Measures of biographical data, or biodata, provide indicators of one's life history and past experiences. Biodata information is often available in various forms during processes of academic admissions to higher education. Such information can be used, in combination with other factors, to predict students' future academic and extra-curricular…

Assesses the effectiveness of a factored biographical inventory in predicting freshman GPAs, and suggests that biodata be considered in college selection. (Author/JN)

Historically, nontest variables have been used more frequently than achievement test scores in the prediction of educational progress, but research in this area has been largely empirical. Recently, however, a theoretical model based on the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior was formulated. This model was used in a…

A Biographical Data Inventory (BDI) and a standard final evaluation form were developed and administered to practicing medical technologists and senior year medical technology students at a State university. A correlation of .68 between scores reinforced findings of other studies, suggesting that BDI's are useful in advisement and selection of…

The relationships among measures of vocational interest, life history data, educational performance, and number of courses taken (by area) were explored in a college freshman sample of 1,892 students. Canonical correlation analysis was used to uncover and describe the major relationships among the variable sets. (Author/JKS)

A study of the U.S. Navy officer students who were registered in the Operations Research/System Analysis curriculum at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in spring, 1974, was conducted using biographical data, the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, and the Graduate Record Examination to develop an equation predicting academic performance of U.S.…

Predictive utility of autobiographical information given by entering airmen was compared with information gained from aptitude testing. Correlation techniques were used in analyzing data on 13,811 individuals (in 24 analysis groups) who completed training. Generally there was no significant difference in the magnitude of validities for each kind…

First-year graduate students were asked to respond to a biographical questionnaire which emphasized motivational variables in addition to the usual demographic variables. It was hypothesized that the students could select from a group of ability measures the one best indicator of how well they would do in graduate school. To test this hypothesis…

This review examines the accuracy and the concurrent and predictive validity of brief self-report information, and evaluates the promise and problems involved in its practical use. In section one, the power of self-report information for predicting and understanding grades is reviewed. In the second section, research on the influence of background…