Predictive validity of the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey: A 12- to 19-year follow-up.

Abstract

More than 1,000 men and women were located 12 to 19 years after taking an early form of the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey either in high school or college. Satisfactory data were available for 882 subjects. Fiftyone percent were employed at the time of the follow-up in an occupation that would have been suggested to them had their inventory been interpreted to them. This compares favorably with other validity findings for occupationally scaled interest inventories and represents about 90% of the possible validity as derived from concurrent validity figures. College major scales from a high school level administration correctly predicted 55%. Subjects in occupations consistent with their early interest profiles did not report greater job satisfaction or success but did show greater continuance in their occupational career. Better prediction is achieved when the occupation is one named on the profile and when the person has gone to or graduated from college or entered a high-level or scientifictechnical occupation.

The Kuder Occupational Interest Inventory as a Moderator of its Predictive Validity

“…Constructed of responses not often marked by sincere subjects but more frequently marked by those instructed to try to make a good impression, it was to identify fakers (Kuder, 1974). V scores did not, however, relate to predictive validity as expected (Zytowski, 1976).…”

“…Using the original scoring patterns, 17 homogeneous Area Scales, which are not normally reported on the KOIS, can be obtained (Kuder, 1974). To the extent that these scales match some of the moderators tentatively identified, the Scientific, Artistic, Mechanical (Zytowski, 1976) and Spontaneity (Saunders, 1956, p. 210) Area Scales may be moderators.…”

“…Zytowski's (1976) data, obtained originally by Dr. Kuder, were used in the present investigation. Subjects responded to the KOIS 12 to 19 years before follow-up while attending some type of educational institution.…”

“…A wide range of variables may be moderators of vocational interest inventories: the appropriateness of the criterion, occupation engaged in, as reflected by job satisfaction (Strong, 1955;Zytowski, 1976); environmental factors, such as the job market; a lack of capacity to perform the occupation of one's interests because of inadequate intelligence, poor physical health or lack of skill in interpersonal relationships (Strong, 1955); lack of motivation to answer seriously (Note 1); demographic characteristics, such as sex, age, college enrollment, enrollment in a vocationally relevant curriculum, occupational level, and eventual entry into a science or technology course (Zytowski, 1976). Deviant subjects are not as predictable as more usual people.…”

“…A wide range of variables may be moderators of vocational interest inventories: the appropriateness of the criterion, occupation engaged in, as reflected by job satisfaction (Strong, 1955;Zytowski, 1976); environmental factors, such as the job market; a lack of capacity to perform the occupation of one's interests because of inadequate intelligence, poor physical health or lack of skill in interpersonal relationships (Strong, 1955); lack of motivation to answer seriously (Note Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) was not as predictive for those who attended private schools as for those who attended public schools (McArthur, 1954;McArthur and Stevens, 1955). Among students who requested vocational counseling, those with elevated Schizophrenia or Psychasthenia MMPI scales were not as occupationally predictable by the SVIB as the normals (Brandt and Hood, 1968).…”