A study on the reliability of selection judgments made by committees interviewing resident advisor applicants

Abstract

This study was concerned with investigating two questions. The first was whether interview committees in the RA selection process at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University differed from each other in using applicant characteristics as a basis for making recommendations about an applicant's continuance in the selection process. The second consideration was how accurately applicant characteristics could be used in prediction equations to assign applicants to recommendation groups at three different points in the selection process.

The source of data for this study was the participants in the RA selection process at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University during the Winter Quarter 1976: applicants for the RA position, members of the interview committees, and staff members in the Residence Management Office (RMO). A questionnaire on whether certain applicant characteristics were used as a basis for a recommendation was administered to the committee members and analyzed for committee differences. Fourteen characteristics derived from applicant responses to the Resident Assistant Stress Inventory and the Cooperative Institutional those offered training in that they tended to have been at the institution for a shorter period of time, to express more anxiety about situations that involved a conflict between personal values and role expectations, and to be more interested in involvement in social problems.