Perceived and demonstrated aptitudes: Same or different?

Abstract

A self-estimate aptitude scale (SEAS) was partly adapted and developed to measure six distinct aptitudes: verbal, numerical, form perception, spatial, clerical and mechanical. The scale was validated for its factor structure using confirmatory factor analytic procedures when administered to a group of 1,568 secondary school students in Singapore schools, together with the same aptitudes from the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) and the Differential Aptitude Tests (DAT). The results from the viewpoint of the Multitrait Multimethod (MTMM) tradition, following Campbell and Fiske (1959) arguments for convergent and discriminant validity did not show that the aptitudes measured by the SEAS, called perceived aptitudes are similar to the aptitudes measured by the standardised tests, called demonstrated aptitudes. Further analysis, using structural equation modelling showed that the perceived aptitudes and demonstrated aptitudes are more likely to be different.