Award Date

1-1-2008

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Administration

Number of Pages

90

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to survey the work values of poor, minimally-skilled versus non-poor semi-skilled service workers in Nevada. As a Pilot Study, it will provide a basis for developing a counseling instrument designed to measure work values, a scale so constructed as to be usable even by those with limited education and skills. No such instrument presently exists; The instrument developed in this study combines work values from Super's "Work Values Inventory" with Interest Factors and Temperament Factors from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Language and format of the scale were simplified so that it could be both easily understood and administered even to those with only a third or fourth grade reading level. The scale includes 69 preferential statements measuring 23 work values, using a simple "yes"/"no" response format; Stratified populations represented in the sampling consisted of 119 poor, minimally-skilled and 119 non-poor semi-skilled service workers in Nevada. The poor group was drawn primarily from welfare and WIN programs; The two populations were compared re: age, sex, level of education and ethnic derivation. The sampling of the study was verified as being representative and the two groups were found to be significantly different in each of the four variables; Items in the scale, clustered into triads which measured each of the 23 work values, were totalled according to number of "yes" responses. Percentages of total possible responses for each cluster were calculated. The 23 work values were then ranked according to importance to each group, using the cluster percentage scores; Both the poor and the non-poor included the same work values in ranks 1 through 6, although not in the same order. 5 out of the 6 were extrinsic factors, consistent with other research in the field. However, "Achievement", an intrinsic factor was also ranked high by both groups; Management and the desire to influence others were ranked low by both groups. Also ranked low were work values implying impersonal or non-social aspects, such as working with things and objects; Results of the study indicated that there are more similarities between the work values of the poor and the non-poor service workers in Nevada than there are differences. However, the study did identify seven significant value differences between the two groups. The non-poor ranked as more important: Intellectual Stimulation, Business Contact With People, Independence, and Performing Under Stress. The poor ranked as more important: Variety, Esthetics, and the Temperament Factor relating to "arriving at generalizations, judgements or decisions based upon measurable and verifiable criteria"; It is suggested that the present scale developed by this study be administered to poor and non-poor populations in other geographic areas of the United States. These data, combined with the Nevada data, could then be utilized to develop possible national normative criteria; A modified scale, with all work values directly related to the DOT Interest and Temperament Factors, could then be incorporated as a counseling instrument of the United States Employment Service's automated Job Match System; The Work Values Scale will give more precise counselee interest/temperament information which the counselor can input into the computer, along with General Aptitude Test Battery scores, to retrieve an extensive choice of occupations compatible with those interest/temperament/aptitude traits. Thus the counselee can be guided toward work and/or training which will be more meaningful in terms of work satisfaction.

Keywords

Nevada; Pilot; Poor; Service; Study; Values; Versus; Work; Workers

Controlled Subject

Educational counseling

File Format

pdf

File Size

3102.72 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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