Development and Validation of a Work Values Scale for Assessing High School Students: A Mixed Methods Approach

Assessing work values with high school students is a critical component of career counseling practice, however it remains a relatively understudied area of research. The purpose of this study was to develop and provide psychometric evaluation of a Work Values Assembly (WVA) scale for assessing high school students. This study employed a mixed methodology to gather research data and conduct data analyses. In the first study, 30 participants were involved in focus-group interviews about their work values. The interview data were analyzed through a grounded theory approach and a framework of seven-dimension work values was derived. In the second study, the WVA scale was constructed based on the descriptions and dimensions of the first study. Seven hundred fifty three high school students participated in the pilot study. The revised scale was then administered to 896 high school students in a formal test. The exploratory- and confirmatory factor analyses re-verified the quality of the items and the construct validity of the WVA scale. The scale also demonstrated good test-retest reliability and criterion-related validity. Finally, 896 and 592 participants from high schools and colleges, respectively, participated in a test of measurement invariance between the two groups. Implications for counseling as well as suggestions for future research were discussed.