Scribd
Upload
15 views4 pages

Interest Assessment

Uploaded by

sthitpragy88
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
15 views4 pages

Interest Assessment

Uploaded by

sthitpragy88
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Course Material (E-Content) of Psychology

By – Dr. KHURSHID JAHAN


Department of Psychology

MagadhMahila College

Assessment ofInterest
The assessment of interests through the use of interest inventories is
big business in the field of testing today. Although publishers closely
guard their data on the number of inventories given, an estimate of
3,000,000 administrations per year probably is conservative. The first
formal assessment of interests using a published inventory occurred in
1927 with the appearance of the "Strong Vocational Interest Blank."
Since that time, the "Strong" has survived numerous revisions and
continues to be a popular and widely used interest inventory.

Interests were assessed prior to 1927 using, basically, four techniques.


The earliest of these techniques was "estimation", which simply
involved asking an individual to indicate her or his feelings towards
an activity. Because estimates were not always accurate, individuals
often were encouraged to "try-out" activities as another method for
assessing their interests. Obviously, try-outs could be quite time-
consuming and costly, and "rating scales" and "checklists", precursors
to interest inventories, were developed to identify interests more
systematically. The interest inventories that we use today differ from
early checklists and ratings in that they use statistical methods to
summarize responses to pools of items representing various activities
and occupations (Hansen, 1984).
PURPOSE OF INTEREST ASSESSMENT

Interest assessment is used in a variety of applied and research


settings for several different purposes. Career exploration, that leads
to decisions such as choosing a major, selecting a career, or making
mid-career changes, probably is the most popular and frequent use of
interest assessment. Within this context, college and high school
counseling services are the most typical providers of interest
assessment and career counseling experiences. However, employment
agencies, vocational rehabilitation services, social service agencies,
corporations, consulting firms, and community agencies such as the
YW or YMCA also provide career counseling opportunities that
incorporate interest assessment.

Researchers use objective assessments to operationalize the construct


of interests in studies that investigate variables relevant to
understanding the world of work. Current trends in vocational
psychology research include analyses of (1) the structure of interest;
(2) the relationship of interests to other psychological variables such
as personality, satisfaction, and success; and (3) the role that interests
play in career development.

To a lesser extent, interests are assessed for use in selection and


classification evaluations. In some instances, assessed interests, which
add valuable data to career choice predictions, are used even after
selection to help an employee find the right position within a
particular organization (Hansen, 1994).
CURRENT INTEREST ASSESSMENT INVENTORIES

Numerous inventories designed to assess interests have been


published. The available choices range from those inventories that
measure a small number of relatively broad interests and are self-
administered and hand-scored to those that report over 200 scores and
must be scored by computers (Kapes&Mastie, 1994).

The "Self-Directed Search (SDS)" and the "Unisex Edition of the


ACT Interest Inventory (UNIACT)" are based on John Holland's
theory of vocational personalities and assess the six types that
Holland hypothesizes. The "SDS" is self-administered, self-scored
and self-interpreted while the "UNIACT" is computer scored and uses
a computer-generated narrative report to relate the scores to a World-
of-Work Map.
The "Vocational Interest Inventory" ("VII"; 8 scales), the "Career
Occupational Preference System Interest Inventory" ("COPS"; 14
scales), the "Ohio Vocational Interest Survey" ("OVIS"; 23 scales),
and the "Jackson Vocational Interest Survey" ("JVIS"; 34 scales)
feature basic interest scales that are composed of homogeneous
groupings of items often identified by cluster or factor analysis. With
the exception of the "COPS-R" and the "JVIS", which can be hand or
computer-scored, all of these inventories are scored by computer.
Typically these inventories measure some configuration of basic
interests such as mechanical activities, athletics, nature, science,
military activities, mathematics, aesthetics, social service, teaching,
clerical activities, religious activities, business management,
persuading, selling, health, or language.

The "Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS)", the "Kuder


Occupational Interest Survey (KOIS)", the "Career Assessment
Inventory (CAI)", and the "Strong Interest Inventory (SII)" all require
computer scoring and include over 100 different measures of
interests. The large number of scales allows these inventories to
present profiles that include: (1) global measures of interests similar
to those that represent Holland's six types; (2) basic interest scales
composed of homogeneous groupings of items (e.g., scales that
measure an interest in mechanical activities, medical service, or
selling); and (3) scales that measure the interests of specific
occupational groups such as engineers, physicians, journalists,
guidance counselors, buyers, and accountants.

The choice of the appropriate inventory to use with a particular


population depends on factors such as their age, the purpose of the
interest assessment, the amount of time available for testing and
interpretation, and the funding available to purchase materials and pay
for scoring. Generally, the smaller the number of scales offered by the
inventory, the less expensive the materials and scoring will be.

COMPUTERS AND INTEREST ASSESSMENT


The option now exists to use personal computers for every phase of
interest assessment, including administration of the inventory, in-
house scoring of the scales, production of the profile, interpretation of
the results, and integration of the assessed interests into computerized
career counseling sequences (Hansen &Sackett, 1993). The most
important advantage of using personal computers in interest
assessment is in-house scoring that eliminates the need to mail answer
sheets to a scoring service for processing, thus reducing the lag
between inventory administration and interpretation of the results. A
second advantage is the financial savings realized through the use of
interactive computerized career guidance programs. Although these
programs do not eliminate the need for counselors to work with
clients, computers do provide an effective mechanism for identifying
and conveying routine information and data to the client.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy