I__. - International Military Testing Association

Validation of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps Quality Index’
Jack E. Edwards Regina L. Burch Norman M. Abrahams
Navy Personnel Research Colorado State University Personnel Decisions
and Development Center Ft. Collins, CO Research Institute, Inc.
San Diego, CA Minneapolis, MN
Using data from Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) entering classes of 1979 and 1980,
Mattson, Neumann, and Abrabams (1986) optimally weighted six academic and personal factors: Scholastic
Aptitude Test-Verbal (SATV), Scholastic Aptitude Test-Math (SATM), high school rating (HSR), an interviewer’s
rating (INTER), the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory career-tenure scale (SCII), and the Background
Questionnaire career-tenure scale (BQ), to develop a selection composite for predicting three criteria. Recent
Navy policy directed toward increasing the proportion of college graduates with technical degrees has made it
necessary to develop and validate a new selection system that adds a new criterion, choice of technical major
(TECH) to the three previously investigated criteria: college grade point average (GPA), naval aptitude grades
(APT), and naval science grades (NSG).
Obiective
The objective of this paper is to review the development and validation of the new NROTC schokarship
selection composite, the 1989 Quality Index (QI-89). Three steps were included: (a) developing the optimally
weighted QI-89; (b) predicting a new criterion (TECH); and (c) constructing an expectancy table/chart to predict
TECH using a new predictor, engineering-and-science-interest score (ES).
Population
Approach
The population contained 6,609 individuals who had entered NROTC from 1983 to 1987 and completed at
least one semester/quarter of the program. Men comprised 96.5% of the population, and 92.6% of the candidates
were nonminorities. Each person had received a four-year national competition scholarship; had complctc data
on all seven predictors; had valid scores for GPA, APT, and NSG; were Navy (versus Marine) option; and had
a selection code of principal selectee, early select, alternate best, or altemab middle.
Predictors
Six predictors were used to develop the selection composite. A seventh predictor (ES) was used to dcvclop
an expectancy chart for predicting TECH.
SATV and SATM or American College Test (ACT) equivalents. These scores represent the verbal and
quantitative aptitudes of an individual as measured by a national competitive testing program designed for college
admissions and scholarship awards. If an individual took the standardized test(s) on multiple occasions, the
highest score was used in the analyses. ACT scores were translated to equivalent SATV and SATM scores using
a recently developed conversion table (Owens-Kurtz, Borman, Gialluca, Abraham& & Mattson, 1989).
HSR. This measure is based on high school rank in class. It was computed with a two-step procedure.
First,arcentile rank was determined by multiplying high school rank by 2, subtracting 1 from that product,
and then dividing the difference by the product of class size times 2. Second, each resulting percentile rank was
converted to an equivalent HSR via tabled values. This second step lessened the effect of the negatively skcwcd
distribution of percentile ranks. HSR values can range from 0 to 100 in increments of 10.
INTER. During a 15-minute interview, an officer rated an applicant on factors important to a career as a
1 This research was supported by the Office of Naval Technology, Program Elcmcnt 0602233N. The
opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors, ‘arc not official, and do not ncccssarily rcllcct the views
of the Navy Department. This paper was presented in Novcmbcr 1990 at the annual meeting of the Military
Testing Association at Orange Beach, AL as part of J. W. Twecddalc’s (Chair) symposium, The Naval RCSC~VC
Officers Training Corns (NROTC) Scholarship Selection System.
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