1. Tests in Counseling Psychology
PS397 – Psychological Measurement & Testing
March 22, 2007

2. Today’s Class Strong Vocational Interest Blank
Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory
Campbell Interest and Skills Survey
Kuder Occupational Interest Survey
Interest tests for Non-professionals
Gender bias & Other Issues

3. What do you want to be when you “grow-up”?
-pose question to the class:
-when did you arrive at this decision?/how old were you?
-why did you choose this profession?
-why do you think this is the right career for you?
-when it comes time to pick a career, many people turn to their interests for guidance and ideas
-since you spend so much time at work, it’s best to chose a career that you would enjoy

4. Strong Vocational Interest Blank
E. K. Strong began research on interests of different people in different professions
Members of same profession often had similar interests
Interest patterns well-established by age 17 and stable for as long as 22 years
-he had groups of individuals from many different professions respond to around 400 items that described various interests, likes and dislikes
-used criterion keying to determine the extent to which new respondents answers corresponded to those of different professional groups
-criterion keying/criterion group strategy: a group of individuals that share a characteristic are administered a set of questions. Test constructors determine which items distinguish the criterion group from the control groups, how the two groups contrast
-occupational groups formed with the following criteria:
-employed at least 3 years in current job
-reported being satisfied with their work
-since Strong was mainly interested in professionals (e.g. doctors, lawyers, business executives) his comparison group was made up of other professionals
-e.g. hobbies, favourite books, entertainment
-used this information to develop a test which would determine extent to which person’s interests matched those of individuals in various professions and careers
-this data lead to the development of the SVIB

5. Strong Vocational Interest Blank
Extent to which the respondent’s interests match those of individuals in various professions
Main concern was issue of gender bias
Different forms used for males and females
Lack of theoretical background
-he used this info to develop a test which would determine extent to which person’s interest matched those of individuals in various professions and careers
-main concern that arose in late 1960s and early 1970s

6. Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory
Merged male and female forms into one form
Based test on J. L. Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice
People can be classified into one or more of six categories according to interest
Work environments can also be classified into these same themes
-criticism lead to a major revision in 1974 by Dr. D. P. Campbell, which became the…

7. Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice
-according to Holland, people are not rigidly classified into one of the six categories, rather, they are characterized by their resemblance to one or more of the six types, and ordered by the degree of resemblance
-themes represented in a hexagonal shape to represent the fact that certain themes are more closely related than others
-adjacent themes are the most highly correlated; opposite themes are most negatively correlated
-the six themes are:
-realistic: enjoys technical material and outdoor activities
-investigative: is interested in science and the process of investigation
-artistic: enjoys self-expression and being dramatic
-social: is interested in helping others and in activities involving other people
-enterprising: is interested in power and political strength
-conventional: likes to be well organized and has clerical interests

8. Strong Campbell Interest Inventory
Made up of seven sections:
Occupation (131 items)
School subjects (36 items)
Activities (51 items)
Amusements (39 items)
Types of people (24 items)
Preference between 2 activities (30 items)
Your characteristics (14 items)
-the end product was a scale that consisted of 325 items
-and was split up into seven sections
-Occupation: like, indifferent, dislike to a list of occupations
-School subjects: like, in different, dislike to a list of school subjects
-activities: like, indifferent, dislike to a list of activities (e.g. repairing electrical wiring, interviewing clients)
-amusements: like, indifferent, dislike to a list of spare time activities (e.g. playing poker, preparing dinner for guests)
-types of people: whether respondent would enjoy working with different types of people on a day to day basis (e.g. highway construction workers, babies, high school students)
-preference between two activities: decide between alternatives which is more appealing: e.g. taking a chance or playing it safe, having a few close friends or having many acquaintences
-your characteristics: indicate yes or no whether a statement is an accurate description of themselves (e.g. usually start activity of my group”

