APPLICATION OF CONTENT VALIDITY METHODS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A JOB-RELATED PERFORMANCE RATING CRITERION

This study demonstrated the use of quantitative content validity procedures in the development of a job-related behavioral rating scale criterion for entry-level psychiatric aides. Work behavior items were developed by staff from 6 state psychiatric hospitals, placed in a content validity questionnaire using the Lawshe format, and given to a representative sample of 38 aides and supervisors. Seventy-eight of 83 items were found to be significantly job-relevant using the computation procedures of both Lawshe and Aiken. After the significant items were grouped into 4 categories with high interjudge agreement and placed in a rating scale format, ratings were obtained on 72 psychiatric aides from 4 hospitals. Items in the 4 categories were found to be internally consistent using coefficient alpha. Significant but low concurrent validities were established for 2 verbal ability selection tests using the rating criterion. The validities found were interpreted to be especially significant when the factors of low selection ratio, restriction in range, and limited rater training were considered.     

The Effects of Sibling Death on the Surviving Child: A Family Perspective

The death of a child invariably affects the family, who in effect become survivors. Adaptations are made in order to secure a new family equilibrium attendant upon such a loss. Surviving siblings not infrequently become the focus of maneuvers unconsciously designed to alleviate guilt and control fate through silence and efforts to maintain silence, through substitution for the lost child, and through endowing the survivor-child with qualities of the deceased. Three types of clinically identifiable types of survivor-children are described. Families that emphasize silence and focus on guilt, families in which the child becomes incomparably precious, and families in which substitution and replacement provide the major theme lead respectively to the "haunted,""bound," and "resurrected" child.
These children share many features, as do their families, but there appears to be a connection between the family defensive maneuver and the specific consequences for a child of the bereaved family.     

SOME FURTHER IDEAS ON A METHODOLOGY FOR DETERMINING JOB SIMILARITIES/ DIFFERENCES

This paper considers the general problem of analyzing data for job similarities/differences. Cluster analysis and univariate analysis of variance, which are recent suggestions for attacking this problem, are briefly reviewed. The suggestion made in this paper is to use multivariate analysis of variance, accompanied by a multivariate extension of the well known proportion of variance index, ω². Discriminant analysis and related techniques are suggested to provide information regarding specific hypotheses. The potential users are provided with the references to well known computer packages that allow all the analyses to be performed easily, rapidly, and accurately on their own data. Appropriate interpretations of each result are also indicated, and illustrated with an example.     

Male and Female Preferences in Selected Career Factors

This study investigated seven factors relating to personal preferences in choosing a career. Differences between male and female preferences were also studied. While males and females express similarities relating to the seven factors, they also reveal differences that should be considered by counselors helping individuals explore career choices.