Assessment in Career Counseling & Development CHAPTER 7

Transcription

1 Assessment in Career Counseling & Development CHAPTER 7 1

2 Types of Assessment Objective: This assessment is usually in test form (e.g. the Scholastic Aptitude Test, interest inventories, personality tests etc.) These tests or inventories are standardized. Qualitative: These are more subjective and are interpreted ideographically rather than normatively. These include card sorts, values clarification exercises, work samples and observations etc. Clinical: The counselor synthesizes data from a variety of sources and makes a diagnosis and/or prediction.

3 Criteria for Choosing Standardized Assessments Validity of the assessment Reliability of the assessment Cost Time for administration Client response to the particular instrument Is the test gender or culturally biased? Does the counselor need special training in order to score it? Is it difficult to score? What group was the test normed upon? Is training needed to interpret the test? Is the test useful to the client?

4 Interest Inventories Objective Examples are the Strong Interest Inventory and the Self- Directed Search. These are generally easy to administer, score and interpret. These help clients understand their preferences and how these might relate to possible career opportunities.

5 Personality Inventories Objective Examples include the Myers-Briggs, 16PFQ, and the NEO Personality Inventory. These usually measure some aspect of personality such as the big five personality dimensions: Neuroticism, extroversion, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness which is measured with the NEO Personality Inventory. These are helpful because they help build a cognitive framework for clients to view occupational choices.

6 Multiple Aptitude Test Batteries Objective These are supposed to measure a person s potential to acquire a skill or learn specialized knowledge but often only measure what has already been learned. Some examples of these are: Differential Aptitude Test (DAT), the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and the O*NET Ability Profiler. These are used to predict whether or not an individual will succeed in a career field.

7 Career O- Gram Qualitative A developmental, symbolic, representation of a client s career choices. Example: Symbols are used to denote certain information. As the client talks about his or her career history a record is made to pictorialize the information. might be a client s initial career goal. might be a client s next career goal. might represent a negative experience Other information such as drug use, illness, marriage or a divorce might also be recorded in this manner. The goal is to increase understanding of the contextual factors that led a client to make career choices.

8 Role Play Qualitative The client acts out a situation to demonstrate what he or she did, or what he or she would do, if given the chance in the future. Can also be used to help the client determine strengths and weaknesses in, for example, interviewing for a job. Role-reversal: The counselor plays the part of the client while the client plays the part of the job interviewer.

9 Card Sorts Qualitative Used to assess a multitude of variables such as interests, job skills, lifestyle preferences and job preferences. Clients literally sort cards into piles that have information written on them, categorizing them into stacks of: no importance, some importance or great importance. Card sorts are dependent upon a client s ability to verbalize about the patterns they see in their world. Card sorts help clients organize and prioritize their interests, skills, needs etc.

10 Genograms Assessment and Testing Qualitative It looks similar to a family tree, and usually includes three generations with information such as career choices, culture, religious orientation etc. Paternal Grandfather The genogram is useful because it sheds light on many aspects of a client's life that might affect his or her career choices, successes, disappointments and expectations. Cook Paternal Grandmother Homemaker Maternal Grandfather Farmer Maternal Grandmother Homemaker Father Machinist Mother Secretary Client Secretary

11 Test Interpretation The counselor should ascertain whether or not the test results are valid. Was the test normed on a group that represents this individual? The counselor should prepare the client for test interpretation. The counselor should explain the results to the client, describe how the results relate to the client s goals, discuss measurement errors, and try to phrase bad news in a positive, yet accurate, light. The counselor should follow up with the client to check client s understanding of the results. The counselor should explain how the test can aid the client in making career decisions.

12 Integrating Test Data Each test should present information that will help the counselor understand the client and help the client understand himself or herself. It can be helpful to record all the scores from all the tests, using the standardized test data. This enables the counselor to see the relatedness of the various scores It is also helpful to use a talk sheet which is an interpretive guide that contains written explanations of the test data.