Validating Strengths Finder Norms for Veterinary Medical Students: A Confirmatory Study

The Clifton Strengths Finder 2.0 is a popular online assessment that has been administered to more than 16 million people worldwide. Based on ‘strength theory’, the assessment helps individuals discern their top five strengths (called “Signature Themes”) and participants are encouraged to use the results for intra-professional development purposes. There are many implications for the use of the Strengths Finder in higher education, particularly across academic disciplines in which fields are influenced by norms, cultures and values that both attract individuals to a field and socialize them to become functional members of the disciplinary community. Previous research established Strengths Finder norms for veterinary medical students. However, a major limitation of that study pertained to its generalizability, particularly if the results largely were an artifact of student selection as determined by the college’s admissions committee. Thus, the purpose of this study was to replicate the previous study using a different sample frame selected by an entirely different admissions committee to discern if the same primary themes remain among veterinary medical students. Using descriptive statistics to determine the Signature Themes of veterinary medical students, results confirm the same Signature Themes emerge, indicating stable findings relating to the norms of veterinary medical students