to update norm groups at a regular basis and make sure that all candidates and people assessed are evaluated with a norm group representing the current state and what is currently considered normal behavior, since that will provide the most valid assessment. In addition, updating the norm group keeps scores balanced and avoid too many candidates getting either high or low scores. In other words, norm updates allow for better differentiation of candidates, which in turn leads to better recruitment decisions. According to EFPA and COTAN guidelines, a norm of the highest quality should not be older than 10 or 15 years, respectively.

At Assessio we are committed to checking if updates are needed at least every 2 years and update our norm groups frequently.

Sample size

A good norm group consists of many people, as a high number provides greater representation and statistical certainty. The prevailing view is that the larger the sample, the better the norm group. While that is true, it very much depends on sampling procedures as well as composition with respect to different demographic characteristics. In general, norm groups that are too small run the risk of underrepresentation (e.g., too few people with a certain occupation or education level), whereas too large norm groups risk overrepresentation (e.g., too many people of a certain age or nationality). According to EFPA, a sample size of at least 1,000 constitutes an excellent norm group (in some cases, smaller norm groups may also be sufficient depending on composition, target groups, and intended applications)

The MAP norm group consists of 1,752people who were selected through stratified randomization from a total of 24.188 people aged 18-70 who completed the assessment in a high-stake setting. Statistical analyses confirmed that the norm group does not represent a biased sample, as score differences between different samples were only small or negligible across scales (Cohen’s d ranging from 0.01-0.35 with an average of 0.13).

Composition

To ensure that a norm group is representative of all target groups and is appropriate for all intended applications, key demographic characteristics must be carefully weighed and balanced, especially those that can lead to potential score differences between subgroups.

To construct a proper global norm, the sample was stratified for multiple demographics groups. At the first step, age groups were stratified to approximate the age distribution of the OECD labor force, aiming for app. 70 % aged 25-54 and 15 % in each of the remaining age groups (18-24 and 55-70). Next, each nationality was constrained to account for no more than 2.5% of the final sample. Lastly, main genders were balanced to have a 50/50 distribution of males and females, and other genders were added. As a result of the last iteration, the norm group had a slight misrepresentation with 20.2% in the youngest age group (18-24) and 5.3% in the oldest age group (55-70). Nationalities were still balanced with no nationality exceeding 2.7%. As the final sample comprised a proper range of education levels and occupations (job families), and there were no major score differences, the sample was not further stratified for any of these demographic variables.