Standardization of an integrated aptitude test for system engineers

The requirements for system engineers (SE) have been increasing in our highly information-oriented society. The awareness of issues related to their aptitude is also becoming more important, especially in the industrialized society of Japan. The present study aimed to develop and standardize an aptitude test for SE. Initially ten SE were interviewed, and it was found that not only their intellectual abilities, but also their social adjustability play important roles in their performance as SE. Our aptitude test, which was divided into two parts, investigated intellectual abilities and personality traits. The two parts consisted of several subtests. The construction and the standardization of the aptitude test are described. The validation study was carried out, using 264 SE actually working in industry. They were divided into three groups according to their performance levels. ANOVA showed a significant effect of SE performance levels on both the intelligence and personality tests. The discriminant analyses also showed a reasonably high probability for correct discrimination of their performance levels.