1. Interest and Vocational Testing
PSY 614
Instructor: Emily E. Bullock, Ph.D.

2. Vocational Testing can include an assessment of…
Interest
Skills (Aptitude, Ability, Self Ratings)
Values
Decision-Making Styles
Career Thinking
Career Maturity
Personality
Card Sorts
Computer-Assisted Career Guidance Systems
Vocational Rehabilitation/Disability Evaluations
Resume/Cover letter analysis
Group Activities
Checklists of Job Seeking Activities

3. Vocational Assessment from a CIP Perspective
EXECUTIVE PROCESSING DOMAIN
KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS
DECISION-MAKING SKILLS DOMAINS
SELF KNOWLEDGE
OPTIONS KNOWLEDGE
CASVE
META-COGN.

4. Vocational Assessment: Self-Knowledge Domain
Values
Interests
Skills
Work with your client to differentiate Interests, Values, and Skills

5. Self Knowledge Domain: Interest
Most commonly considered aspect of Vocational Assessment
Interest: “a response of liking” (Strong, 1943, p.6); “a learned affective response to an object or activity” (Murphy & Davidshofer, p. 38)
Can be used in practice to predict choices
Constraints on using interest alone to make a choice
Examples of Interest Measures
Strong Interest Inventory
Self-Directed Search
Kuder Occupational Interest Survey
COPS
PGI
O*NET Interest Profiler

6. Self Knowledge Domain: Interest
Expressed vs. Assessed (Inventoried) Interest
Trait and Factor vs Actuarial Approaches
Purpose, Benefits, Drawbacks of Interest Assessment

7. Interest Assessment: Holland’s Theory
Holland’s theory has been used to develop measures of values, skills, and most notably interests
4 key propositions:
Most people can be categorized as one of six personality types
There are also six environments
People search for environments that will let them exercise their skills and abilities, express their attitudes and values, and take on agreeable problems and roles.
Behavior is determined by the interaction between personality and environment

8. Interest Assessment: Holland Hexagon

9. Interest Assessment: Self-Directed Search (SDS)
Utilizes Holland’s RIASEC theory as a way of classifying an individual’s interests
Assign each test taker with a three-letter code that best represent the personality of the test taker
Possible to self administer, score, and interpret
Latest version 1994
Adaptable to individual or group administration settings

10. Interest Assessment: SDS
Forms of the SDS
Regular-Form R
Appropriate for HS, College, and Adults
Easy-Form E (4th grade reading level)
For HS students and Adults with limited reading ability
Career Planning-Form CP
Appropriate for Middle School or Junior High Students
Adaptations for Culture, Language, and Disability
Australia, Canada, China, Finland, France, Greece, Guyana, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, South Africa, South America, Spain, Switzerland'; English-Canadian, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Braille; chidren’s version
Online
Paper & Pencil
Computer (non-online) program
Publisher: Psychological Assessment Resources,

11. Interest Assessment: SDS Psychometric Properties of Form R
Norm group
2,602 students and working adults spread over 25 states and the District of Columbia.
more females than males,
age ranged from 17 to 65; mean age was 23.5
Internal consistency: r = 0.90 to 0.94
Test-retest reliability: 0.76 to 0.89
Predictive validity demonstrated with respect to occupational choice and college major in high school, college, and adult samples.
Construct validity has been reported in over 500 investigations
Career Explorer (middle school) version has comparable psychometric properties and a norm group of yr olds

12. Interest Assessment: SDS
In terms of the RIASEC areas individuals rate their
Activities
Competencies
Preferences
Occupations
Self-estimates
List their occupational aspirations, which are referred to as occupational daydreams.

13. Interest Assessment: SDS
Strengths
Linked to a myriad of career-planning resources
Multiple versions and adaptations to meet the needs of the test taker
Format appealing to clients and created to be easily accessible
Weaknesses
Developed to be self interpretable but could be misused in such settings
Lack of predictive validity studies

14. Interest Assessment: Strong Interest Inventory
Originally the Strong Vocational Interest Blank in 1927 (Has also been named the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory)
Current version revised in 2004 and based on Holland’s theory since the ’90s
Administration time is minutes
Normative Sample: 2,250 employed adults; representative of the US culturally & ethnically based on 2000 US Census

15. Interest Testing: SII
Available in multiple languages; 9th grade reading level
Item format: Strongly Like, Like, Indifferent, Dislike, Strong Dislike
Scales
General Occupational Themes
Basic Interest Scales
Occupational Scales
Personal Style Scales
Typicality Index

16. Other Interest Inventories
Personal Global Inventory (PGI)
O*NET Interest Profiler
Explore this website and these inventories

17. Self-Knowledge Domain: Values Assessment-CACG and Card Sort
SIGIPlus Values
High Income
Prestige
Independence
Helping Others
Security
Variety
Leadership
Field of Interest
Leisure
Early Entry
Examples of other Values Measures available
Minnesota Importance Questionnaire
Survey of Interpersonal Values
Other CACGs
Various Card Sorts

18. Self Knowledge Domain: Skills Assessment
Eureka Skills Inventory Worksheet
ACT Inventory of Work-Relevant Abilities (IWRA)
But don’t forget…
Intelligence Tests
School Grades
Self Report
Other Aptitude Surveys

19. Vocational Assessment: Decision-Making Domain
Career Decision Scale:
Two Domains: Certainty and Indecision
Career Decision-Making Self Efficacy Scale:
Provides information regarding “'Self-Appraisal, Occupational Information, Goal Selection, Planning, and Problems-Solving”

20. Vocational Assessment: Decision-Making Domain
Computer Assisted Career Guidance Systems (CACGs)
The CASVE Cycle

21. Vocational Assessment: Metacognitions Domain
Career Thoughts Inventory-Constructed to assess “dysfunctional thinking in career problem solving and decision making”
Considered to be a career-decision making readiness screener
Based in and created by the CIP theorists
Scores reported
CTI Total
Decision-Making Confusion
Commitment Anxiety
External Conflict

22. Metacognitions Domain: CTI Psychometric Properties
Norms: high school students (n = 396), college students (n = 595), and adults (n = 571)
Reliability
Internal Consistency
Validity
High face valid instrument
Content validity assessed through panel of CIP experts
Construct validity demonstrated through factor analysis yielded the three identified subscales

23. Metacognitions Domain: CTI
Strengths
Short in administration time
Uniquely identifies dysfunctional thinking related to career decision making
Integrated into intervention strategies and commonly used theoretical orientation
Weaknesses
Lack of empirical evidence on the usefulness of the workbook
Requires background in the theory to use effectively in practice