Appendix 24: South Africa

This appendix analyzes the results of 4330 respondents who completed the Strong assessment and reside in South Africa.

GOTs

Reliability

GOTs: Number of items, correlation with 2004 GOTs, and internal consistency
GOT Number of items r with 2004 Alpha
Realistic 20 0.96 0.91
Investigative 16 0.97 0.92
Artistic 23 0.98 0.94
Social 24 0.98 0.93
Enterprising 21 0.98 0.91
Conventional 16 0.96 0.89

Validity

Correlations among the GOTs

Correlations among the six GOTs for respondents residing in South Africa are presented below.

GOTs: Correlations
Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
Realistic
Investigative 0.55
Artistic 0.37 0.42
Social 0.25 0.31 0.48
Enterprising 0.38 -0.11 0.13 0.32
Conventional 0.52 0.10 0.02 0.28 0.71

Randomization test of hypothesized order relations

The randomization test of hypothesized order relations (RTHOR; Hubert & Arabie (1987)) is commonly used with assessments based on the RIASEC model. The RTHORR package (Tracey & Morris (2021)) computes a consistency index and associated p-value to determine if the pattern of correlations observed matches what we would expect.

For RTHOR results for respondents residing in South Africa, see the table below.

GOTs: RTHOR
Predictions Met Tied CI p
72 68 0 0.89 0.02

Gender differences

Gender differences on vocational interests have been found consistently for decades, and exist across various interest inventories, including the Strong assessment (Morris (2016); Su et al. (2009)).

For difference by gender for the six GOTs for respondents residing in South Africa, see the table below.

GOTs: Gender differences
GOT Female mean Female SD Male mean Male SD d
Realistic 38.83 9.98 48.76 8.31 -1.07
Investigative 44.82 13.66 45.85 10.02 -0.08
Artistic 50.41 10.82 46.27 10.42 0.39
Social 45.38 11.13 41.19 10.15 0.39
Enterprising 48.66 11.38 54.89 11.02 -0.55
Conventional 42.22 12.17 50.47 10.36 -0.72

BISs

Reliability

The number of items on each BIS, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and correlations with BISs from the 2004 Strong assessment for respondents residing in South Africa are shown below. Note that results for the new BISs are either unavailable (e.g., test-retest data) or based on small samples.

BISs: Number of Items, Internal Consistency, Correlation with 2004 BISs
BIS Number of items r with 2004 Alpha
Mechanics & Construction 9 0.97 0.88
Computer Hardware & Electronics 7 0.98 0.92
Military 6 0.98 0.91
Protective Services 8 0.99 0.82
Nature & Agriculture 10 0.97 0.90
Athletics 6 0.96 0.85
Science 7 0.97 0.86
Research 7 0.95 0.80
Medical Science 7 0.98 0.88
Mathematics 6 0.97 0.92
Conservation & Environmentalism 4 NA 0.92
Visual Arts & Design 10 0.98 0.89
Performing Arts 9 0.97 0.87
Writing & Mass Communication 6 0.95 0.90
Culinary Arts 5 0.96 0.84
Counseling & Helping 8 0.97 0.86
Teaching & Education 9 0.97 0.91
Human Resources & Training 6 0.96 0.84
Social Sciences 7 0.97 0.76
Religion & Spirituality 7 0.97 0.92
Healthcare Services 6 0.96 0.79
Hospitality & Tourism 7 NA 0.76
Marketing & Advertising 7 0.95 0.82
Sales 8 0.97 0.87
Management 5 0.91 0.73
Entrepreneurship 7 0.96 0.86
Politics & Public Speaking 9 0.97 0.89
Law 6 0.99 0.91
Office Management 5 0.86 0.81
Taxes & Accounting 6 0.98 0.84
Programming & Information Systems 5 0.95 0.92
Finance & Investing 5 0.96 0.88

Validity

Correlations with GOTs

For correlations between the BISs and GOTs for respondents residing in South Africa, see below. Note that results for the new BISs are based on small samples.

