Entry-Level Job Skills Needed by Wildlife Management Professionals

• Main Author: DeLany, Jr., Billy Warren
• Other Authors: Michael W. Wascom
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: LSU 2004
• Subjects: Human Resource Education Workforce Development
• Online Access: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07052004-120622/

The research purpose was to identify the job skills needed by entry-level wildlife managers, which was accomplished by utilizing a Delphi panel of wildlife management experts from the academic, private and public employment sectors. The Delphi panel was selected from a committee nominated, pool of 81 innovative wildlife management experts. The panel for Rounds One, Two, and Three of this Delphi survey consisted of 31, 32, and 31 members, respectively. The Delphi process involved three survey rounds. Round One consisted of collecting and developing entry-level job skill items from the panel, which resulted in 382 items. Round Two developed initial consensus on the 382 items and developed two new items. Round Three finalized the consensus on the 384 entry-level job skill items. In Round Three, the panel came to consensus on all 384 items with a minimum consensus rating of 80.6%, a maximum consensus rating of 100%. All entry-level job skill items were then ranked by level of importance. Seventy-two were ranked "high importance," 175 were "substantial importance," 123 were "moderate importance," 14 were of "low importance," and zero was of "no importance." When skills were grouped by category, 108 were biological science skills, 54 were practical daily work skills, 49 were quantitative science skills, 42 were communication skills, 38 were policy administration skills, 35 were physical science skills, 31 were humanities skills, and 27 were basic statistics skills. Based on the composition of the expert Delphi panel and the research results, the Delphi technique was a valid method for collecting geographically spread, consensual expert opinion to provide guidance for developing contemporary and futuristic wildlife management curricula at the university level.