1. Methods for Predicting Job-Ability Requirements: II. Ability Requirements as a Function of Changes in the Characteristics of an Electronic Fault-Finding Task.
- Author
-
American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences, Washington, DC. and Rose, Andrew M.
- Abstract
The relationships between the characteristics of human tasks and the abilities required for task performance are investigated. The goal of the program is to generate principles which can be used to identify ability requirements from knowledge of the characteristics of a task and of variations in the conditions of task performance. Such knowledge has important implications for both selection and training of personnel. The relationship between variations in an electronic fault-finding task and consequent changes in the abilities related to fault-finding performance was investigated. Characteristics of the fault-finding task were manipulated by varying formal difficulty and perceptual complexity. Subjects received a battery of reference ability tests and then proceeded to perform the criterion task under the different experimental conditions. To determine the relationship between task characteristics and ability requirements, the reference battery was factor analyzed to identify a reference ability structure. The loadings of various criterion task conditions on that structure were then estimated. Five separate ability factors were identified. Four were found to be related to criterion task performance. One seemed to be involved to the same extent across alternative versions of the task, while others increased or decreased as the task characteristics were manipulated. (Author/SM)
- Published
- 1974