Of old philosophies and new kids on the block.

Discusses articles by D. E. Polkinghorne (see record 1985-07630-001), G. S. Howard (see record 1985-07626-001), and M. J. Patton (see record 1985-07629-001), in which they find the philosophy of science undergirding contemporary research in counseling psychology to be deficient. Their criticisms are reviewed and evaluated within the context of the present author's own view that the purpose of scientific activity is the construction (construing) of reality. The present author challenges the new philosophy to prove itself. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vocational psychology, vocational adjustment, and the workforce: Some familiar and unanticipated consequences.

Vocational psychology, the psychological study of calling or "life work" (which for many is their work life), grew out of the vocational guidance movement. From the beginning, vocational guidance was founded on the Parsons formula of person analysis, job (or occupation) analysis, and the matching of the two. Vocational psychology, as a special case of the psychology of individual differences, has provided vocational guidance with an empirically validated technology (and accompanying theory) with which to assess the vocationally significant attributes of persons (abilities and interests, in particular), to describe occupations in person-attribute terms, and thereby to enable the matching of person and occupation on an actuarial basis. This technology has been amply validated for the prediction of both worker satisfaction and worker satisfactoriness. With the dramatic consequences for individuals and society of even modest increases in worker satisfaction and satisfactoriness, it is regrettable that vocational psychology is still unknown or unavailable to most of those who could benefit from it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An objective validation of factual interview data.

How valid is information obtained from interviews? 91 physically handicapped individuals were interviewed by 5 female interviewers, each having a 3-hour training period. The information for some was obtained by talking directly to the handicapped person; for others, it was obtained from an adult relative. These data were checked against agency records and employer questionnaires. "It is indefensible to assume the validity of purportedly factual data obtained by interview." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life history correlates of vocational needs for a female adult sample.

According to vocational theory and practice, a relationship exists between vocational needs and life history developmental/experiential factors. A test of this hypothesis was conducted using self-report biodata and measured vocational needs. A 211-item Biographical Information Form (BIF) and the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ) were administered to 290 female adults (median age 29 yrs). A weighted BIF was developed to predict scores on each of the 20 MIQ need scales. Using a double cross-validation design, significant average validities were obtained for 19 of the 20 vocational need scales, ranging from .13 to .47, with a median of .35. The female prediction equations failed to generalize to a male sample (N?=?100), with only 1 of the 20 MIQ subscale prediction equations being validated. Further analysis showed the practical utility of the BIF as a substitute measure of vocational needs for this female sample. Implications for counseling practice and work adjustment theory are discussed. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work values: Genetic and environmental influences.

The Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ), measuring work values, was administered to 23 monozygotic and 20 dizygotic reared-apart twin pairs to test the hypothesis that genetic factors are associated with work values. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. In the univariate analysis, intraclass correlations were computed to estimate the proportion of variability in work values associated with genetic factors for each of the 20 MIQ scales and for the 6 higher-order work value scales. The multivariate analysis used maximum likelihood estimation to separate the genetic and environmental factors for the correlated higher-order scales. Results from both analyses indicated that, on average, 40% of the variance in measured work values was related to genetic factors, whereas approximately 60% of the variance was associated with environmental factors and error variance. Implications for job enrichment and motivation theories are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scale construction.

The design, development, and evaluation of scales for use in counseling psychology research are discussed. Methods of scale construction described include the Thurstone, Q-sort, rank-order methods, Likert, semantic differential, Guttman, Rasch, and external criterion methods. Strengths and weaknesses, advantages, and disadvantages are considered, and ways of evaluating newly developed scales are presented. Other issues such as measurement versus statistics, bandwidth versus fidelity, empirical versus rational methods, response bias, and multimethod measurement are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A test of Holland's environment formulations.

181 occupations, for which reinforcer rating data were available, were classified into the 6 environment models of J. L. Holland (1973). Mean reinforcer scale scores were found to differ significantly among the 6 environments on 17 reinforcer scales, on 12 of which there were significant pairwise differences. Comparison of hypothesized and observed rank orderings of the 6 environments showed significant agreement on 8 reinforcer scales. Comparison of mean score differences between alternating environments with those between opposite or adjacent environments were significantly in the hypothesized direction for 3 reinforcer scales. Multidimensional scaling of the 6 environments using correlation and d–2 as measures of similarity showed the appropriateness of a 2-dimensional solution, with an RCSIAE (Realistic, Conventional, Social, Investigative, Artistic, Enterprising) or REAISC ordering (compared with Holland's postulated RIASEC ordering). Position Analysis Questionnaire mean factor scores for 5 Holland environments were found not to fit a 2-dimensional configuration. It is concluded that these occupational reinforcer and behavioral requriement data provide at best only modest support for Holland's environment formulations. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factor analysis of Strong Vocational Interest Blank items.

Attempted to identify independent interest dimensions that were equivalent across different S samples, as a first step toward mapping the vocational interest domain. The responses to 347 female form items and 357 male form items from the SVIB were obtained, using the appropriate form for the following 5 single-sex samples: women in general, men in general, female occupational, male occupational, and male rehabilitation client (Ns?=?1,000; 1,000; 2,500; 3,600, and 1,874, respectively). The SVIB items were intercorrelated separately for each sample and the correlation matrices were factored by a principal axes technique, using the highest off-diagonal correlations as communality estimates with rotation to a varimax criterion. Factors between same-sex samples were compared using Tucker's coefficient of congruence. The analyses resulted in 11–23 factors, depending on the sample, of which 9 and 8 were judged to be equivalent across the 2 female and 3 male samples, respectively. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of life satisfaction after spinal cord injury: A four-year longitudinal approach.

Responses to a life situation questionnaire were obtained in 1985 and 1989 from 286 adults with spinal cord injury. Multidimensional personality questionnaires were obtained in 1989 only. Multiple regression was used to identify the optimal predictors of 1989 satisfaction from predictor variables taken in 1985 and 1989. Results suggest that the predictors accounted for a greater percentage of variation in General Satisfaction compared with Economic Satisfaction. As expected, concurrent prediction was superior to the 4-yr longitudinal prediction. Adjustment measures were better predictors of satisfaction than were demographic and injury-related predictors (e.g., age, injury severity). A different pattern of predictors was identified between the 2 satisfaction areas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)