CSAR Development Committee

The CSAR exam debuted in November 2010 after more than a year of exhaustive preparation.

We built this exam the right way. To design the CSAR exam required hundreds of hours, dozens of experts, hundreds of survey responses, a psychometric firm, an experienced professional staff, and much perseverance.

The CSAR Certification Development Committee, a group of dedicated experts, devoted hundreds of hours of time and effort to craft a legally defensible, psychometrically sound examination that truly tests the mettle of asset recovery^* professionals.

Our Contributors

Al Allison Item Writing, Item Review, Study Guide	Kenneth Barden Study Guide	Linda Candler Item Writing, Item Review
Ed Davis Job Task Analysis, Item Writing	Cameron Holmes Test Definition, Item Writing	Charles Intriago Job Task Analysis, Item Writing
Martin Kenney Test Definition, Item Writing	Wayne Klein Job Task Analysis, Item Writing, Item Review	Kenneth Krys Item Writing, Item Review, Study Guide
Tom Lasich Item Writing, Item Review, Study Guide	Jose Marrero Job Task Analysis	Mike McDonald Test Definition, Job Task Analysis, Item Writing & Review
James McGunn Item Writing, Item Review, Study Guide	Fred Meyers Item Review, Study Guide	John Murphy Item Review, Study Guide
Marilyn Peterson Test Definition, Item Writing	Rodolfo Pittaluga Item Writing	Sion Richards Item Writing
Al Ristuccia Item Writing, Item Review	Ed Rodriguez Job Task Analysis, Item Writing, Item Review	James Scordo Job Task Analysis, Item Writing, Item Review
Don Semesky Item Writing, Item Review	Steve Smith Item Writing, Study Guide	Bill Thomas Item Writing, Item Review
Vince Weltz Item Writing, Item Review

Development Teams

Test Definition:

Initial requirements are determined by experienced practitioners to understand the purpose of the exam, target audience, minimal level of competence required to pass the exam, and other major parameters. The Test Definition Document will be completed to help ensure the subject matter experts (SMEs) agree on the major program parameters.

Job Task Analysis:

A systematic process for collecting information regarding a job role, as well as the knowledge and/or skills required to perform that job. The results of the job task analysis describe the depth of knowledge and skills that must be covered by the certification exam in order for it to be deemed valid, credible, and useful. We also use the results of the job task analysis to create test objectives for the exams. Test objectives help ensure that the knowledge and skills measured by the exam are the same as those used to perform the job. The focus group consisted of SMEs who represent the major stakeholder groups. The purpose of the focus group was to identify the primary tasks, subtasks, and supporting knowledge, skills and abilities expected of a certified individual.

Item Writing:

Once the test blueprint is finalized, items can be written. A unique approach and online tools for item writing substantially increases the quality of items. The SMEs will learn how to use the item writing system and will receive item writer training. After the initial item writing training, item writers will be asked to write items. A professional item development facilitator will perform a psychometric, sensitivity, and English grammar edit on the items. The psychometric edit will verify that each of the items conforms to recognized psychometric item writing guidelines. The sensitivity edit is a brief review to ensure that the items do not appear to favor any particular nationality, race, religion, or gender. The English grammar edit will check for grammar, usage, readability, clarity, and consistency of usage.

Item Review:

After the editing is completed, SMEs will review the items to ensure the substantive nature of the item was not inadvertently altered during the editing process.

The SMEs Will Review the Items for:

• Congruence with test objective
• Technical accuracy
• Scoring accuracy
• Clarity
• Importance to practice
• Plausibility of incorrect options

The review will require numerous sessions and will be performed by a professional item development facilitator as well as six to eight SMEs. An item analysis is performed which will provide valuable information on item difficulty the, item discrimination, and option analysis to name just a few of the statistical indices that are included.

Study Guide:

Preparing for the CSAR examination requires candidates to master a wide range of asset recovery^* best practices and procedures. IAAR offers the Study Guide for the CSAR Certification Examination to provide exam candidates with the utmost preparation. The study guide will consist of nine chapters, each an in-depth and comprehensive preview of the information that will be covered in the exam. The study guide includes subjects such as: financial flow analysis, investigative techniques, professional ethics, skills around the rules of evidence, asset recovery team^* management and more.

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