Proteus Survey: Technical Manual and Codebook

The 1987 Proteus Survey was based on the 1986 Proteus Survey designed by the United States Military Academy and administered by Michigan State University. The Proteus Survey was transferred to the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) by the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army as part of its retention and recruitment research. In 1988, the 1986 and 1987 Proteus surveys were reviewed and expanded to become the Longitudinal Research on Officer Careers (LROC) Survey, which has been administered annually since 1988. The 1987 Proteus Survey was mailed to approximately 7,000 officers commissioned from 1980 through 1986. Completed surveys were received from 3,417 officers. This report describes the 1987 Proteus Survey and database. It includes a complete codebook with frequencies and descriptive statistics for each of the 139 questions in the survey. The 1986 and 1987 Proteus databases and the LROC database provide the necessary data for tracking the factors that influence officer career decisions and behavior. These databases also provide the basis for evaluating the effects of policy changes and world events on officers' attitudes and behavior.