The Construction of an Instrument to Assess Heath Typologies in a Resident Advisor Population

Abstract

This study focuses on the application of Roy Heath's theory of personality style to a specific population of under graduate student assistants within the resident hall environment. A primary objective was to develop an instrument which could be used as an alternative to the Heath Modes of Existence test for assessing the style of particular individuals. To this end, the Resident Advisor Heath Typology Instrument was created. This instrument contained 48 items and was constructed using a likert type scale. It was administered to 45 Resident Assistants enrolled in a leadership training course at the University of Maryland. These students also completed Heath's Modes of Existence test. In addition, a group of expert raters were asked to assess the Heath style of these 45 resident assistants. Analysis of these three sets of data indicated that Heath and likert typings agreed in 66.67% of the cases; Heath typings and expert ratings agreed in 77.53% of the cases; and likert typings and expert ratings agreed 84.10% of the time. These results show both the Modes of Existence test and the Resident Advisor Heath Typology Instrument to be valid measures of personality style. These results also support the hypothesis of the author that accurate typology assessments could be obtained from a specific population within a particular environment.