9. Strong Campbell Interest Inventory
Report consists of four scores:
Administrative index and special scales
General occupational themes
Basic interest scales
Occupational scales
Newest version published in 1985
Addition of 207 occupational scales
-administrative is descriptives of scale (e.g. percentage of responses of like, dislike, indifferent)
-not as important, more of a check to make sure errors in scoring were not made
-two special scales:
-academic comfort: degree of comfort in being in an academic setting
-introversion/extroversion
-general occupational themes: represent six themes in Holland’s theory of vocational choice
-e.g., may provide info into what type of activities the person enjoys, the kind of people the person would work well with
-basic interest scales: also organized within Holland’s six themes
-groups interests that are statisically related
-and refer to broader interests (e.g. science instead of chemistry)
-occupational scales
-largest part of the report
-scores for 124 occupations which are categorized into Holland’s six general occupational themes
-different from the general occupational themes scores because they compare the test-takers’ score with the scores of people working in the various professions, whereas the general occupational themes and basic interest scores compare the test-taker’s scores with those of people in general
-the score you get for each occupation indicates the degree of similarity between the test-taker and individuals that are happy in their chosen occupations on each scale (very dissimilar, dissimilar, average, similar, very similar)
-low scores suggest dissimilar interests with the particular occupation group
-some occupations may be gender biased in groupings (e.g. dental assistant/hygienist, home economics teacher, secretary)
-many of the occupations are divided so that different criterion groups are provided for men and women

10. Campbell Interest and Skill Survey
Respondent’s degree of interest in:
Different occupations
“A nutritionist, advising people on their diets”
Different school subjects
“Chemistry”
Different activities
“Telling stories to children”
Indicate skill in different activities
“Organize a political campaign”
-legal dispute over the rights and ownership of the SCII
-resulted in out of court settlement
-Stanford (Strong) got rights to the inventory
-Campbell got rights to the cumulative work he had done
-he then went on to develop the CISS
-made up of 200 items that assess respondent’s degree of interest in:
-6 point scale from strongly like to strongly dislike
-6 point scale from yes, yes, I definitely would like to study this subject to no, no, I definitely would not like to study this subject

11. Campbell Interest and Skill Survey
Report has three components:
1. Orientation scales
Influencing
Organizing
Helping
Creating
Analyzing
Producing
Adventuring
Career Match-up Game
-generates 11 pg profile and 2 pg summary
-seven scales describe the test taker’s occupational orientation:
-influencing: influencing others through leadership, politics, sales, marketing
-organizing: organizing the work of others, managing, monitoring financial performance
-helping: helping others through teaching, healing, counseling
-creating: creating artistic, literary, or musical productions and design
-analyzing: analyzing data, using math, carrying out scientific experiments
-producing: producing products, using “hands on” skills in farming, construction, etc.
-adventuring: adventuring, competing, risk-taking through athletic, police and military activities
-based on Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice

12. Campbell Interest and Skill Survey
Orientation Scales

13. Campbell Interest and Skill Survey
Report has three components:
2. Basic scales
Overview of categories of occupation
-e.g. counseling, law/politics

14. Campbell Interest and Skill Survey
Report has three components:
3. Occupational scales
Matches with particular occupations
e.g. lawyer, guidance counselor, math teacher

15. Campbell Interest and Skill Survey
Extra Scales:
Academic focus scale
Comfort in academic setting
Extroversion scale
Jobs with appropriate amount of interpersonal interaction
-measures how comfortable respondent would be in an academic setting
-meant to guide test taker into occupations with the appropriate amount of interpersonal relations or interactions

16. Kuder Occupational Interest Survey
Derived from Kuder Preference Survey (1939)
Presented with 100 triads of alternative activities
Scores on 10 general occupational interests
Similarity between your interest and others employed in various occupations
Helps students select a major
-after the SCII the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey is the most popular interest inventory
-triads = sets of three
-of the 3 select the most attractive and the least attractive of the alternatives
-e.g., 1. Interview a well known athlete
2. Take a class on how to get into tv
3. Help a new citizen learn English
-much like with the old Kuder preference survey you get scores on 10 general occupational interests (e.g., outdoor interests vs. social service interests)
-additionally however, you also get scores that compare the test-taker’s interests with that of individuals that are in various occupations
-much like the SCII and the CISS
-there are a separate set of scales for people that are university-bound that…

