Predictability of success in selected Texas piping trades apprenticeship programs

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study was to conduct an expost facto field study to determine the selection criteria in use in selected Texas piping trades apprenticeship programs, and to attempt to determine the relative value of each in the prediction of success of the prospective apprentice in the training program. The training programs studied were: Corpus Christi (N = 18), Fort Worth (N = 52), Houston Pipe Fitters (N = 314), Houston Plumbers (N = 101), and San Antonio (N = 51). Procedures: Data for this study were elicited from training coordinators for the programs studied and from the apprentices' folders on file with these programs. The base period for this study was 1966 through 1968. The population was comprised of all apprentices admitted to each program during the base period. Questionnaires were administered to each of the five training coordinators to determine a ranked list of the ten most important selection criteria as perceived by each coordinator. Individual records for each apprentice were studied to determine the occurrence of each of the criteria specified as important by the training coordinator for the program involved. Some of the criteria stated by the training coordinators were highly subjective in nature and not based on recorded data. Other criteria were based on a fairly extensive se t of data. Only those criteria accruing from the data base were used for testing statistical hypotheses. Twenty-three null hypotheses stating that there were no significant relationships between apprentices having the specified criteria and their chances of completing the program were tested. Eighteen (18) of the null hypotheses were accepted, while five (5) of the null hypotheses were rejected. Each program was treated as a separate population; therefore, the hypotheses tested were not necessarily the same for each program. The 0.05 level of significance was utilized in determining the significance of all statistical results obtained.