BISs: Correlations with GOTs
Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
Mechanics & Construction 0.91 0.53 0.29 0.17 0.33 0.48
Computer Hardware & Electronics 0.77 0.47 0.18 0.16 0.28 0.66
Military 0.69 0.38 0.18 0.20 0.28 0.33
Protective Services 0.66 0.48 0.37 0.35 0.35 0.30
Nature & Agriculture 0.71 0.42 0.35 0.29 0.32 0.26
Athletics 0.47 0.28 0.22 0.38 0.40 0.28
Science 0.51 0.92 0.36 0.29 0.17 0.35
Research 0.49 0.68 0.31 0.37 0.43 0.68
Medical Science 0.43 0.86 0.37 0.38 0.22 0.33
Mathematics 0.36 0.59 0.10 0.13 0.14 0.51
Conservation & Environmentalism 0.32 0.47 0.44 0.41 0.30 0.20
Visual Arts & Design 0.42 0.42 0.91 0.44 0.35 0.20
Performing Arts 0.23 0.30 0.85 0.49 0.31 0.14
Writing & Mass Communication 0.19 0.31 0.80 0.49 0.32 0.19
Culinary Arts 0.17 0.21 0.48 0.44 0.36 0.14
Counseling & Helping 0.11 0.30 0.51 0.87 0.38 0.25
Teaching & Education 0.17 0.25 0.50 0.90 0.32 0.24
Human Resources & Training 0.24 0.21 0.32 0.72 0.63 0.49
Social Sciences 0.31 0.47 0.60 0.69 0.46 0.36
Religion & Spirituality 0.23 0.19 0.35 0.58 0.31 0.33
Healthcare Services 0.36 0.57 0.38 0.57 0.28 0.30
Hospitality & Tourism 0.11 -0.04 0.34 0.47 0.44 0.13
Marketing & Advertising 0.27 0.16 0.41 0.48 0.89 0.46
Sales 0.41 0.18 0.23 0.36 0.87 0.52
Management 0.37 0.23 0.29 0.61 0.67 0.55
Entrepreneurship 0.27 0.10 0.19 0.23 0.69 0.38
Politics & Public Speaking 0.27 0.29 0.40 0.40 0.53 0.38
Law 0.25 0.34 0.35 0.41 0.46 0.38
Office Management 0.17 0.14 0.31 0.55 0.38 0.51
Taxes & Accounting 0.34 0.37 0.07 0.23 0.36 0.86
Programming & Information Systems 0.58 0.44 0.26 0.18 0.26 0.65
Finance & Investing 0.41 0.28 0.10 0.17 0.58 0.79

Correlations among BISs

For correlations among the BISs for respondents residing in South Africa, see below. Note that results for the new BISs are based on small samples. Because the new scales were developed on separate samples, the correction between the two new BISs are unknown at this time.

