Factorial structure and reliability of a Perceived Influence on selection of a specialized plan of studies, IPEP, in secondary school students of Chillán, Chile

Abstract

The process of vocational election is influenced by internal and external factors. However, there is no evidence of the influences on the election process of a specialized plan of studies that secondary students have to cope in the tenth year of the Chilean educational regular system. To evaluate these factors, the scale of perceived influences on the election of a specialized plan of studies, IPEP, was built and in this study its factorial structure and reliability were evaluated. The instrument was applied to 115 students, chosen by quote sampling. They were students of a subsidized private secondary school from the city of Chillan, Chile. An exploratory factorial analysis identified eight factors in the scale IPEP: Academic projection, Personal development, Maintenance of the social environment, Academic requirements, Satisfaction of others’ expectations, Vocational information, Image of the plan and Family pressure. The results present an initial factorial structure, that empirically and theoretically adequate, whose factors were reliable and conceptually useful. These factors distinguish psychogenic and sociogenic aspects of the vocational process, and allow to initiate diagnostic and investigative actions in relation to this early vocational election that is established in secondary schools of the Chilean educational system.