Risk Versus Reluctance: Understanding an Ambivalent Entrepreneur

Abstract

Ellenore Flood is a courageous young woman who has allowed us to examine and discuss her interest inventory profiles. In addition, Ellenore has responded to our analyses. Seven authors in this special issue (Boggs, 1998; Hartung, 1998; Prediger & Schmertz, 1998; Prince,1998; Rayman, 1998; Zytowski, 1998) attempt to understand Ellenore's essential human qualities and learn about the vocational predicament in which she finds herself. The application of such talented clinician's appraisals of Ellenore's interests yields an enormous amount of useful information for Ellenore to consider. In the course of this exercise, we also learn about the role of interest inventories in the career counseling process, including the limits of such work, and we are reminded of the enormous complexity that results when we study vocational choices in adulthood. Each of the seven articles in this special issues covers only a single inventory. As respondents, in contrast, Ellenore and I have the opportunity to use all of the inventory results to more fully understand Ellenore's options and predicament. My response is organized by function, across inventory, rather than within inventory as each of the other authors has done. In so doing, I can examine both the similarities and the differences across the inventories. Each of the inventories should contribute something unique to one's understanding of Ellenore. When the inventories disagree, such disagreements ought to occur because each reveals a different facet of the client's personality. Cross-inventory differences should be explainable logically from the methodology and norming groups used in the inventories (see Harmon, in press). INTERPRETIVE PROCESS AND STEPS Table 1 compares the authors' suggestions for interpreting their inventories. There is frequent overlap in the interpretive suggestions, despite the obvious differences in format and content across the inventories. A rough content analysis of Table 1 reveals the steps that seem to be common denominators across the inventories: Clarify the client's goals for the interpretation and formulate hypotheses and questions the client may have. Explore the client's present expressed interests and options. Conduct any available validity checks. Interpret any special scales. Transmit the cognitive framework, format, and scale content of the inventory. Interpret Homogeneous and basic interest scales and patterns, including differentiation, consistency, profile elevation and so forth. Interpret criterion-based occupational scales and norms. Discuss any related assessments and case information. Summarize and formulate an action plan. Almost all of the authors recommend some preliminary discussion of both the client's goals for the interpretation and some consideration of the options or expressed interests currently under consideration. Many of the authors also recommend a validity check, a didactic component explaining the basis and format of the inventory and its scales, followed by a direct discussion of the scales themselves. With the exception of Prince ( 1998), who offers the suggestion that the interpretation proceed from what he calls the hottest information first, the remaining authors recommend beginning with the homogeneous scales (e.g., Holland scales, basic interest scales) and then proceeding to the criterion-based scales. SIMILARITIES ACROSS THE INVENTORIES There is a remarkable degree of convergent validity across the inventories. The agreement among the homogeneous and criterionbased scales is substantial. The Strong Interest Inventory (SII) themes reflect strong Enterprising and Artistic resemblances with a weaker Social resemblance. The Kuder basic scales on Persuasive and Artistic are the highest (compared with women), the highest Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS) orientations are influencing and creating, the Self-Directed Search (SDS) code is S/EA all within 3 points of each other (less than Holland's rule of eight), and the Unisex Edition of the ACT (UNIACT) code is ESA. …