The population consisted of the major employers (those with five hundred or more employees) in the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area as listed in the "Statistical Abstract of Oklahoma 1980." The study was limited to the companies which were computer-based within the State of Oklahoma. Thirty-two companies participated in the project.

Analyzed and evaluated in this study were worker characteristics and skills deemed necessary by managers in business and industry to secure employment and to succeed in the area of Information Processing.

Statistics were compiled on one hundred and sixty items taken from the interview-questionnaire. A Condescriptive Program computed the statistical mean on a five-point scale as to the importance of each item and percentile responses were illustrated through the use of a Crosstabs Program. For additional background information concerning the population, five items relating to demographic factors of the companies were tabulated.

An interview-questionnaire was developed and was submitted to a panel of experts for validation. The experts were members of the Business Advisory Committee for the Business and Economics Department at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. For validation by business and industry, five companies were selected from the population and personal interviews were conducted with those companies.