BISs: Correlations
Mechanics & Construction Computer Hardware & Electronics Military Protective Services Nature & Agriculture Athletics Science Research Medical Science Mathematics Conservation & Environmentalism Visual Arts & Design Performing Arts Writing & Mass Communication Culinary Arts Counseling & Helping Teaching & Education Human Resources & Training Social Sciences Religion & Spirituality Healthcare Services Hospitality & Tourism Marketing & Advertising Sales Management Entrepreneurship Politics & Public Speaking Law Office Management Taxes & Accounting Programming & Information Systems Finance & Investing
Mechanics & Construction
Computer Hardware & Electronics 0.70
Military 0.52 0.56
Protective Services 0.47 0.46 0.74
Nature & Agriculture 0.64 0.44 0.58 0.62
Athletics 0.51 0.44 0.52 0.46 0.45
Science 0.59 0.41 0.42 0.52 0.48 0.28
Research 0.43 0.54 0.36 0.38 0.35 0.30 0.41
Medical Science 0.40 0.25 0.42 0.70 0.47 0.23 0.69 0.35
Mathematics 0.46 0.52 0.12 0.08 0.13 0.20 0.48 0.55 0.12
Conservation & Environmentalism 0.27 0.25 0.22 0.29 0.48 0.29 0.40 0.36 0.39 0.19
Visual Arts & Design 0.40 0.12 0.13 0.40 0.48 0.11 0.28 0.19 0.38 -0.06 0.45
Performing Arts 0.26 0.09 0.18 0.47 0.40 0.12 0.27 0.21 0.44 -0.07 0.36 0.63
Writing & Mass Communication 0.29 0.23 0.20 0.35 0.43 0.15 0.33 0.35 0.34 0.07 0.33 0.51 0.56
Culinary Arts 0.11 -0.01 0.14 0.34 0.40 0.17 0.16 0.17 0.29 -0.01 0.36 0.39 0.45 0.30
Counseling & Helping 0.07 0.15 0.20 0.41 0.39 0.10 0.17 0.36 0.38 -0.06 0.45 0.36 0.44 0.51 0.32
Teaching & Education 0.17 0.12 0.21 0.29 0.39 0.24 0.23 0.29 0.33 0.00 0.37 0.27 0.30 0.43 0.15 0.58
Human Resources & Training 0.17 0.32 0.23 0.23 0.29 0.18 0.02 0.47 0.16 0.05 0.26 0.11 0.16 0.29 0.14 0.55 0.50
Social Sciences 0.14 0.22 0.27 0.40 0.45 0.20 0.23 0.43 0.25 0.07 0.49 0.34 0.38 0.60 0.29 0.64 0.41 0.43
Religion & Spirituality 0.25 0.20 0.42 0.42 0.42 0.25 0.31 0.18 0.36 0.03 0.21 0.09 0.26 0.29 0.11 0.39 0.38 0.16 0.36
Healthcare Services 0.28 0.12 0.36 0.64 0.47 0.22 0.54 0.23 0.84 -0.02 0.39 0.38 0.48 0.31 0.34 0.49 0.49 0.23 0.28 0.42
Hospitality & Tourism 0.06 0.06 0.07 0.09 0.10 0.12 -0.09 0.04 -0.02 -0.09 0.24 0.28 0.28 0.36 0.39 0.34 0.34 0.26 0.20 0.15
Marketing & Advertising 0.14 0.27 0.13 0.09 0.21 0.23 -0.23 0.29 -0.10 0.02 0.32 0.21 0.06 0.10 0.20 0.18 0.08 0.47 0.25 -0.03 -0.09 0.31
Sales 0.39 0.52 0.36 0.27 0.37 0.42 0.05 0.42 0.10 0.25 0.23 0.12 0.11 0.14 0.07 0.13 0.29 0.52 0.24 0.16 0.13 0.36 0.60
Management 0.25 0.39 0.27 0.27 0.31 0.27 0.02 0.38 0.18 0.15 0.26 0.02 0.13 0.19 0.12 0.32 0.43 0.78 0.25 0.17 0.23 0.38 0.51 0.65
Entrepreneurship 0.25 0.31 0.09 -0.05 0.23 0.23 -0.18 0.37 -0.16 0.16 0.29 0.13 0.01 0.03 0.13 0.09 -0.04 0.34 0.17 -0.03 -0.20 0.26 0.72 0.53 0.40
Politics & Public Speaking 0.31 0.36 0.39 0.36 0.32 0.36 0.16 0.44 0.12 0.14 0.25 0.14 0.18 0.41 0.21 0.27 0.15 0.38 0.59 0.19 0.06 0.21 0.41 0.37 0.36 0.35
Law 0.34 0.32 0.48 0.55 0.40 0.27 0.24 0.38 0.29 0.07 0.24 0.30 0.27 0.45 0.21 0.40 0.18 0.47 0.50 0.26 0.26 0.17 0.33 0.37 0.39 0.22 0.70
Office Management 0.15 0.32 0.21 0.31 0.33 0.14 0.07 0.30 0.18 0.13 0.22 0.18 0.18 0.23 0.17 0.37 0.43 0.53 0.27 0.16 0.33 0.26 0.32 0.49 0.59 0.15 0.13 0.28
Taxes & Accounting 0.41 0.56 0.21 0.08 0.19 0.29 0.20 0.50 0.01 0.73 0.12 -0.09 -0.08 0.04 -0.06 0.05 0.11 0.36 0.11 0.07 -0.04 0.00 0.33 0.57 0.47 0.43 0.20 0.23 0.40
Programming & Information Systems 0.56 0.84 0.35 0.34 0.31 0.26 0.32 0.55 0.17 0.48 0.23 0.20 0.17 0.25 0.05 0.13 0.04 0.30 0.19 0.10 0.07 -0.03 0.28 0.43 0.35 0.31 0.35 0.32 0.32 0.50
Finance & Investing 0.33 0.53 0.33 0.12 0.26 0.37 0.02 0.52 -0.09 0.43 0.19 -0.09 -0.07 0.10 0.05 0.04 -0.01 0.39 0.22 0.07 -0.15 0.12 0.59 0.63 0.54 0.71 0.49 0.38 0.30 0.71 0.5

