A Multidimensional Scaling Analysis of Supervisory Dimensions and Their Perceived Relevance Across Trainee Experience Levels

The Level of Supervision Scale (LSS; Miars et al., 1983) was administered to 69 supervisors with experience supervising first-semester practicum and intern-level trainees. The structure of their responses to 28 LSS items assessing perceptions of supervision as they varied across these 2 trainee experience levels was examined using 3-way multidimensional scaling. A 4-dimensional solution was yielded, which accounted for 63% of the variance. The 4 dimensions are (a) enhancing Dynamic Understanding, (b) Didactic Instruction, (c) Counseling vs. Supportive Supervisory functions, and (d) Authoritative vs. Collaborative Style. The study demonstrated clear differences in the salience of the dimensions across supervisors' perceptions of the 2 trainee experience groups. Supervisors perceived the enhancing Dynamic Understanding dimension as most important in their supervision of interns, whereas Didactic Instruction was most salient in perceptions of supervising beginning trainees. No differences were found across experience level for the other 2 dimensions.