THE APPLICATION OP INDIVIDUAL VOCATIONAL CHOICE AND INTEREST INVENTORY STUDIES TO JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, AND AN EVALUATION OP THE RESULTS AS AGAINST THE LITERATURE AND RESEARCH IN THE FIELD A Project Presented to the Faculty of the School of Education The University of Southern California In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Education by Malcolm William Eaton August 1950 UMI Number: EP46280 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI EP46280 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 £ / V fS/ P r y . This project report, ’written under the direction of the candidate’s adviser and approved by him, has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Education. Dat Adviser Dean TABLE OP CONTENTS CHAPTER • PAGE I. THE PROBLEM AND METHOD OF INVESTIGATION . . . 1 Importance of the study . . . . . . . . . . 1 The problem......................... 2 II. REVIEW OP LITERATURE IN THE FIELDS OF THE MEASUREMENT OF INTEREST AND SELF-APPRAISAL AND VOCATIONAL CHOICE............. 3 Interest analysis ....................... 3 The Strong Vocational Interest Test . . . . 6 The measurement of interest......... 8 Inventories for women and girls . . . . . . 10 Occupational interests and personality requirements of w o m e n .................. 11 Cleeton, Vocational Interest Inventory . . . 12 Recent developments in interest inventories ......................... 12 Evaluation of interest inventories . . . . . 17 Factors influencing vocational choice . . . 21 The relationship between vocational choice and intelligence and scholarship ........ 27 The relationship between vocational choice and vocational proficiency . . . . . . . . 29 Character and emotional stability . . . . . 30 iii CHAPTER PAGE III. THE VOCATIONAL CHOICE AND ACTIVITY INTEREST S T U D Y ................. 33 Procedure followed in investigation . . . . 33 The group studied . ............. 36 The vocational choice and self-appraisal questionnaire - . . . 36 The Los Angeles Activity Interest Inventory. 37 Results of the Los Angeles Activity Interest Inventory........... * 40 IV. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ........... 49 Findings ..................... 49 BIBLIOGRAPHY............... 54 APPENDIX............. 58 LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE I. Results of the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire Given to Fifty-four A-9 Students of Bell High School, California to Determine Students’ Interest Rating in Chosen Vocations . . . . . . . . . 38 II. Vocational Choices Made by the Students on the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire .......... 39 III. Representative Jobs Found in the Six Major Fields of Occupational Interest .......... 4l IV. Distribution of People Employed in Various General Occupational Divisions in Los Angeles, California................... . . 42 V. Percentile Ratings of Thirty Boys Studied in the Six Fields of. Occupational Interest . 43 VI. Percentile Ratings of the Twenty-four Girls Studied in the Six Fields of Occupational Interest................................. 44 VII. A Comparison Between Questionnaire Choices and Interest Inventory Results In the Six Fields of Interests.................. 45 VIII. Percentile Distribution of Scores of the Fifty- four Students on the Activity Interest V TABLE PAGE - Inventory............................... 4 7 IX. Distribution of I. Q. Scores Studied....... ^8 CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND METHOD OF INVESTIGATION For several years there has been considerable research and study In the fields of vocational guidance, through testing for Individual vocational choice and through the use of interest Inventories as a basis for establishing guide lines for vocational choice. However, such study has been largely centered in the high school and higher-age brackets. This investigation is centered around the junior high school age bracket. I. IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY A vocational program in junior high schools has on the whole followed the procedure of adapting and bringing the Individual student up to a standard level of performance in the generally prescribed and standardized curriculum. The question has frequently been discussed as to whether students of junior high school level and age have sufficient environmental background to enable them to appraise them­ selves adequately in selecting a future vocation or pro­ fession on the basis of their past experiences and educa­ tion, or whether an individual interest inventory pattern can indicate lines of future success In a designated 2 vocation or profession for these students. This study hopes to make a start toward an investigation of the stated problem. II. THE PROBLEM It was the purpose of this study (l) to. determine the degree of relationship between the Junior high school student's selection of a future occupation, vocation, or profession, as expressed in a questionnaire, and the vocation, occupation, or profession indicated by the results of an Activity Interest Inventory given to the same student; and (2.) to review the literature in the field of Vocation and Interest Tests, to determine if such tests are valid for boys and girls of Junior high school age. CHAPTER II REVIEW OP LITERATURE IN THE FIELDS OP THE MEASUREMENT OP INTEREST M D SELF-APPRAISAL AND VOCATIONAL CHOICE The writer found that a major part of the research and writings to date on this important subject have been carried on with groups in an older age bracket and at higher educational levels. As a result, the subjects studied have had a wider environmental background and have been in age groups which are subject to less influence by their changing environment, or they have reached the experience level in which their environment does not change so rapidly In a given span of time. I. INTEREST ANALYSIS % A pattern of individual interests may provide a valuable clue in vocational guidance. If it is to be of maximum value in guidance, a.fairly high correlation between interests and abilities must exist. For selective purposes, interest analysis begins by discovery of patterns of inter­ est that appear to be associated with success on the job. Thereafter, the applicant is given an interest inventory designed to discover his interest pattern. Most widely used of the vocational interest inventory scales are Strong's