Measuring Factors that Influence Decisions to Become a Veterinarian

Introduction: veterinary medical education; psychometrics; career influence; the purposeof the present study was twofold. first, we sought to evaluate the psychometric properties of anewly developed instrument designed to measure factors incoming veterinary medical studentsindicated were important (or not) in their decision to become a veterinarian. second, we soughtto produce a measure of these factors by utilizing a state-of-the-art psychometric modelingtechnique to produce an empirical hierarchy that illustrates the construct of interest and makeappropriate inferences about the findings.methods: the career influence factors survey (cifs) was administered to an incoming classof veterinary medical students. data were analyzed via the rasch rating scale model. thepsychometric properties of the instrument were evaluated according to messick’s framework ofconstruct validity.results: results indicate the career influence factors survey is a psychometrically-soundinstrument capable of accurately and reliably measuring veterinary medical students’ motivationsfor becoming a veterinarian. substantive results indicated issues pertaining to animal welfarewere the most important in making the decision to become a veterinarian. previous exposure toa particular animal or family pet was only moderately influential in students’ decision to pursuea career in veterinary medicine. factors such as a desire to work on food production issues andanticipated earning potential tend to be of lesser importance to incoming students.conclusion: we encourage others to utilize the instrument and/or adopt the methodology toevaluate the psychometric properties of other instruments. substantive findings generallycorroborated findings from previous studies, but may identify new insights for improving therecruitment of veterinary medical students.