Interests and values as preferences: A validation of the work aspect preference scale

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Abstract
This study has two principal aims: firstly, to present data providing support for the validity of the Work Aspect Preference Scale (WAPS) and secondly, to provide data from Australian students relevant to the interest‐value distinction. A sample of 107 senior N.S.W. high school students were given the Kuder Preference Record — Vocational Form CH and the second version of the Work Aspect Preference Scale. Analysis revealed very few significant correlations between KPR and WAPS sub‐scales. The only correlations of importance were .48 for Social Service (KPR) and Altruism (WAPS); and — .38 for Social Service (KPR) and Money (WAPS). Substantial numbers of significant subscale intercorrelations within each test were found. Results are also reported for two samples of senior N.S.W. high school students for two related versions of the WAPS which indicated that the inventory's subscales significantly discriminated individuals' occupational preferences. It was concluded that the WAPS was likely to be a useful measure complementary to interest inventories, enabling a more comprehensive assessment of the affective domain of Australian students and that interests and values are fundamentally distinct domains of human characteristic assessment.