Development and Validation of a Short Form of the Occupational Work Ethic Inventory

Authors, HwaChoon Park and Roger B. Hill

Researchers, HwaChoon Park (Pusan National University, Korea) and Rober B. Hill (University of Georgia), have published the results of a study entitled “Development and Validation of a Short Form of the Occupational Work Ethic Inventory” on the Journal of Career and Technical Education (JCTE).

The authors reported that the Occupational Work Ethic Inventory (OWEI) has been widely used to measure work ethic constructs by professionals in the fields of Career and Technical Education (CTE) and Human Resource Development (HRD).  However, there are circumstances when a shorter instrument would have advantages, especially when a measure of work ethic is needed along with other instruments. To address this need, the authors developed a short version of the Occupational Work Ethic Inventory (OWEI), the OWEI-SF.  To that end, Park and Hill identified a subset of items from the original OWEI using a confirmatory factor analysis.  The instrument was reduced from 50 items to 12 items. Item selection, parameter estimation, cross-validation, and comparisons with the original OWEI are presented and discussed.  The results of this work indicated that the shortened version demonstrates psychometric properties similar to the original full version and is practical and efficient to administer.

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Critical Success Factors in a High School Healthcare Education Program

Authors, from left to right: Rebecca A. Thessin,
Ellen Scully-Russ, and Daina S. Lieberman

A team of researchers from The George Washington University and Fairfax County Public Schools have published the results of a study entitled “Critical Success Factors in a High School Healthcare Education Program” on the Journal of Career and Technical Education (JCTE). The authors, Rebecca A. Thessin, Ellen Scully-Russ, and Daina Lieberman explored factors that make a difference in student success in the context of a high school healthcare program.

The authors noted that research has demonstrated career and technical education (CTE) programs have a strong positive influence on secondary students’ behavior, attendance, academic achievement, and college persistence.  Critical success factors common to career academies, small schools, and CTE programs include socio-emotional support and community, along with a culture of high expectations and student engagement.  Yet little research has been conducted on social and cultural factors involved in these programs’ success.  To address this issue, the researchers conducted a qualitative study focused on one high school healthcare education program in the Mid-Atlantic to identify the social and cultural critical success factors that contributed to successful student outcomes. Through classroom observations; interviews with administrators, teachers, partners, program graduates, and parents; surveys of graduates; and focus groups with current students, the following critical success factors were identified: learning environment and community, focused student support, engagement through a real-world context, and a culture of professionalism.

The authors suggested that their findings may help educators and districts focus their attention and efforts on the critical factors that impact student success as they seek to expand and improve CTE programs.

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The full version of this article may be accessed as part of Volume 32, Issue 1 (2017) of the Journal of Career and Technical Education, available at https://ejournals.lib.vt.edu/JCTE

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To submit manuscripts and preparation guidelines, please visit the JCTE's page at https://ejournals.lib.vt.edu/JCTE/information/authors

JCTE 2017 Issue is now available

In 2017, a total of 12 manuscripts were submitted for publication consideration in the Journal of Career and Technical Education (JCTE). At the end of November, the review process was fully completed for all manuscripts. Based on the review results, three articles met the standards for publication and were accepted to produce Volume 32, Issue 1 of the journal, for an acceptance rate of 25 percent.

The articles featured in the current issue used regression analysis and qualitative research approaches to address important issues related to the measurement of work ethic, self-efficacy associated with applied STEM coursework, student success in high school healthcare education programs.

In the first article, Development and Validation of a Short Form of the Occupational Work Ethic Inventory, Park and Hill cross-validated an instrument measuring occupational work ethic. Using confirmatory factor analysis to reduce the instrument, the validation results indicated that the shorter version had psychometric properties similar to the original full version and was practical to administer. In turn, Sublett and Plasman reported the results of a study entitled, How Does Applied STEM Coursework Relate to Mathematics and Science Self-Efficacy Among High School Students? Evidence from a National Sample. The goal of the study was to explore whether there was a relationship between applied STEM coursework and feelings of self-efficacy and the results suggested an increase in math and science self-efficacy with the exception of female and disabled students. Finally, the third article features the results of the study, Critical Success Factors in a High School Healthcare Education Program. In this study, Thessin, Scully-Russ, & Lieberman conducted a qualitative study of a high school healthcare education program to identify success factors related to student outcomes. Based on classroom observations, interviews, and survey strategies, the authors identified the following success factors: learning environment and community, student supports, engagement through applied learning experiences, and a culture of professionalism.

The results of these studies add to the growing body of knowledge regarding the connection between applied learning opportunities and student outcomes. Using regression analyses and a large dataset, Sublett and Plasman established a related connection in the context of applied STEM coursework and self-efficacy. Concurrently, Thessin, Scully-Russ, and Lieberman found similar results following a qualitative approach in the context of a high school healthcare program. The latter results also pointed to the ecology of a school and community in terms of other factor of success that should be considered in career and technical education. To that end, the work of Park and Hill is also relevant in the quest to study work ethic, a construct that has been hard to measure. In that regard, developing and producing instruments to help measure important constructs contributing to student college and career readiness represents a worthwhile research endeavor.

As Co-Editors of the Journal of Career and Technical Education, we value the work of researchers in the field and choosing our journal for publication consideration and keep readers abreast of new developments in the field. As such, Web analytics data indicated that 30,808 users accessed the journal electronically in 2017 (December 6, 2016 trough December 3, 2017). Users were primarily located in the United States (40%) while the rest included traffic from nine other countries (Philippines, India, Nigeria, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, Indonesia, South Africa).
Finally, we would like to extend our gratitude for the continued support of the reviewers who made the selection of articles featured in this issue possible. In addition, we also want to acknowledge the support of Robert Browder at Virginia Tech, who took over as our de facto Managing Editor. Mr. Browder is a Digital Publishing Specialist at the Newman Library at Virginia Tech and his support was instrumental in transitioning the journal site to a new publication platform and producing this issue. Thank you.

Victor M. Hernandez-Gantes & Edward C. Fletcher Jr.
Co-Editors, University of South Florida

Reading/Downloading Full Articles
The full version of this article may be accessed as part of Volume 32, Issue 1 (2017) of the Journal of Career and Technical Education, available at https://ejournals.lib.vt.edu/JCTE

Submitting Manuscripts for Publication
To submit manuscripts and preparation guidelines, please visit the JCTE's page at https://ejournals.lib.vt.edu/JCTE/information/authors