Wooden versus Plastic Apparatus with the GATB: A Restudy

The finding of a mean difference of 11 points (one standard error) between wooden and plastic peg boards for the M-aptitude of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) as reported by Kapes and Sievert (1973) led to this investigation. The intent was to replicate their research and, by the use of a broader sample range, to examine other selected variables to determine whether any differences remained constant across the population. The results of the study indicated that individuals tested on the wooden equipment perform significantly higher than those individuals tested on the plastic equipment. Converted score differences for the M-aptitude indicated an average difference of approximately 10.5 points in favor of the wooden apparatus.     

Predicting Success in Vocational Training By Using the GATB

This study examined the relationship between the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB)and class performance of eleventh- and twelfth-grade high school students enrolled in the Current River Area Vocational School, Doniphan, Missouri. Teachers' grades were used as the dependent variable, and the nine independent variables were scores taken from the aptitude factors of the GATB. The stepwise multiple regression technique was used to determine the optimal set of predictors to be used in establishing a regression equation. The results of the project should help in counseling prospective trainees toward trade or shop areas and tentative vocational planning. If not used out of perspective, the G variable in the GATB was the best single predictor of success; the best combination of variables was the G, N, P, F, and M aptitude factors.     

Predictive Indices of the GATB

The study reported here investigated the use of the General Aptitude Test Battery for identification and counseling of students in vocational and academic clases in Ohio secondary schools. Frequency distributions of the GATB aptitude scores were developed for 4,000 ninth- and tenth-grade boys and girls. A multiple regression analysis was performed using the aptitude scores of the GATB as the independent variables, and point hour ratio and single subject grades at the end of one year as the dependent variables. Freshmen and sophomore grade-point average separately and in combination were the criteria used to determine the predictive ability of the aptitudes of the GATB. The GATB was useful in the predictive role for ninth- and tenth-grade achievement in most of the areas studied.     

GATB APTITUDE TESTING OF THE DEAF: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES

This study, based on aptitude testing of 408 deaf high school students, provides evidence that a modified version of the GATB is a useful instrument for measuring the occupational aptitudes of deaf individuals.     

The Great Wood vs. Plastic Pegboard Controversy: A Definitive Answer

This study was performed to resolve the question of comparability of manual dexterity scores obtained on wooden and plastic versions of the USES pegboard. Three types of boards (new wooden, worn wooden, and plastic) were used in testing 456 individuals, 152 with each type. The results showed that there were no significant differences in mean scores on either Part 9 or Part 10 of the USES pegboard. Therefore, we concluded that currently authorized equipment, either plastic or wooden, may be used with the confidence that scores are not affected by the type of equipment used. Users of plastic equipment should make certain that only the newer hard plastic pegs are used, however.     

The Undecided Student—How Different Is He?

Students who were undecided about a vocational choice were compared in two studies with those who were decided. In the first study comparing decided and undecided college freshmen, only chance differences were found for men and women. The second study demonstrated no differences between decided and undecided college-bound high school students on academic aptitude and high school grades. Undecided students were found to be less vocationally oriented and more intellectually oriented. Reasons for these findings are discussed and some reinterpretations of student indecision are given.     

LINKING O*NET JOB ANALYSIS INFORMATION TO JOB REQUIREMENT PREDICTORS: AN O*NET APPLICATION

This is an exploratory study that examined the possible application of the job component validity (JCV) model to identify potential employee selection instruments and to determine job requirement levels from O*NET job analysis data, following a research paradigm established with the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ). Job requirements were measured by mean aptitude test scores on the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB), and the ratings on the O*NET Generalized Work Activities (GWAs) were selected as representative O*NET job analysis data. Multiple correlation coefficients ranging from .35 to .89 were found when predicting mean GATB test scores from GWAs. Similar to JCV research some 30 years ago, predictions were strongest for cognitive aptitudes and weakest for manual dexterity. The data were examined under both rational and cross-validated empirical models. The results have positive implications for the development of a database that would support JCV estimates derived from O*NET job analysis data and allow practitioners to use O*NET data to help identify useful employee selection instruments.     