17. Kuder Occupational Interest Survey
Separate norms for men and women
Short-term reliability high ( )
Scores stable for up to 30 years
Helpful in high school and university counseling situations
-developers have also made an effort to include nontraditional occupations for men and women by adding a new scale (e.g. architect for women)
-the predictive validity for the college major portion of the test tends to be quite high
-high school students that took the Kuder reported that they felt more confident about their own self-knowledge after receiving the results

18. Non-Professional Interest Tests
Minnesota Vocational Interest Inventory
Based on SVIB scales
9 basic interest areas and specific occupations
Career Assessment Inventory
Written at 6th grade reading level
Similar to SCII and CISS
-tests like SCII, CISS and Kuder generally focus on professions that require college or university educations or professional training
-tests like the MVII are designed for men who are looking for careers in skilled or semiskilled trades
-9 interest areas (e.g. mechanical interests, electronics, food service)
-occupations (e.g. plumber, carpenter, truck driver)
-scale widely used by the military and by high school counselors for students not geared at college
-more modern than MVII
-developed for nonprofessionally oriented adults
-designed for the 80% of Americans that have less than 4 years of postsecondary education
-info is similar to SCII and CISS
-first section gives respondent info on what characteristics of Holland’s occupational theme scales they endorsed most
-second section describes the respondent’s basic interests
-third section reports the results of the occupational scales
-similar to SCII and CISS interests are matched based on interests of people employed and happy in their jobs
-criterion-keying method

19. The Self-Directed Search
Developed by J. L. Holland
Self-administered, self-scored, self-interpreted
Mirror counseling process
Develop personal career theory
List occupational goals and preferences
Ability and skills in these areas is assessed
-all of the interest inventories we have gone over today require some type of professional or computer scoring method in order for the respondent to obtain results
-Self-Directed Search is to be …
-the aim of the SDS is to mirror the counseling process and to help the respondent develop their own personal career theory
-first the respondent list their occupational goals and preferences…
-the user then calculates scores to determine their highest area of interest
-they can then use the occupational finder liked with the SDS to examine more than 1300 career choices
-personal theory part comes in the fact that the SDS also give feedback on their readiness to make a decision on their career and on seeking guidance

20. Gender Bias & Other Issues
Earliest interest inventories tended to be gender biased
Particular bias against women
Strong would argue that using the same norms for men and women would reduce validity of the test
Gender bias has been reduced, not eliminated
-young women and men that completed these assessments tended to be guided into careers that were gender-typed (e.g. nurse, teacher, secretary for women)
-e.g. SVIB used to have separate forms for men and women with careers on the women’s form being of lower status and less earning potential
-Campbell said that…(if Strong were alive)
-ignores the reality that men and women have different interests, and that knowing the sex of the respondent would provide us with a lot of information about his/her interests
-despite this argument, the SCII was developed with one form for men and women, and subsequent measures have gone to great lengths to reduce gender bias
-however, at this time …
-items of the SCII behave differently for men and women
-when you take the SCII the basic interest and general theme portions are based on a combined male and female reference group
-but, occupational scales are normed separately for men and women and the feedback comments that are given are based on the gender of the respondent

21. Gender Bias & Other Issues
Cultural biases have also been found
Scores are not an indication of success in the profession
Success in an occupation is based on aptitude and ability
-what if a person has the desire, but not the skill or ability?
-what if a person wants to be a doctor, but doesn’t even have ability to get into med school?
-not only interest

22. Websites of Interest Career Match-Up Game
Campbell Interest and Skill Survey
Self-Directed Search