1. From Parsons’ “True Reasoning” to Models and Applications in Career Decision Making
Itamar Gati
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Presented at the Symposium (Paul Gore Chair)
Spotlight on Science: Contributions from Vocational Psychology

2. Parsons (1908) Zytowski (2008)

3. Prior to Engaging in the Process
Possible Focuses of Career Decision-Making Difficulties (Gati, Krausz, & Osipow, 1996)
Prior to Engaging in the Process
Lack of Readiness due to
Lack of motivation
Indeci-siveness
Dysfunc-tional beliefs
During the Process
Lack of Information about
Cdm process
Self
Occu-
pations
Ways of obtaining info.
Inconsistent Information due to
Unreliable Info.
Internal conflicts
Externalconflicts

4. The Empirical Structure of CDM Difficulties (CDDQ, N=10,000)
Lack of motivation
Indecisiveness
Dysfunctional beliefs
Lack of info regarding the Cdm process
Lack of info about the Self
Lack of info about Occupations
Lack of info about Ways of obtaining info.
Unreliable Info.
Internal conflicts
External conflicts

8. The 4 Stages of Interpretation1
Evaluating
Credibility
Not Credible
Doubtful
Credible 2
Estimating Differentiation
Low
Questionable
High 3
Locate Salient
Difficulties
Aggregate
Reasons to Add Reservation (RAR)
Compute Informativeness
(B /W )
B/W < 1
RAR = 3
B/W > 1
RAR ≤ 2 4
Add Reservation
to Feedback
Receives Feedback
No Feedback

9. The distribution of types of feedback in 4 groups (N=6192)

10. Conclusions
The incorporation of an intermediate level of discrimination increases the usefulness of the feedback and decreases the chances and implications of potential errors
Adding reservations when appropriate is essential for providing a meaningful feedback and decreasing the chances of misleading conclusions

11. Among the salient difficulties is: lack of information about the career decision-making process (4)
Three Levels of Difficulties (negligible, moderate, salient difficulty)
in the Ten Difficulty Categories and the Four Groups (N = 6192;
H-Hebrew, E-English, p-paper and pencil, I-Internet) LP

12. MBCD Making Better Career Decisions
MBCD is an Internet-based career planning system that is a unique combination of
a career-information system
a decision-making support system
an expert system
Based on the rationale of the PIC model, MBCD is designed to help deliberating individuals make better career decisions

13. Making Better Career Decisions http://mbcd.intocareers.org

14. MBCD’s Effect (Cohen’s d) on Reducing Career Decision-Making Difficulties (Gati, Saka, & Krausz, 2003)

16. Frequencies of Occupational Choice Satisfaction by “Acceptance” and “Rejection” of MBCD's Recommendations (Gati, Gadassi, & Shemesh, 2006)

17. Gender Differences in Directly Elicited and Indirectly Derived Preferred Occupations (226 Women + 79 Men, Mean Age=23; Gadassi & Gati, 2008)
Data from participant:
2. Preferences in 31 career-related aspects
1. Directly Elicited list of preferred occupations
5. comparison
Occupational information database
3. Matching preferences & database
4. Indirectly Derived list of recommended occupations
MBCD

18. Gender Differences in Directly Elicited and Indirectly Derived Preferred Occupations
(Gadassi & Gati, 2008)
masculine
feminine

20. The Four Stages of Interpretation
Ascertaining Credibility, using validity items and the time required to fill out the questionnaire
Estimating Differentiation based on the standard deviation of the 10 difficulty-scale scores
Locating the salient, moderate, or negligible difficulties, based on the individual's absolute and relative scale scores
Determining the confidence in the feedback and the need to add reservations to it (based on doubtful credibility, partial differentiation, or low informativeness)

21. Criteria for Testing the Benefits of Making Better Career Decisions
Examine users' perceptions of MBCD
Examine changes in user’s decision status
Examine perceived benefits
Locate factors that contribute to these variables

22. Decision Status Before and After the “Dialogue” with MBCD (N=712)
Before the dialogue 1 2 3 4 5
1- no direction 34 7 6
2 - only a general
direction 41 66 15 9
3 - considering a few specific alternatives 27 58 84 30
4 - would like to examine
additional alternatives 23 51 35 54
5 - would like to collect
information about a
specific occupation 20 21 28
6 - sure which
occupation to choose 16

23. Predictive Validity of MBCD (Gati, Gadassi, & Shemesh, 2006)
Design: Comparing the Occupational Choice Satisfaction (OCS) of two groups six years after using MBCD :
those whose present occupation was included in MBCD’s recommended list (44%)
those whose present occupation was not included in MBCD’s recommended list (56%)
Method
Participants
73 out of 123 counseling clients were located after six+ years; 70 agreed to participate in the follow-up: 44 women (64%) and 26 men (36%), aged 23 to 51 (mean = 28.4, SD = 5.03)

24. Summary of Major Findings
PIC is compatible with people’s intuitive ways of making decisions (Gati & Tikotzki, 1989)
Most users report progress in the career decision-making process (Gati, Kleiman, Saka, & Zakai, 2003)
Satisfaction was also reported among those who did not progress in the process
Users are “goal-directed” – the closer they are to making a decision, the more satisfied they are with MBCD
The list of “recommended” occupations is less influenced by gender stereotypes (Gadassi & Gati, 2008)