The Job Dimensions Underlying the Job Elements of the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) (Form B). Report No. 4.

This study was concerned with the identification of the job dimension underlying the job elements of the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), Form B. The PAQ is a structured job analysis instrument consisting of 187 worker-oriented job elements which are divided into six a priori major divisions. The statistical procedure of principal components analysis was used to identify the job dimensions of the PAQ. Forty-five job dimensions were identified through eight separate component analyses of a sample of 3,700 PAQ analyses which had been stratified roughly in proportion to the occupational composition of the American labor force. These job dimensions accounted for a substantial portion of the variance associated with the data, the percentage ranging from 51 percent to 63 percent for the several component analyses performed. The 45 job dimensions which were identified might be viewed as representing groups of job elements which tend to occur together on jobs, and, since the sample on which these analyses were performed was stratified in proportion to the occupational composition of the labor force, these job dimensions would be relatively representative of the groupings of such job characteristics of jobs in general. (Author)