Development of a Selection Procedure for Marine Mammal Trainers.

Abstract

A program of personnel research was conducted leading to the development and validation of a selection procedure for marine mammal trainers. Through interviews with expert trainers, a pool of specific job behaviors was identified which were scaled on quality-of-performance from 'extremely good' to 'extremely poor.' Using a subset of these behaviors, multidimensional scaling analysis and subsequently factor analysis techniques were used to define six underlying dimensions or job success factors. These job factors and related specific job behaviors with quality-of-performance weights were developed into rating checklists for use in obtaining criterion data. A test battery was developed composed of existing and specially developed tests and inventories. Data were collected on 70 experienced marine mammal trainer-subjects, 30 from the Naval Undersea Center (NUC) and 40 from four West Coast oceanariums (OCN's). Individual and composite test validities were computed for each subject group. Corrected multiple correlations for the six job success factors ranged from 0.59 to 0.69 for the NUC group and from 0.58 to 0.74 for the OCN group. Expectancy charts and tables were prepared as aids in determining the likelihood that an individual or group could be expected to be successful on a particular job factor.

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1975
Accession Number
ADA024745

Entities

People

  • Robert E. Blanchard

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civilian Personnel
  • Composite Materials
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Cooperation
  • Data Science
  • Factor Analysis
  • Information Science
  • Inventory
  • Mammals
  • Management Personnel
  • Marine Mammals
  • Medical Personnel
  • Validation

Readers

  • Marine Mammal Biology
  • Psychometric Testing or Psychological Assessment.