Factor Analytic Examination of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and the Kit of Factor-Referenced Tests

Abstract

Public reporng burden for this collectin' of info;ration is estinmti:l to average 1 hour r response, including the time for reviewing Instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is used to select and classify enlisted personnel. Although the factor structure of the ASVAB has been assessed and compared to similar aptitude tests, no thorough factor reference study has been done with the current ASVAB configuration. To examine the factor structure of the ASVAB, 46 tests from the Kit of Factor Referenced Cognitive Tests (the Kit) and the 10 ASVAB subtests were administered to a sample of airmen. Because 56 tests were investigated, it was impossible to have every examinee receive every test. Matrix sampling was used to pair each test with each of the other tests. After consideration of descriptive statistics and after editing, the data were assembled into a correlation matrix for exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Matrix sampling requires special factor analytic methods. The factor analyses indicated that the correlation structure among the ASVAB scores required three factors to explain, whereas that in the Kit scores required six. The factors used to explain the ASVAB can largely be placed within the factor space of the Kit factors, indicating that the abilities measured by the ASVAB are a subset of the abilities measured by the Kit. Future research to enhance selection and classification should focus on abilities not currently measured by the ASVAB. Because of the large number of tests involved, a matrix sampling scheme was used in order that each test might be paired with each other test. The resulting data were edited and assembled into a correlation matrix which presented the intercorrelations of ail 56 tests. The data were factor analyzed to determine the joint factor structure of the two test batteries.Three factors accounted for the correlation structure in the ASVAB. Six factors accounted for the correlations among the factor-referenced tests. The simultaneous analysis of the two batteries showed that most of the factor space for the ASVAB fits within the factor space of the Factor-Referenced Cognitive Tests.

COMT val158met Genotype Affects Recruitment of Neural Mechanisms Supporting Fluid Intelligence

“…Materials for the high g f tasks were adapted with permission from a standard nonverbal test of g f , Cattell Culture Fair, Scale 2 Form A and Scale 3 ( Institute for Personality and Ability Testing 1973 ) and a standard letter-based problem-solving task, Letter Sets from the ETS kit of factor-referenced tests ( Ekstrom et al 1976 ). The high g f loading of these tasks was previously established ( Wothke et al 1991 ; Duncan et al 2000 ). The low g f items were structurally similar but with a minimal problem-solving component.…”

“…Materials for the high g f verbal blocks were adapted with permission from a standard letter-based problem-solving task, Letter Sets from the Educational Testing Service (ETS) kit of factor-referenced tests ( Ekstrom et al 1976 ). The high g f loading of the original test was established by analysis of a large preexisting data set ( Wothke et al 1991 ). Display elements were 4 sets of 4 letters each.…”

Working memory is (almost) perfectly predicted by g

“…Studies 2 and 3 comprised the surface development, the card rotations, and the figure classification tests (Ekstrom et al, 1976). As with the APM, the figure classification test can be considered as a measure of spatial ability as well as a measure of fluid intelligence (Wothke et al, 1991). Thus, the defined latent factor can be considered as a mixture of Gv and Gf.…”

Hierarchies of factor solutions in the intelligence domain: Applying methodology from personality psychology to gain insights into the nature of intelligence

“…These datasets were THUR41 (Thurstone & Thurstone, 1941), HORN65 (J. L. Horn, 1965b), SCHO76 (Scholl, 1976), and WOTH (Wothke et al, 1990).…”