Abstract
Although there have been many studies concerned with the usefulness of motivational variables in the selection of students, the initially positive results have often disappeared on cross-validation. Many institutions have consequently limited their use of psychometric devices to ability tests, realizing that motivation plays a large role in the determination of success but being unable to measure it adequately. Recently, several investigators (e.g., Anastasi, and others, 1960; Fricke, 1963) have stimulated the study of the utility of non-test trial predictors (Bellows, 1961) of academic success. Anastasi's Biographical Inventory, which consists of essay and objective questions on background, has been shown to be a useful predictor of a composite criterion consisting of grades, faculty ratings, and extra-curricular activities of students. Also, preliminary data on Fricke's Opinion, Attitude and Interest Survey, a set of 396 non-obvious true-false items, indicate the value of this inventory for predicting multiple criteria. However, inventories such as Anastasi's and Fricke's, although useful in showing the way, usually undergo a marked decrease in validity when applied in a situation other than that in which they were devised. Therefore, some colleges may choose the more expensive but occasionally more fruitful approach of constructing their own inventories.
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