The Development and Validation of a Life Experience Inventory for the Identification of Creative Electrical Engineers

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Abstract
The construction and validation of the Life Experience Inventory (LEI) for identification of creative electrical engineers is described. For an initial-validation sample of 100 electrical engineers in a large industrial corporation, a point-biserial correlation coefficient of .82 was found between inventory scores and a dichotomous criterion of possession or lack of possession of one or more patents (held or pending), whereas in a cross-validation sample of 98 electrical engineers from the same firm, the corresponding coefficient was .62. Application of an approximate median cutting score on the LEI for the cross-validation sample revealed for the group above the median score a success rate of about 83% in terms of those electrical engineers who would meet the patent criterion at a cost of losing within the group placing below the median score about 29% who would have met the patent criterion. It was concluded that life experiences (as sampled by items emphasizing factual information rather than those reflecting attitudes or opinions) may be used to differentiate the creative from the noncreative electrical engineer.

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