ERIC Number: ED095371
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1974
Pages: 44
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Technical Aspects: Problems of Scale Development, Norms, Item Differences By Sex, and the Rate of Change in Occupational Group Characteristics.
Harmon, Lenore W.
The paper considers how the technical aspects of interest measurement can contribute to sex bias and suggests guidelines for evaluating interest inventories for sex bias and for developing interest inventories which minimize sex bias. An overview is given of interest measurement techniques: in selecting a pool of items, developing scales, and norming the scales. The issues raised at each step are surveyed. Interpretive practices are briefly discussed. Suggestions are offered for minimizing sex bias at each of the three major technical steps in developing a new interest inventory, and for its interpretation. Twelve specific guidelines are presented in summary, including these: The content of interest inventory items should not imply that any occupation or activity is more appropriate for one sex than for the other; scores on the same scales should be available for both men and women; norm groups for occupational scales should contain men and women in equal proportions or the effects of both groups should be statistically equalized; published interpretive materials should indicate clearly that sex norms for homogeneous scales do not imply anything about the predictive validity of the scales. (AJ)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: National Inst. of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Aries Corp., Minneapolis, Minn.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A
Note: For related documents, see CE 001 926-934, Draft