The relative importance of potential outcomes of occupational guidance: An assessment by occupational guidance officers

Abstract

The ‘intangible’ outcomes of occupational guidance were first examined in terms of the extent to which they were an adequate description of the occupational guidance process. Subsequently, a relative weighting was imposed on these outcomes on the basis of judgements made by 12 occupational guidance officers. Two methods were employed and compared; (1) rankings; (2) the Churchman & Ackoff (1954) technique to yield an approximate measure of value.A considerable degree of agreement was evident in the guidance officers' ordering of the outcomes, and there was a similarly high level of consistency in the results from the two methods. The relative merits of the techniques are considered, and the need for additional information from the client population is indicated.