Date of Award:

5-1974

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Psychology

Committee Chair(s)

Elwin C. Nielsen

Committee

Elwin C. Nielsen

Committee

Reed S. Morrill

Committee

David R. Stone

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to compare the results from two vocational interest blanks, the Job Activity Preference Questionnaire (JAPQ) and the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) in the prediction of grade point averages (GPA) for university students. An investigation was also made to determine if the variable vocational interest would contribute to a multiple r composed of American College Test (ACT) scores and GPA.

One hundred students were administered both instruments and predictions made of their GPA's after the completion of two quarters of classroom study and after the completion of the most recent quarter of classroom study. It was found that the predictions from the JAPO were as good as or better than predictions based on SVIB achievement scores. For the 36 males in the sample a corrected multiple correlation coefficient of .48 resulted between Undergraduate Cumulative grade Point Average (UCGPA) and the JAPQ Job Dimension Score whereas the SVIB Achievement Scale secured a correlation of .21. The JAPQ correlation is significant at the .005 level, but the SVIB correlation is insignificant. When the 64 females in the sample were tested the JAPQ secured a corrected multiple correlation coefficient of .40, while the SVIB secured a cross-validation coefficient of .31 between interest and UCGPA. The JAPO correlation is significant at the .005 level and the SVIB correlation is significant at the .OS level.

It was found that for the 22 males in the sample, for which ACT scores were available, when the variable vocational interest, as measured by the JAPQ or the SVIB, is added to the ACT it increases the correlation with GPA from .13 to .63 with the JAPQ and from .13 to .23 with the SVIB. However, for the 46 females in the sample, who had available ACT scores, the gain in adding the variable vocational interest to the combined prediction of ACT and GPA is negligible.

The results were discussed in respect to vocational interest and academic achievement, and for the implications of these results for vocational counselors.

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