Pretraining Variables in the Prediction of Missionary Success Overseas

Abstract

A set of twelve variables was obtained statistically in order to predict missionary success from a combination of pretraining data which included elements of personality, interpersonal skill, attitudes, and bio-graphical information. This data was gathered from structured interviews, open-ended references, and psychological tests available from each subject's application file. A screening sample of 111 vocational missionaries who had served overseas a minimum of one year was used to derive the predictors, and a calibration sample of 42 missionaries with the same qualifications was used for cross-validation purposes. The twelve significant variables selected account for 56 percent of the variance of the criterion (success). Cross-validation yielded mixed results.