Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Applying an eMASS Customization Program as a Research Tool to Evaluate Consumer Benefits
Published on: September 27, 2019
Personal characteristics of house staff candidates: a quantitative analysis of relative weights
Abstract:
We surveyed the faculty, fellows, and residents of a department of medicine to determine the relative importance of each of eight personal characteristics evaluated during the interview of house staff candidates. A booklet containing all possible pairings of the eight characteristics was distributed to 219 participants who were asked which member of each pair should have greater weight for assigning an overall interview grade. Usable data were returned by 172 persons (79%) and analyzed by the psychometric scaling method of paired comparisons. The four characteristics with the greatest relative weights were professional attitude, maturity, enthusiasm and energy, and knowledge. The faculty, fellows, and residents were highly consistent in their judgments. However, three of the characteristics (motivation for clinical practice, knowledge, and verbal skill) significantly distinguished the three departmental groups. These results show that utility of the paired comparison method for identifying a department's weighting of variables for selection of house staff.
Related Concept Videos
Surveys
The Representativeness Heuristic
Stereotype Content Model
Weighted Mean
For example, consider the number of goals scored in the matches of a tournament. While computing the average number of goals scored in the tournament, it may be more important to...
Factors Influencing Attraction VI: Personality Traits
Desirable Characteristics in Others

