Ok I will conceed that my previous message may have seemed a little confusing (especially in re-reading it myself) Let me try to make some sense of it.
1) I do believe that 2/3 of the people failing the polygraph does sound high
2) There are certain actions that an examinee can take if they believe the test was either conducted incorrectly or if there was some other stressor that may have caused a problem. These are the following:
a) Request a second examination
b)retain an independent examiner for a second opinion
c)file a complaint with a state licensing board
d)file a complaint with the Department of Labor under EPPA
e)file a request for the assistance of the American Polygraph Association
Also at the bottom of the slections page (going back to the main focus of this thread regarding the CSP) it states "Candidates who are not selected for employment, are welcome to
reapply and undergo retesting in any subsequent process."
3) The debate is still on as to whether or not the polygraph is actually reliable or not. The previous statement made by George W. Maschke "Given that polygraph screening is completely invalid " is completely wrong. In reading the information in the link he provided I found this statement :
RELIABILITY, ACCURACY, AND VALIDITY
Psychophysiological testing, like all diagnostic activities, involves using specific observations to ascertain underlying, less readily observable, characteristics. Polygraph testing, for example, is used as a direct measure of physiological responses and as an indirect indicator of whether an examinee is telling the truth. Claims about the quantity or attribute being measured are scientifically justified to the degree that the measures are reliable and valid with respect to the target quantities or attributes.
I will again admit that there are people that mail fail a polygraph due to other reasons (as also stated in the article). These reasons may include being physically ill, or undergoing family problems. BUT The examinee can request to be retested.
http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun98/lie.html has some more interesting information on how it can go either way.
http://www.polygraph.org/validityresearch.htm also contains some info about the validity.
4) This point probably comes to the core of everybodies arguments, I have read it in a few previous posts. The test can only be as good as the user. Although the examiner is run through a training course which runs about 400 hours . As a comparisson if you were to get into a Motor Vehicle Accident and become seriously injured the EMT-B that might be working on you would ahve at most 194 hours of training (in Michigan with a national average of about 120-130 hours). Naturally mistakes can be made, humans are flawed it is in our nature.
5) Everything is open to interpretation. There are many theories regarding our own universe. Does it really go on forever or is there an end. Or if you are more Quantum Mechanically inclined... is there 1 universe or a Multiverse. Psychology, forensics, or religion is all open to interpretation. There are differing views on psychological diseases. Psychologists can argue whether or not a patient really has a disease or not. Forensics can argue about how many points on a fingerprint constitute an exact match. Physics... is there one universe or many.
Anyway... a really, really, really long story short there is evidence going both ways. Most of the evidence that I have seen tends to lean slightly more toward reliable than not, agian with there being many factors. There was a time (and probably still is) that psychology was considered a pseudo-science.
This is all I have to say, I just wanted to clarify my point while I had some more time. I frankly don't care whether you agree with me or not, everyone is entitled to their opinion.