D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology) / Career planning is a developmental process that can be facilitated by career development programmes. One of the recent developments in these programmes was the introduction of computerized career counselling which enables the user to explore career activities independently. An experimental investigation in which the DISCOVER computerized system was used, was conducted at two universities in an attempt to determine whether DISCOVER could be a useful aid for career counselling in South Africa. First-year university students (N=106) were randomly assigned to one of four groups according to the Solomon Four Group Experimental Design. Subjects completed a biographical questionnaire, the Career Maturity Scale (CMS), Senior Aptitude Test (SAT), New South African Group Test (NSAGT), Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), PHSF Relations Questionnaire (PHSF), Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA), Self-Directed Search (SDS) and the 19 Field Interest Inventory (19FII). Evaluation questionnaires concerning the use of DISCOVER were ·also completed by students as well as counsellors. The main hypothesis, namely that there would be a statistically significant difference between the mean posttest scores on the CMS of the experimental and the control groups, was tested according to the integrated statistical procedure suggested by Spector (1981). The results showed that there is. a statistically significant increase in the career maturity of students after they had used the DISCOVER system, compared with students from the control group (F, 12,15; p <0,0007). After posttest adjustment for pretest differences, the effect of the DISCOVER programme was still statistically significant. It could be predicted with 95 , certainty that a person who used the DISCOVER programme would show an increase of between 0,68 and 2,21 points in his total score on the Career Maturity Scale (CMS). There was no statistically significant interaction effect between the DISCOVER intervention and the pretest. Variables such as aptitude, personality and study habits, correlated statistically significant (p <0,05) with the increase in career maturity after the use of the DISCOVER system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:10770 |
| Date | 16 April 2014 |
| Creators | Langley, Petronella Rouxleen |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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