Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (KOIS)
The Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (KOIS) is a psychometric tool developed by G. Frederic Kuder in 1938 to help individuals identify career paths aligned with their interests and abilities. Initially designed to assist newly immigrated populations in urban centers, KOIS employs a forced-choice format to evaluate preferences across various activities related to broad interest areas such as Outdoor, Mechanical, and Social Science, without prescribing specific job roles. The survey has evolved into several iterations, including the Kuder General Interest Survey (KGIS), aimed at younger audiences, and incorporates modern features like scales to promote nontraditional career options for all genders.
The KOIS generates a comprehensive report divided into four sections, detailing the reliability of results, interest patterns compared to normative samples, correlations with satisfied professionals in various occupations, and alignment with college major selections. It boasts strong psychometric properties, including high short-term reliability and predictive validity, suggesting that KOIS scores can accurately reflect future career choices and academic paths. While it provides valuable insights for many individuals, the creators advocate for a balanced approach to career decision-making, emphasizing that KOIS results should not be the sole basis for such significant choices. Across its use, KOIS has guided millions in their career planning journeys, aiding in the recognition of personal interests and enhancing self-efficacy in occupational decision-making.
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Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (KOIS)
- DATE: 1939 forward
- TYPE OF PSYCHOLOGY: Intelligence and intelligence testing
Career interest surveys such as the KOIS have been developed to assist people in making career placement decisions. KOIS purports to assess self-reported abilities, interests, and other characteristics, correlating them with characteristics or traits of jobs, occupations, college majors, and careers. These selections can outline a direction that an individual can use to make better decisions.
Introduction
The Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (KIOS) is an inventory originally developed by psychometrician and psychologist G. Frederic Kuder in 1938. Significant social, economic, and political changes occurred during this time in American history. Kuder developed the interest survey to help guide newly immigrated people in urban areas into suitable career paths. The earliest version was the Kuder Preference Record-Vocational (KPR-V) survey, which was primarily used in vocational placement and job choice. Individuals identify items according to most-liked and least-liked preferences. This is accomplished using forced-choice items that differentiate among three activities that might be preferred as a career choice. The goal of the survey is not to suggest specific jobs or occupations but rather to determine one’s interest in broad areas—Outdoor, Mechanical, Computational, Scientific, Persuasive, Artistic, Literary, Musical, Social Science, or Clerical. Later, the Kuder General Interest Survey (KGIS) was developed to revise the KPR-V, designed for sixth through twelfth grades, using simpler language. The KOIS provides scores regarding specific occupational groups in addition to the broad interest areas noted above. Scores are used to identify 109 specific occupations and forty college majors.
The scores can also be converted to a common reporting system known as the Holland system (using the R-I-A-S-E-C sequence). The Holland system consists of six concepts, arranged in a hexagon indicating relative positioning: Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Artistic (A), Social (S), Enterprising (E), and Conventional (C). To emphasize nontraditional occupations for men and women, a series of new scales have been added to the KOIS.
The KIOS eventually evolved into several other Kuder products, including the KOIS Form DD, Kuder Career Planning System (KCPS), and Kuder Journey.
Technical Aspects
The report received as a result of completing the KOIS is divided into four sections. The first section summarizes the dependability of the results by analyzing their consistency. The report can suggest the dependability of the results for the individual who completed the KOIS. The second section rank-orders interest patterns in comparison to a normative sample of both men and women. This allows either gender to make a comparison directly.
The third section ranks the test taker in relation to men and women who are employed in different occupations and are satisfied with their career choices. The fourth section of the report matches patterns of interest to those of students who have selected different college majors. These sections match interest patterns corresponding to occupations and career choices such as lawyers, personnel managers, and physicians. College major interest patterns include history, English, and political science.
Psychometric properties for the KOIS are very good. For instance, short-term reliability is a property of an instrument that indicates that the score of a test taker will tend to be the same over time (that is, test-retest reliability). Short-term reliability of the KOIS is between .80 and .95, and there is evidence indicating the scores may be stable for decades. Predictive validity is an important concept for career instruments and tests such as the KOIS. Predictive validity indicates that the results of a test score can “predict” the career choice. Although the test scores cannot actually predict behavior, it is possible to match up (correlate) a score with career choice, job placement, and college major made by a person at a later date. This type of validity gives credibility to the test. In the case of the KOIS, predictive validity is very high. While job placement and KOIS scores of students in high school match up well, student scores and choice of college major match up better.
Critique
One useful aspect of the KOIS is how self-efficacy influences confidence for takers’ knowledge of themselves when the results of the KOIS are made known to them. Additionally, self-efficacy for specific occupational tasks has been demonstrated. Research indicates that there is a difference between expectations of various groups and the types of occupations, careers, or jobs chosen. This type of information is particularly useful for guidance decisions for high-school and college students. Refinements published in 1985 reflect continuing development of this type of information.
To enter an appropriate career, individuals must begin to identify specific interests and their relative importance. Some individuals will need little guidance in making career choices; others will need the advice of a survey instrument such as the KOIS. Millions of people have received important information through the KOIS to use in career choice decisions. However, the authors of these inventories always express caution that no decision should be made solely based on the results determined by one inventory alone.
Bibliography
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Capuzzi, David. Career Counseling: Foundations, Perspectives, and Applications. 4th ed., Routledge, 2023.
Graham, John R., and Jack A. Naglieri, editors. Assessment Psychology, vol. 10, Wiley, 2012. Handbook of Psychology.
"A History of the World’s Most Accurate Career Assessments." Kuder, 2023, kuder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/0836‗eBook-A-History-of-the-Kuder-Assessments‗web.pdf. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.
Pajares, Frank, and Timothy C. Urdan. Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Adolescents. Information Age, 2006.
Rottinghaus, Patrick J., et al. “Thirty-Year Stability and Predictive Validity of Vocational Interests.” Journal of Career Assessment, vol. 15, no. 1, 2007, pp. 5–22, doi.org/10.1177/1069072706294517. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.
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