Differences in interests among public administrators

Abstract

In an attempt to analyze differences in interests, 552 public administrators, earning from $3,000 to $10,000 a year, were divided into 16 subgroups on the basis of their function, and their interests recorded on the Vocational Interest Blank. The scoring of these answers on 34 occupational-interest scales yielded no high average ratings. Accepting 70% overlapping as evidence of statistical significance, the authors found 870 significant differences between the 120 pairs of subgroups. Little difference of interest was found between the subgroups of hospital attendant, prison warden, and personnel and federal administrator. It is maintained that the subsuming of divergent activities under one subgroup often results in spurious low average scores. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)