This study explored outcomes of using the Internet version of the DISCOVER career guidance system by college students who are unsure of their career direction. Previous research indicated mixed results concerning DISCOVER's effectiveness. A review of these studies showed that measures of foundational components of career development (i.e., individuals' knowledge of their skills, interests, and values) consistently improved after DISCOVER use, while more advanced areas of career development (e.g., actual occupational choice) showed mixed results. This study proposed that the Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) theory of career development can be used to assess these different levels under a unifying model. Sixty-three undergraduate students participated in a pretest/posttest study where they were assessed on various measures, including need for cognition, vocational identity, and dysfunctional career thinking before and after using DISCOVER. Participants were found to have increased levels of vocational identity and lower levels of dysfunctional career thinking after DISCOVER use. Of particular note, individuals with higher levels of vocational identity prior to using DISCOVER showed greater decreases in dysfunctional career thinking after using DISCOVER than those with lower initial levels of vocational identity. These results offer support to the proposal that an understanding of one's interests, skills, and values must be achieved before an individual can make additional gains on more advanced levels of career decision making. Additionally, patterns of DISCOVER use among college students in this study indicate that individuals did not plan a strategy prior to using the program, suggesting that college students could benefit from additional instruction prior to using DISCOVER. Also, participants did not express an interest in discussing their DISCOVER results with others while they were using the program, implying that college students believe using a computer-assisted career guidance system is a solitary endeavor. This study recommends that a "one size fits all" approach to using DISCOVER should not be taken by college career counselors; rather, counselors should make an initial assessment of a client's stage within the career development process and then offer suggestions to the individual regarding how best to use the program.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04192007-131902 |
| Date | 27 June 2007 |
| Creators | Hornyak, David A. |
| Contributors | Christian D. Schunn, Jane E. Pizzolato, Roger D. Klein, Erik C. Ness |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04192007-131902/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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