In total, seven (TP 04, 06, 08, 09, 11, 14, 16) of the 14 test persons say that they can do more than is necessary to do their job, two (TP 01, 07) admit that they need additional skills for their work that they should acquire and five (TP 02, 03, 05, 13, 15) say that they can do exactly as much as is necessary.
It is also noticeable in question 15 that the two test persons (TP 01, 07) who choose the answer category "For this work I would need further skills that I should acquire" choose this answer because they think that you can always learn more:
"You can always do better. I don't think I would ever answer that question any other way." (TP 07).
In addition, eleven test persons find it difficult to answer the question, either because they perceive several stimuli (TP 14, 15), or because they find it difficult to make a general distinction between work-related knowledge and skills (TP 01, 03, 04, 06, 07, 08, 09, 13, 16). Test persons 14 and 15 take up different aspects of the given definition to explain their response in more detail and assess their skills for the individual stimuli, sometimes differently:
- "Yes, well I find it difficult to answer, very difficult. Well, I think the examples are good, but in my case I still lack a few skills to use the tool properly. However, when it comes to logical or creative thinking, I have more skills than I need.” (TP 14; Answer: can do more than necessary)
- "Concerning as skills that one acquires, for example, a machine setting [...] there, I am definitely not beyond skills. As for analytical thinking, it's difficult to say. I don't know. But I don't think I'm beyond what is required. What I bring to the table is what is required. Yeah, I can't say beyond that, I don't know. I don't have enough experience for that, maybe in other areas as well.“ (TP 15; Answer: can do as much as necessary)
The other nine test persons, who find it difficult to answer the question, see little difference between work-related knowledge and skills in relation to their respective jobs:
- "Skill sounds a little more technical than knowledge, but in principle, there's no difference." (TP 01)
- "If I know something, then I can use it somehow and then I have the skill and I can use it, make it and put it into practice. So how can you really separate the two?" (TP 03)
- "I would answer the question as before [like question 14], because I cannot and would not distinguish greatly between knowledge and skills. It would be different if I were physically working." (TP 04)
- "Whether that is competence or skill. That's a fine line. Communication would again be a skill or the preparation for a lesson." (TP 06)
Asked what the 14 test persons understand by "work-related skills" and whether they can think of other examples than those mentioned in the question, they tend to associate the term with practical activities or doing, often in connection with physical work:
- "In the penultimate [question 14] I was already thinking about what I was going to do with the goods, where they would arrive and the logistics, and in the last [question 15] I was thinking about how best to pack a box.” (TP 01)
- "Skill is something you learn. By skill I mean something routine, something you do every day, and just something physical." (TP 04)
- "We have a Smartboard in the classroom. It would be a skill to use, and I have no trouble with it." (TP 06)
- "So knowledge [question 14] means I need to know what I'm doing in production. I must have the knowledge of how the whole production should or can run. [...] And the other area [skills] would be rather, how do I implement the whole thing in order to get a smooth process to satisfy the customer.“ (TP 13)
- "Well, I would delimit it from the previous [question 14] like this: knowledge is more theory and skills are more practice.“ (TP 14)
Test person 16 mentions rather general skills that are important in her job:
"The job I'm doing at the moment requires a lot of concentration, conscientiousness, accuracy, you have to be able to calculate, calmness. So, specifically in relation to the job."
If you compare the answers to question 14 and question 15 directly, you can immediately see that nine of the fourteen test persons gave identical and five different answers to the two questions. Six test persons (TP 01, 06, 08, 09, 13, 16), who gave identical answers to questions 14 and 15, made no or only minor differences between knowledge and skills. This is also the case for three (TP 03, 04, 07) of the five test persons who answer the two questions differently.