Gender differences

For differences by gender for the 32 BISs for respondents residing in South Africa, see below. Because there has not been sufficient data collected on the new BISs, those two scales are omitted here.

BISs: Gender differences
BIS Female mean Female SD Male mean Male SD d
Mechanics & Construction 41.94 8.83 50.68 8.86 -0.99
Computer Hardware & Electronics 40.29 10.57 49.82 8.95 -0.96
Military 39.00 9.56 45.10 10.27 -0.62
Protective Services 42.72 10.72 43.84 10.53 -0.11
Nature & Agriculture 40.92 10.38 44.35 9.73 -0.34
Athletics 41.91 8.90 52.05 10.26 -1.07
Science 44.67 12.22 47.34 9.51 -0.24
Research 45.74 9.73 49.90 9.74 -0.43
Medical Science 45.80 13.88 43.35 11.22 0.19
Mathematics 47.29 10.70 54.21 9.00 -0.69
Visual Arts & Design 50.49 10.53 46.77 11.21 0.34
Performing Arts 51.51 11.74 47.21 10.75 0.38
Writing & Mass Communication 46.36 10.89 45.37 9.52 0.10
Culinary Arts 49.54 11.72 47.81 9.95 0.16
Counseling & Helping 49.36 11.16 43.66 9.58 0.54
Teaching & Education 44.85 11.87 41.55 9.43 0.30
Human Resources & Training 45.79 10.53 46.73 11.26 -0.09
Social Sciences 48.97 11.51 47.42 11.92 0.13
Religion & Spirituality 41.31 9.00 41.81 8.42 -0.06
Healthcare Services 46.95 12.87 41.79 10.81 0.43
Marketing & Advertising 51.97 12.58 56.03 10.58 -0.34
Sales 46.61 10.63 53.68 10.34 -0.67
Management 46.20 11.72 50.32 10.82 -0.36
Entrepreneurship 52.10 11.39 58.15 11.28 -0.53
Politics & Public Speaking 45.56 11.02 52.24 13.10 -0.56
Law 41.87 11.57 44.73 11.76 -0.25
Office Management 46.48 10.37 45.27 8.08 0.13
Taxes & Accounting 45.09 10.88 51.58 8.07 -0.66
Programming & Information Systems 43.60 11.66 51.32 10.85 -0.68
Finance & Investing 43.94 11.80 56.03 12.16 -1.01

PSSs

Reliability

Because of the different construction methods of different PSSs, internal consistency is meaningful for only two of the six PSSs: Risk Taking and Team Orientation. These are the two PSSs that were developed from homogeneous item content. Test-retest reliability is not available for this country.

PSSs: Number of Items and Internal Consistency
PSS Alpha
People–Things
Data–Ideas
Learning Environment
Leadership Style
Risk Taking 0.75
Team Orientation 0.82

Validity

Correlations among PSSs

Correlations among the PSSs for respondents residing in South Africa are presented below.

Correlations among PSSs
People–Things Data–Ideas Learning Environment Leadership Style Risk Taking
Data–Ideas 0.02 NA NA NA NA
Learning Environment -0.24 -0.20 NA NA NA
Leadership Style 0.02 0.24 0.37 NA NA
Risk Taking 0.29 0.05 -0.05 0.17 NA
Team Orientation -0.16 0.18 0.15 0.12 0.25

Correlations between PSSs and GOTs

Correlations between the PSSs and GOTs for respondents residing in South Africa are presented below.

