Thesis (MSc (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / The purpose of this investigation was to standardise the MB-10 on adults. As it has already been standardised for grade 7, grade 9 and grade 11 learners, as well as first year students, the next logical step would be to extend it to adults. This study is further motivated by a suggestion of the Psychometric Committee of the Vocational Council for Psychology that there is indeed a need to standardise the MB- 10 on adults. Altogether 233 adult volunteers between the ages of 22 and 55 years participated in this study. The average age of the male group (35 years) is more or less the same as that of the female group (34 years). The majority of the participants (184) are Afrikaans speaking. Regarding the level of education, marginally more men and women (51% and 52% respectively) have post-matric qualifications, whereas 49% of the men and 48% of the women only have a school qualification. From the investigation the following conclusions might be drawn: * The same form of the MB-10 which has already been standardised on other groups, can be used as a reliable and valid instrument of measurement for adult interest. * Item analysis has indicated that there are only a few items which did not make a positive contribution to the relevant field, but that the overwhelming majority of the item correlations are highly satisfactory. A possible reason for the low correlations may be that certain items that should have been simple enough for grade 7 learners, were too simplistic for adults. * No meaningful differences were found regarding interest between adults with different educational levels, except that persons with no post school qualifications tend to have a preference for business activities. Results of this investigation have resulted in the setting of separate norm tables for adult men and women.

D. Litt et Phil.

No description available.

This research tested the utility of occupational interest inventories in predicting the work settings of highly satisfied counseling psychologists. A questionnaire was mailed to a sample of counseling psychologists who were members of the American Psychological Association. Of the 661 respondents surveyed 406 responded. Only the responses of 331 counseling psychologists who reported high job satisfaction were included in the analyses. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to compare the concurrent validity of general vocational interests and specific vocational interests to predict to a work setting continuum which ranged from a primarily academic work setting at one end to a primarily practice setting on the other end.Specific vocational interests as assessed by the Scientist Practitioner Inventory (SPI; Leong & Zachar, 1991, 1993, Zachar & Leong, 1992) and Teaching Interests Questionnaire were better at predicting the work setting continuum than were general vocational interests as assessed by the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI; Holland, 1985). Gender moderated the relationship between vocational interests and work setting continuum for VPI-Artistic. Higher scores for males on VPI-Artistic were associated with the academic end of continuum. Higher scores for females on VPI-Artistic were associated with the practice end of the continuum. Age did not moderate the relationship between vocational interests and the work setting continuum.As a main effect, VPI-Investigative was a significant predictor of the work setting continuum. Higher VPI-Investigative scores were associated with the academic end of the continuum. SPI-Scientist and SPI-Practitioner were significant predictors of the continuum as well. Higher scores on SPI-Scientist were associated with the academic end of the continuum and higher SPIPractitioner scores were associated with the practice end of the work setting continuum. The teaching interest questionnaire (TIQ) was also a significant predictor of the continuum with higher teaching interests scores being associated with the academic end of the work setting continuum. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive career interest inventory based on Super's (1980, 1984) Life Span, Life Space Theory of Career Development, and McDaniels' (1983) concept of Career = Work + Leisure (C = W + L). Career counselors increasingly have recognized the importance of a developmental perspective (Seligman, 1980; Super, 1983) and the inclusion of leisure as an integral component of one's career (Blocher & Siegal, 1984; Edwards, 1984; McDaniels, 1984). The results of this study produced a one hundred and twenty item interest inventory which can be used in career counseling, leisure counseling, or in a holistic approach. The Career Exploration Inventory (CEI) is an innovative instrument which measures developmental work and leisure interests from the past, in the present, and those anticipated in the future. The instrument is a self-administered, scored, and interpreted interest inventory for guided career exploration. Norms were developed for the CEI using two separate norm groups: unemployed/underemployed adults (N=104) and employed adults (N=106) ranging in age from eighteen to seventy-three. Validity of the CEI was comparable to existing work and leisure interest inventories. Coefficient alpha internal consistency measures ranged from .56 to .84, while subjects' top scores for the interest categories were consistent with their work and leisure activities 43 to 51 % of the time. The CEI correctly identified sustained, developmental interests for work (54%) and leisure (67%). Test-retest reliability measures for the eEl ranged from .80 to .92 over a three month period of time. The results of this study verified the utility of a developmental instrument which measures an individual's work and leisure interests over time. Many subjects reported the instrument's accuracy in measuring "true" continuing interests, rather than just current interests. / Ed. D.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 1948. / No abstract available

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The major concern in the world of work has been the mismatch between a person's vocational interests and job pursuits. The understanding has been that jobs make differing demands on people and that the abilities of the individual and demands of the job have a bearing on productivity hence the need for matching people to jobs. The most notable attempts to identify and organize vocational interests have been Holland's theory of vocational interests and personality types. Holland asserts that people can be categorized predominantly as one of six personality types, namely, realistic (R), investigative (I), artistic (A), social (S), enterprising (E), and conventional (C). The review of literature has shown that person-environment fit explains the degree of match between occupational pursuits and one's vocational interests and that before a measure can be used across cultures, its construct validity must be established in each culture. The current study was motivated by the Zimbabwe Public Service Commission's quest, in the absence of vocational interest measures tailored for Zimbabwe, for assessment tools that can assist in predicting suitability for recruitment or promotion. The study was therefore designed to (a) develop a measure of vocational interest validated on the Zimbabwe population, (b) build a model for predicting and classifying people into job sectors and (c) assess the adequacy of Holland's RIASEC structure for assessing person-job fit in the Zimbabwe Public Service. To achieve this, a correlational research design was used. The vocational interest measure and the MB-10 were the two instruments used for data collection. A sample of 500 public servants representing six occupational sectors in the Zimbabwe Public Service participated in the study. Statistical approaches to data analysis included reliability and validity analysis, factor analysis and multiple discriminant analysis. The results of the reliability coefficients were within acceptable levels. The subscale reliabilities of the vocational interest measure ranged from ra = 0.85 to ra = 0.89. Overall, the concurrent validity of the vocational interest measure was established. Factor analysis and correlation coefficients statistic assessed the adequacy of the hexagonal ordering of the RIASEC types. Factor analysis was computed resulting in 8 factors being extracted instead of the theoretically conceptualized 6 factors. The 8 extracted factors accounted for 65.88% of the total variance. Holland's theory affirms that occupational types that are more proximate on the hexagon are more similar than types that are more distant. Results of the RIASEC intercorrelations showed strong correlations between Realistic and Investigative (r = 0.69) and moderate correlations with four of the adjacent types. However, low and negative correlations were obtained between Conventional and Realistic (adjacent types) (r = -0.14) and between Investigative and Conventional (alternate types) (r = -0.11). On the other hand, there was strong correlation between Realistic and Social (opposite types) (r = 0.25.) The model for predicting and classifying people into appropriate job sectors was developed. The model's utility was confirmed using the scores from the sample data. The cross validation table obtained an error rate of 0.29, an indication of a relatively good model. Given the results of the present study, it appears the study hypotheses were generally supported. Further work in refining the model is recommended.

No description available.

No description available.