Values and personality factors associated with attitudes towards scientific research as a career

Abstract

The Occupational preferences of a sample of undergraduate science students from two Colleges in London were explored by means of an Occupational Preferences Questionnaire.The study was intended to explore the relation of the preference for Research or Non-Research Occupations to other dimensions of Psychological relevance: Intelligence, Personality Factors, Values,Orientations to work satisfaction and Conformity.A classification of occupations in Science, according to the Research - Non-Research criterion was obtained by means of a Principal Components Analysis. Persons who preferred the Research Occupations tended to be more reserved, detached, critical and cool, rather than easy-going persons; to like things or words rather than dealing with people, to enjoy working alone but at the same time liking intellectual companionship and to be self-sufficient rather than group-dependent and accustomed to making their own decisions. The mean personality profile (l6 P.F.) for those who preferred the Research Occupations was found to be very similar to the "Typical Profile" of the research scientists. However, no very strong differences in personality factors were found between those who preferred research occupations and those who preferred other occupations. The main difference between these groups was on their conformity scores as measured by a conformity test developed by the researcher. Thus, those who preferred research occupations scored significantly lower inconformity than those who liked teaching, administration, sales, etc. Refinement of the Conformity Test is suggested as it may be a useful instrument in selection procedures.The general pattern of occupational values expressed by this sample was found to be similar to those reported for College Students in previous literature. Persons who preferred Research Occupations valued the interest of the work most highly while those who had other occupational preferences placed a higher value on meeting or working with people.