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1877-0428 © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Romanian Society of Applied Experimental Psychology.
doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.03.309
ScienceDirect
PSIWORLD 2013
The aptitude profile of the technical student - a comparative study
Sorina Chircu *
Universitatea Politehnica, Bucuresti, Romania
Abstract
This paper contains an analysis of a 3-year study on 127 students coming from 2 faculties of the Politehnica
University of Buchar est . We are following these 2 categories of students in order to see the degr ee of attitudinal
progress across the 3 years of study and to establish to what degree career counseling services would be needed. We
estimate a growth in the degree of compatibility between the personality profile of students and the chosen studies,
especially with the ones where entry was granted by exam, compared to the ones that were accepted through grades
derived from the file analysis
© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of PSI WORLD 2013 and their Guest Editors: Dr Mihaela Chraif, Dr Crist ian
Vasile and Dr Mihai Anitei
Keyword s: aptitude tests, technical abilities, personality profile, technical students, career decision
1. Introduction
Among the factors involved in career decision, aptitudes play an important role. Being an instrumental-
operational dimension of per sonality, aptitudes are assessed in relation to the quality of results obtained in a field of
activity. (Neveanu, 1994) In general, the main indicators of the existence of aptitudes towards a profession are: the
person’s capacity to undertake their activity consistently in the given time; the quality of work and the high pace of
it; the existence of innovative work elements. (Zörgö & Roúca, 1976). If more than 10 years ago the entrance exam
was a written exam, which would asses the level of preparedness of a student (and implicitly the level of motivation
* Corresponding author. Tel.: + 4-0733-306-117
E-mail address: chircusorina@gmail.com
© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Romanian Society of Applied Experimental Psychology.
555
Sorina Chircu / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 127 ( 2014 ) 554 – 558
for that cer tain profession), starting a few years back we’re seeing that certain faculties are giving the option to
students to enter through results derived from their file analysis. Thus, it happens that a lot of students register to
several faculties and stay at the one that accepts them, without ever thinking what that faculty might mean from a
university curriculum point of view and how it correlates with the labor market. Once they become students, a lot of
them are found in the situation where the beautiful dream „to have higher studies” becomes really annoying if it
doesn’t come into accordan ce with the level of preparedness from high school and the present aptitudes, this
particular item being the number one reason for university dropouts (Chircu, 2012).
Nomenclature
IMST Faculty of Engineering and Management of Technological Systems
TR Faculty of Transports
2. The design of the empirical research
The aim of the research was to identify the existing relationship between the personality profile of technical
students and their professional option. The objective of the research was to identify the main variables of the
personality profile of students which are a result of applying certain tests and of the specificity of the followed
institution. Depen ding on the characteristics of the sample, we have selected as independent variable the factors of
the educational environment (Chelcea, 2004) – the share of students from years I, III and as a dependent variable the
personality profile from the perspective of the studies (professional perspective). Th e hypothesis of research is that
the students who entered university after passing a written exam are more compatible with their chosen studies and
profession than the students that were accepted only through results derived out of their file analysis. For a level of
confidence of 95% and an err or mar gin of 3%, the representative sample was formed of 127 students (77 of th e total
number of students selected for the researched belonged to the faculty of the Engineering and Management of
Technological Systems (IMST) and 50 to the faculty of Transports (TR).
Table 1. Distribution per faculty of 1st year students that belonged to the sample:
Faculty Students’ total number Percentage of the sample Number of surveyed students Boys Girls
IMST 565 14,11% 77
8,00% 6,00%
Transport 459 11,46% 50
7,00% 4,00%
We are following the evolution of this target group formed of 127 students across 3 years of study, in order to
capture the progress rate from an aptitudes point of view. We are interested to see the initial development stage of
technical aptitudes in the 1st year of study (the research was done between 03.01.2010-31.02.2012) and of the
development stage to which the group of students arrived in the 3rd year of study.
