An interest test for route salesmen and mechanics

Abstract

41 salesmen and 61 mechanics were used. The groups differed significantly in years of education, experience, and age; but these differences did not account for differences in scores. Of the original 247 items tested, involving 864 comparisons, 88 items, involving 129 comparisons, were found to differentiate mechanics from salesmen with CR's above 2.56. The test was scored by two methods: two keys, a mechanics' and a salesmen's, and a combined key. With all keys the salesmen differed significantly from the mechanics. No more than 17.6% of the criterion groups were misplaced on any key. The test was administered to 77 tuberculous patients, of whom 6 were salesmen and 21 were mechanics. The salesmen were differentiated from the mechanics with little overlapping. The 50 patients from other occupations were not well differentiated from salesmen or mechanics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)