BiblioScholar A Preliminary Investigation Into the Personal Values of Selected Military Officers

The purpose of this study was to do a preliminary investigation into the differences in values between field grade officers of the Air Force, Army, and Navy. The goal was to correlate value differences to service identity and determine if the Air Force held similar or different values from the other services. The study used basic value thought from a variety of sources in the analysis of the results. A survey instrument, the Defining Issues Test (DIT), was used to gather data about each group's values. The sample was taken from the students attending the AY98 class of Air Command and Staff College. First, the small sample sizes associated with a pilot study caused large variability in the data, making a statistical analysis impossible. However, a qualitative analysis showed some indicators of value differences in the different services. First, some similarities in values indicated the services did have a common military background. However, each service had differences. Since the Navy sample was composed primarily of aviators, when combined with the Air Force sample a definite indication appeared showing airmen having a different value orientation than the Army. Further research is warranted to substantiate these findings. However, if the preliminary indications shown by this research project are correct, the Air Force might want to investigate the use of the results to enhance its recruitment, training, and retention programs.