GATB Longitudinal Maturation Study

This article describes results of the first in a series of three large-scale longitudinal studies conducted by the U.S. Employment Service to increase the usefulness of the GATB for counseling high school students. The final sample consisted of 26,708 high school students. All were tested with the GATB in 1958, and those in the lower high school grades were retested in the twelfth grade. Results were as follows: (1) Stability coefficients were highest for the eleventh grade sample and lowest for the ninth grade sample. (2) Interval between initial testing and retesting had very little relationship to size of practice effect. (3) Maturation increases were largest between the ninth and twelfth grade and smallest between the eleventh and twelfth grade. (4) OAP stability was increased through use of a “band” around the cutting scores.     

Differential Predictability: Selection of Handicapped and Non-handicapped

This research is concerned with the question of differential predictability of handicapped and non-handicapped subgroups. The specific question posed was: Is the performance of non-handicapped subgroups of skilled, clerical, and non-skilled workers more predictable than that of handicapped subgroups when aptitude measures are used as predictors? Correlations between scores on selected scales of the GATB and a composite performance criterion were obtained for each of the subgroups. Results showed a pattern of consistently lower validities for the handicapped which suggests that aptitude measures typically used in selection may not be appropriate for the handicapped, and that validity coefficients may be diluted by the inclusion of this subgroup with the non-handicapped in validity studies.     

A COMPARISON OF A DISADVANTAGED SAMPLE WITH A NATIONAL SAMPLE ON THE GATB

The GATB is widely used in making vocational decisions. The norms are based on a national sample tested in 1952. In the study reported here the GATB results of a sample of disadvantaged individuals were compared to the results of the 1952 sample. Significant differences were obtained for five variables: name comparison, computation, vocabulary, tool matching, and arithmetic reasoning. In each case the scores of the national sample were higher. The differences occurred on variables of an academic nature, although mean education was approximately the same in both samples. Some reasons for the differences are suggested in this article.     

Vocational Certainty and Indecision in College Freshmen

Three groups of entering college freshmen, possessing varying degrees of identification of educational-vocational goals, were compared on a variety of personality, achievement, aptitude, school, and family factors. The major differences indicated that the most undecided group was more dependent than the other two groups, but equal to the most decided group in academic achievement, while a middle, or tentatively decided group, was not as successful academically as the most and least decided groups. These findings suggest that educational-vocational indecision has at least two dimensions. A need for different counseling approaches in dealing with uncertain students depending upon the antecedents of their uncertainty is likely.     

一般能力倾向成套测验简介及其中国试用常模的修订

本文对一般能力倾向成套测验作了简要的介绍。为了试用,对它进行了修订。版本是以日本劳动省１９８３年修订版为蓝本的。日本的版本是来自美国。为了适合国情,对该测验在三个方面作了微小的变动。修订工作自１９８９—１９９２年初。标准化样组是由全国１７个中等以上城市初二至高三学生２１４８名构成的。男女学生的比例为１：１。该测验在结构效度上有很好的证据,稳定信度分数相当好。     

Antecedents and consequences of career decisional states in adolescence

This longitudinal study tested students in Grade 8 and again in Grade 10 on career (maturity, barriers, indecision, decision-making and self-efficacy), well-being (self-esteem, life satisfaction, and coping), and social (school achievement, paid work experience) variables. Students were allocated to decided or undecided conditions at T1, T2 and across T1-T2, based on self-reported global decidedness ratings. As predicted, the undecided students had poorer career, well-being, and social outcomes than the decided students at T1 and T2. The undecided group was also less likely to report having paid work experience at T1, and to be overrepresented by females at T2. Students who were undecided at T1 and T2 (i.e., continuously undecided) fared poorer than students who were decided at T1 and T2 (continuously decided) and students who changed decision status from T1 to T2 (i.e., developmentally undecided). Females were more likely to be continuously undecided, although continuously undecided males were more complacent and more likely to use maladaptive strategies than females. Implications of being temperamentally versus developmentally undecided are discussed.     

USE OF THE GATB “G” SCORE FOR PREDICTING ACHIEVEMENT ON THE GED

The present study investigates the relationship of the GATB “G” with the GED. Practical and theoretical implications are involved. Making use of samples from the Las Vegas, Nevada population, the study compares scores of individuals administered the GED and GATB. A substantial correlation for prediction purposes was devised to illustrate the use of the GATB “G” to predict, by interval, an individual's position on the GED. The expectancy table helps guide the Vocational Counselor with a constructive tool whereby he advises the next steps of action for an educationally deficient or proficient client. The study recommends further replications to determine if such studies could guide agency policies whereby vocational counseling practice is improved and agency testing costs reduced.     