Correlations between PSSs and GOTs
People–Things Data–Ideas Learning Environment Leadership Style Risk Taking Team Orientation
R 0.53 -0.02 -0.12 0.09 0.75 0.24
I 0.34 -0.47 0.16 -0.02 0.41 0.21
A -0.37 -0.46 0.25 -0.03 0.33 0.20
S -0.58 -0.05 0.24 -0.03 0.23 0.45
E -0.26 0.49 0.03 0.30 0.47 0.43
C 0.26 0.49 0.00 0.11 0.40 0.35

Correlations between PSSs and BISs

Correlations between the PSSs and BISs for respondents residing in South Africa are presented below.

Correlations between PSSs and BISs
People–Things Data–Ideas Learning Environment Leadership Style Risk Taking Team Orientation
Mechanics & Construction 0.56 -0.06 -0.08 0.00 0.61 0.01
Computer Hardware & Electronics 0.54 0.29 -0.07 0.05 0.57 0.10
Military 0.39 0.01 -0.18 -0.05 0.64 0.01
Protective Services 0.23 -0.26 -0.07 -0.06 0.68 0.10
Nature & Agriculture 0.19 -0.15 0.01 0.06 0.57 0.14
Athletics 0.29 0.14 -0.08 0.04 0.59 0.13
Science 0.50 -0.50 -0.01 -0.19 0.39 -0.15
Research 0.19 0.13 0.21 0.19 0.36 0.36
Medical Science 0.19 -0.50 -0.01 -0.15 0.36 0.09
Mathematics 0.53 0.13 0.08 0.07 0.18 0.04
Conservation & Environmentalism
Visual Arts & Design -0.18 -0.40 0.16 0.00 0.29 0.13
Performing Arts -0.21 -0.42 0.08 -0.08 0.36 0.10
Writing & Mass Communication -0.22 -0.33 0.33 0.06 0.24 0.05
Culinary Arts -0.14 -0.23 0.23 0.11 0.31 0.30
Counseling & Helping -0.47 -0.16 0.27 0.05 0.13 0.36
Teaching & Education -0.45 -0.11 0.16 -0.02 0.06 0.11
Human Resources & Training -0.32 0.38 0.15 0.14 0.21 0.45
Social Sciences -0.29 -0.08 0.34 0.18 0.25 0.31
Religion & Spirituality -0.02 -0.15 -0.02 0.01 0.22 0.01
Healthcare Services -0.06 -0.44 -0.10 -0.24 0.23 0.08
Hospitality & Tourism
Marketing & Advertising -0.21 0.62 0.04 0.31 0.29 0.37
Sales 0.01 0.61 -0.24 0.10 0.43 0.19
Management -0.12 0.49 -0.02 0.18 0.33 0.28
Entrepreneurship -0.01 0.60 0.02 0.46 0.37 0.38
Politics & Public Speaking 0.01 0.20 0.30 0.45 0.46 0.20
Law 0.00 0.08 0.16 0.26 0.49 0.21
Office Management -0.14 0.30 -0.18 -0.03 0.14 0.18
Taxes & Accounting 0.34 0.55 -0.06 0.22 0.28 0.12
Programming & Information Systems 0.43 0.26 0.04 0.07 0.45 0.12
Finance & Investing 0.25 0.69 0.01 0.39 0.44 0.24

Group differences

Gender differences

Gender differences on the six PSSs for respondents residing in South Africa are reported below.

PSSs: Gender differences
PSS Female mean Female SD Male mean Male SD d
People–Things 42.68 9.39 53.06 8.78 -0.04
Data–Ideas 47.53 16.93 57.45 13.35 -0.02
Learning Environment 52.64 8.53 51.06 9.07 0.01
Leadership Style 47.91 8.61 51.95 9.34 -0.02
Risk Taking 43.80 10.06 52.24 8.46 -0.03
Team Orientation 51.83 8.48 53.02 8.65 -0.01
Hubert, L., & Arabie, P. (1987). Evaluating order hypotheses within proximity matrices. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.102.1.172
Morris, M. L. (2016). Vocational interests in the united states: Sex, age, and year effects. Journal of Counseling Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000164
Su, R., Rounds, J., & Armstrong, P. I. (2009). Men and things, women and people: A meta-analysis of sex differences in interests. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017364
Tracey, T. J. G., & Morris, M. L. (2021). RTHORR: Randomization test of hypothesized order relations (RTHOR) and comparisons. https://github.com/michaellynnmorris/RTHORR