The research methods used where aptitude tests and social documents analysis. In our study the analysis of
documents comprised statistical data regarding the number of students in Politehnica University of Bucharest and
data regarding the specifics of college majors in the Politehnica University of Bucharest. The aptitude tests (Barrett,
2008) established 7 necessary aptitudes that are found in every profession, th e degree of development of each person
recommen ding or not that person to a certain profession. The aptitudes selected by the author, measurable with tests
that bear the same name are: visual logic, numeric logic, verbal analysis, sequential logic, space orientation, 3D,
vocabulary. In our paper we will present only the sequential test and the 3D test.
The sequential logic test, contains 32 items and a number of sequences are presented that form a r ow, the
responded detecting the way are organized, to identify the ones missing. A good score on this test shows that the
person thinks fast and is very efficient in practical situations.The 3D test, with 10 items includes imagining the
h
idden faces of objects or the capacity of the subject to see beyond what appears on the surface of things. Good
results obtained on this test, together with other similar ones on the sequential logic test demonstrate a significant
556 Sorina Chircu / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 127 ( 2014 ) 554 – 558
compatibility with the training for fields related to engineering and technology. The data processing was done in the
IBM SPSS software package.
3. Results presentation, interpretation and analysis
3.1. Curriculum documents analysis.
In our study the analysis of documents comprised statistical data regarding the number of students in Politehnica
University of Bucharest (see Table 1) and data r egarding the specifics of college majors in the Politehnica
University of Bucharest. Therefore, the document analysis concludes that the faculty of Engineering and
Management of Technological Systems accepts students to bachelor programs based on file analysis. After
graduating this faculty, students receive competen cies in designing and management of the following activities:
manufacturing of machines and tool-machines, production systems, welding engineering, nanotechnologies and
unconventional systems, engineering and management of quality, industrial economic engineering, industrial
robotics and industrial logistics. The faculty of Transport accepts students to bachelor programs based on a written
exam. Students prove competencies in the following areas: conception, construction and exploitation of road and
railway vehicles, traffic and safety, transport management, legislation in transports, electronics in transports,
intelligent transport systems and others.
3.2. Results of aptitude tests
According to the model proposed (Barrett, 2008) the engineer must have 4 developed aptitudes at an exceptional
level (degree 1) and those are: visual logic, numeric logic, sequential logic and 3D aptitudes. Also, the attitudinal
profile of the engineer includes the spatial logic aptitudes at a lot bigger level than the average development, verbal
analysis aptitudes (over average level) and vocabulary (average level of development). The aptitude levels are
average (level 1), above average (level 2), well above average (level 3), exceptional (4). Due to space reasons of this
paper, we select for the present paper the analysis of 2 of the defining aptitudes for the compatibility with the
engineering profession – sequential logic (the engineer must have 4 aptitudes developed to an exceptional level) and
3D (the engineer must have 4 aptitudes at a level well above the average). Th e aptitude analysis reveals interesting
data, of which we are drawn to by the following:
3.2.1. Results in the sequential logic test
Regarding sequential logic aptitudes, we observe significant differences between the level of respondents in
year 1 and year 3 at the IMST faculty compared to the ones from the Faculty of Transports. The progress rate of the
potentially exceptional level for students in Tran sports is of 9% across the 3 years of study, compared to 3% for
IMST.
Table 2. Sequential logic aptitudes * IMST/ TR study years I-III
IMST Study year TR Study year
Year I Year III Total Year I Year III Total
Sequential Logic 1 29% 12% 20,5% 8% 3% 5,5%
2 30% 38% 34,0% 18% 8% 13,0%
3 35% 41% 38,0% 60% 66% 63,0%
46% 9% 7,5% 14% 23% 18,5%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Table 3. Sequential logic aptitudes in students from IMST/T R (inferential statistics)
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Sorina Chircu / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 127 ( 2014 ) 554 – 558
Paired Differences
tdf Sig. (2-tailed)Mean
Std.