USE OF APTITUDE SCORES AS PREDICTORS OF SUCCESS IN OCCUPATIONAL TRAINING UNDER THE MDTA

Results from studies utilizing the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) to predict success in specific vocational training programs authorized by the Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962 are summarized. The summary involves over 1,200 trainees from a number of states in a variety of occupational areas. Trainees from all included studies were combined and then subgrouped on the basis of number of years of formal education claimed. Good prediction was obtained for the 0–7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 years-of-education groupings. The prediction obtained with the 13–16 years-of-education grouping is not at an acceptable level of significance, but this may be a result of the small sample available for this grouping. The results are seen as supporting Manpower Administration efforts to devise ways in which aptitude tests can be used to help match applicants with low levels of reported educational attainment with suitable vocational or training opportunities.     

Does test anxiety bias scholastic aptitude test performance by gender and sociocultural group?

This study examines the commonly held contention that test anxiety may serve as a source of bias in the scholastic aptitude test performance of gender and ethnic minority groups. In addition, this study examines sex and sociocultural group differences in the level and pattern of test anxiety among Israeli college students. The sample was composed of 163 male and 198 female students sitting for scholastic aptitude tests routinely administered to all student applicants as part of their college admissions procedures. About 67% were of Western cultural extraction whereas the remainder were of Eastern extraction. Significant differences in text anxiety scores for males and females were observed, with greater sex group differentiation on the Emotionality than on the Worry scale. Test anxiety scores were not discernible by ethnicity or social class. Furthermore, test anxiety was not differentially related to aptitude test scores by sex or sociocultural group membership. Thus, this study lends little evidence to the common contention that test anxiety differentially debilitates the aptitude test scores of females and ethnic minority student candidates.     

An investigation into the factor structure of the General Aptitude Test Battery

The General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB), a 12-test battery purporting to measure nine occupation-related aptitudes, is one of the most widely used test batteries in the field of job selection. Despite its widespread use, however, little research has been carried out to investigate its factorial assumptions. The present study looks at the factorial structure of the GATB based on a large Irish sample. The results indicate that the GATB does not adequately measure nine specific underlying aptitudes, but four, more general, higher order aptitudes.     

Does Test Anxiety Bias Scholastic Aptitude Test Performance by Gender and Sociocultural Group?

This study examines the commonly held contention that test anxiety may serve as a source of bias in the scholastic aptitude test performance of gender and ethnic minority groups. In addition, this study examines sex and sociocultural group differences in the level and pattern of test anxiety among Israeli college students. The sample was composed of 163 male and 198 female students sitting for scholastic aptitude tests routinely administered to all student applicants as part of their college admissions procedures. About 67% were of Western cultural extraction whereas the remainder were of Eastern extraction. Significant differences in text anxiety scores for males and females were observed, with greater sex group differentiation on the Emotionality than on the Worry scale. Test anxiety scores were not discernible by ethnicity or social class. Furthermore, test anxiety was not differentially related to aptitude test scores by sex or sociocultural group membership. Thus, this study lends little evidence to the common contention that test anxiety differentially debilitates the aptitude test scores of females and ethnic minority student candidates.     

GATB Aptitude Intercorrelations of Ninth and Twelfth Graders—A Study in Organization of Mental Abilities

This study was conducted to investigate the stability of interrelationships of the aptitudes of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) during high school. GATB intercorrelations were obtained for comparable samples of 7,078 ninth graders and 6,167 twelfth graders from 168 schools. The matrices were significantly different, but the differences in individual correlations were small in size.     

The future of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) for use in public and private testing

Recently, there have been concerns raised about the General Aptitude Test Battery, an instrument used extensively by state and federal agencies to assess those seeking jobs. These concerns involved the legality of the present GATB scoring system (from an equal employment opportunity standpoint), as well as the psychometric quality and validity of the instrument. For these and other reasons, the National Research Council was contacted by the Department of Labor to examine the present GATB. This paper will discuss those concerns raised about the GATB, the conclusions reached by the National Research Council, and recent developments in legislation which directly effect use of the GATB.