The effects of test interpretation styles and the status of tests in career counseling

Abstract

Psychological testing of abilities, personality traits and types, and vocational interests has traditionally played an important role in the career counselling literature. Much research effort has focused and continues to focus on demonstrating the validity of measures of these attributes as predictors of occupational choice and vocational adjustment (Walsh & Betz, 1995;Wampold, 2001). Overall, it appears that these measures have some predictive validity (Foxcroft, 2001).While relatively more is known about how to construct psychological measures for career counselling purposes and how to validate these measures, much less is known about how to best interpret the results and how to best give feedback to clients (Zytowski, 1999). For much of the 20 th century, the socalled trait-and-factor approach to career counselling appeared to be the most popular approach (Sharf, 2002). The basis of this approach is that (a) individuals should know themselves in regard to their abilities, personality traits, vocational interests, and vocational values, (b) individuals should know the world of work concerning aspects such as the structure of employment, the availability of employment opportunities in a particular field, and the future prospects in a particular field, and (c) a match between a person's attributes and specific work environments should be made so that the needs of the individual and the needs of the work environment are best met (Holland, 1997).The stereotypical view of this approach to career counselling is that the client consults a career counsellor who administers a battery of psychological tests and on the basis of the test results, makes a recommendation about fields of work or study most appropriate for the client. This approach to career counselling has been caricatured as "two interviews and a cloud of dust" (Brown & Krane, 2000). Although it is not always made explicit, the counsellor is likely to adopt the role of an expert who decides on the tests to be included in the test battery. The counsellor then interprets the tests, gives feedback to clients, and makes recommendations. All this occurs without much input on the part of the client (Campbell, 2000). It should be noted that what occurs in practice may differ substantially from the stereotypical view described above. It is more likely that skilled career counsellors, who work from a trait-and-factor approach, will have involved their clients in some aspects of the career counselling and test interpretation process.Career counselling is an activity that influences a wide range of people, from adolescents to adults. Contemporary writers, for example Brown and Brooks (2002) and Feller (2001), increasingly emphasise the view that career development is a life span issue affecting other life roles. Given this, these writers advocate that career counselling should equip the client with the necessary skills to make career decisions. They contend that individuals can only make sensible career decisions when career counsellors facilitate conditions that ena...