Deviati on Std. Error M ean
95% Confidence Interval
of the Difference
Lower Upper
IMST
Sequential L ogic Year 1 –
Year 3 -2,23 1,780 ,132 -4,010 0,450 -16,89 76 ,000
TR
Sequential L ogic Year 1 –
Year 3 -4,96 1,566 ,102 -6,526 -3,404 -48,62 49 ,000
According to table 3 the mean -2,23, -4,96 respectively is actually the different between the means of two value
sets, thus in reality it is the mean of the difference. The value of t is based on this mean of difference (-2,23)/(-4,96)
divided by the standard error of the mean (0,132)/(0,102). The calculus offers the value of t (-16,89)/ (-48,62), the
freedom degrees (76)/(49) and their significance level. Because the level of significance is smaller than 0,05 this
difference is significant.
3.2.2. Results at the 3D test
Regarding 3D aptitudes, we obser ve significant differences between the level of respondents in year I and year III
at the IMST faculty compared to the ones at the Transport faculty. Data shows that the growth rate of the potentially
exceptional level of students from Transports is of 9% across the 3 years of study, compared to IMST (6%).
Table 4. 3D aptitudes* IMST/TR study year I-III
IMST study year TR study year
Year I Year III Total Year I Year III Total
3D Test
129% 20% 24,5% 7% 3% 5%
230% 39% 34,5% 28% 15% 22%
330% 36% 33,0% 40% 48% 44%
411% 5% 8,0% 25% 34% 30%
Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Table 5. 3D aptitudes of students from IMST/TR (inferential statistics)
Paired Differences
tdf
Sig. (2-
tailed) Mean
Std.
Deviati on
Std. Error
Mean
95% Confidence Interval of
the Difference
Lower Upper
IMST Test _ 3D _An 1 _An 3 -1,01 0,909 ,0 82 -1,092 -0,928 -12,317 76 ,000
TR Test _ 3D _ An 1 _An 3 -1,47 0,231 ,0 42 -1,512 -1,428 -35,017 49 ,000
According to table 5, the mean -1,01, -1,47 respectively is actually the different between the means of two value
sets, thus in reality it is the mean of the difference. The value of t is based on this mean of difference (-1,01)/(-1,47)
divided by the standard error of the mean (0,082)/(0,042). The calculus offers the value of t (-12,317)/ (-35,017), the
freedom degrees (76)/(49) and their significance level. Because the level of significance is smaller than 0,05 this
difference is significant.
558 Sorina Chircu / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 127 ( 2014 ) 554 – 558
4. Conclusions
The resulting data shows us that the general hypothesis is confirmed. Regarding sequential logic aptitudes, we
observe significant differences between the level of respondents in year 1 and year 3 at the IMST faculty compared
to the ones from the Faculty of Transports. The progress rate of th e potentially exceptional level for students in
Transports is of 9% across the 3 years of study, compared to 3% for IMST. Regarding 3D aptitudes, we observe
significant differ ences between the level of respondents in year I and year III at the IMST faculty compared to the
ones at the Transport faculty. Data shows that the growth rate of the potentially exceptional level of students from
Transports is of 9% across the 3 years of study, compared to IMST (6%).Correlating the obtained results, we can see
clearly the fact that both the exceptional potential level as well as the progress rate of these in the 1st year of study
until 3rd year of study is a lot bigger at the students of the Faculty of Transports compared to the students of IMST.
The intervention of career counseling and orientation services for students becomes therefore absolutely necessary
as an ameliorating measure in sustaining students towards finishing their bachelor studies and integrating students
into the labor mar ket in the field they have graduated.
References
Barrett, J. (2008). Teste de autocunoaútere. Editura ALL Beck.
Chelcea, S. (2004). Metodologia cercetării sociologice. Metode cantitative úi calitative (ediĠia a II-a). Bucureúti: Editura Comunicare .ro.
Chircu, S. (2012). Consilierea pentru cariera in invatamantul superior tehnic. Universitatea din Bucuresti.
Neveanu, P.P. (1994). Psihologie. Bucureúti: Editura Didacticăúi Pedagogică.
Zörgö, B., Roúca, Al. (1976). Psihologie generală. Bucureúti: EDP.