Validation of a Vocational Orientation Test for the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University of Honduras

Abstract

The objective of this work is to validate a test for vocational guidance prepared by the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University of Honduras to help those who aspire to enter said university in their choice of a career. The original test consists of 160 Likert-style items, which make it possible to measure vocation in 16 of the careers offered by the university. An exploratory factor analysis was performed using the Factor 10 program, using the polychoric correlation matrix for the analysis, the weighted least squares method as the factor extraction method and Promin as the rotation method, and eight factors were identified (GFI = 0.99 and RMRS = 0.029). Subsequently, an analysis of the items was carried out in the context of the classical test theory, using SPSS 23, and the item response theory, using IRTPro 4, for each of the subscales (or factors); revealing problems of local dependency and low discrimination for some items. Subsequently, taking into account the previous results, the number of items per scale was reduced and a confirmatory factor analysis was carried out using MPlus 7 using the polychoric correlation matrix, for the analysis, and the least squares method weighted with mean and adjusted variance, which revealed that the test of 8 subscales (39 items) is adequate (RMSEA = 0.046; CFI = 0.971; TLI = 0.969) and provides information about the vocation of the applicants; however, the fit indices suggest the need for improvements.