Can we assume that US tests fit New Zealanders?

The population of New Zealand is quite diverse (Massey University, 2026), and I think we like to think of ourselves as being a very diverse country. Statistics from 2023 show that our ethnic percentages were 68% NZ Europeans; 18% Māori; 17% Asians; 9% Pasifika; and 2% "Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African (MELAA)” (Massey University, 2026). Interestingly, if we compare ourselves with the population of the US, Americans are more diverse than we are, with 62% Europeans; 1% American Indian; 6% Asian people; 19% others; and 12% African Americans (US Census Bureau, 2021). We can see by the pie charts accompanying this post, that - at a quick glance - the USA's population profile looks similar to Aotearoa.

But only at a quick glance. Yes, both populations contain roughly two thirds European peoples, but the US has a greater number and range of the 'other' nationalities, along with a longer shared history. I was staggered to see that only 1% of the US population is American Indian, compared to New Zealand with far more Māori and Pasifika people, lending New Zealand a very different cultural make-up (Fischer, 2012; Kennedy, 2001). Only 14% of US citizens were born elsewhere (Daftari, 2024); in Aotearoa close to 30% of our citizens were born offshore (Statistics New Zealand, 2024). I wonder if it is migration which makes our society feel more vibrant, even though, going by the pie charts, Aotearoa is less diverse than America.

So why am I exploring this? Well, there are very few home-grown career assessments - CareerEQ (2026) is one, but I think I am correct in saying that has sprung from a number of offshore instruments. So when New Zealand career practitioners want to use an instrument with a client, we can nearly guarantee that we will be using one designed and normalised in the US. Just to provide some scale, around 4000 assessment tools have been evaluated by Buros - a not-for-profit independent test review centre at the University of Nevada (read more here; 2026) - since the 1930s. While I do not have hard evidence, I would think that close to 99% of them would have been developed in the USA. Few instruments are likely to have been normalised for use in New Zealand: the USA has 340m people; we have 5m. These numbers clearly show there is little gain for the companies creating the instruments. 

Why does that matter? Well, when using US-normalised career assessments in New Zealand, we might feel that – providing tests have been scrutinised and independently tested – they will be accurate (Zunker & Osborn, 2016). And that, as long as we consider test norms, reliability, and validity (Zunker & Osborn, 2016), and follow our codes of ethics (CATE, 2025; CDANZ, 2016), any testing we do for our clients should be valid and reliable.

But we know that the US population is not identical to ours (Massey University, 2025; US Census Bureau, 2021). And New Zealand is without a national independent, organisation like Buros who could to evaluate and certify any tests we created here, or who could normalise the test results of those US instruments used here to be sure they would fit our people (Young, 2022). And that may mean that tests created in the USA may not be such a good cultural fit for New Zealanders.

We practitioners must remain cautious in using tests created elsewhere; to only use them as a general lens for our client to view themselves with, but not as an accurate measure.

Sam

References:

Buros. (2026). What does the Buros Center for Testing do?. https://buros.org/resources/faq/

CareerEQ. (2026). Home. https://www.careereq.nz/

CATE. (2025). Code of Ethics. Career and Transition Educators. https://www.cate.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/CATE-Code-of-Ethics.pdf

CDANZ. (2016). Code of Ethics. Career Development Association of New Zealand. https://cdanz.org.nz/ModularPage?Action=View&ModularPage_id=26

Daftari, A. (2024, September 12). Percentage of Foreign-Born Residents in US Hits Highest Level Since 1910. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/percentage-foreign-born-residents-us-highest-level-1952874

Fischer, D. H. (2012). Fairness and freedom: a history of two open societies, New Zealand and the United States. Oxford University Press.

Kennedy, J. C. (2008). Leadership and Culture in New Zealand. In J. S. Chhokar, F. C. Brodbeck, R. J. House, (Eds.), Culture and Leadership Across the World: The GLOBE Book of In-depth Studies of 25 Societies (pp. 397-429). Psychology Press.

Massey University. (2026). Ethnic Profile [Environmental Health Intelligence New Zealand (EHINZ)]. https://www.ehinz.ac.nz/indicators/population-vulnerability/ethnic-profile

Osborn, D. S., & Zunker, V. G. (2016). Using Assessment Results for Career Development (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Statistics New Zealand. (2024, October 3). Census results reflect Aotearoa New Zealand’s diversity. https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/census-results-reflect-aotearoa-new-zealands-diversity/

US Census Bureau (2021, August 12). Race and Ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census. https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html

Young, S. (2022). Culturally appropriate assessment considerations. https://www.samyoung.co.nz/2022/08/culturally-appropriate-assessment.html