Using Two Different Self-Directed Search (SDS) Interpretive Materials: Implications for Career Assessment

Abstract

John Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) is a career assessment that consists of several booklets designed to be self-scored and self-administered. It simulates what a practitioner and an individual might do together in a career counseling session (e.g., review preferred activities and occupations; review competencies, abilities and possible career course; and consider RIASEC theory). This study examined how individuals used two different interpretive materials with the SDS assessment: (1) two paper booklets and (2) the computer-generated SDS Interpretive Report (SDS:IR). Participants receiving the SDS:IR were more likely to recall their SDS summary codes and expand their options than those receiving the two paper booklets.Keywords: Self-Directed Search, SDS Interpretive Report, RIASEC theory, career course, John Holland, career assessmentThe Self-Directed Search (SDS; Holland, 1994a) is a career intervention based on John Holland's (1997) RIASEC theory (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional). The basic form of the SDS consists of several booklets designed to be self-scored and self-administered. It simulates what a practitioner and an individual might do together in a counseling session (e.g., review preferred activities and occupations, and review competencies and abilities). In this study, all students in two sections of a college career course completed the paper version of the SDS Form R Assessment booklet (Holland, 1994a) using the paper Occupations Finder (OF; Holland, 2000). Students in one section of the course received the SDS:IR generated by the SDS software system (IR; Reardon & PAR, 2001). Those in the other section received two paper booklets, You and Your Career (YYC; Holland, 1994b) and the Educational Opportunities Finder (EOF; Rosen, Holmberg, & Holland, 1997). These interpretive materials were both designed to answer common questions about the SDS assessment results and about how the findings might be used to improve college students' career decision-making.The YYC reusable booklet gives the practitioner a tool for interpreting the results of the SDS assessment activity, and for providing a more complete career intervention (Reardon & Lenz, 1998). Although the YYC booklet was designed to make the SDS a more self-directed activity and support the practitioner's work, little research has investigated the usefulness of this booklet (Holland, Fritzsche, & Powell, 1994). The EOF is a listing of more than 700 educational programs at three degree levels according to three-letter Holland summary codes. The computer-generated interpretive report uses the SDS assessment results and includes content materials from the OF, YYC, and EOF booklets to produce a customized report based on an individual's scores from the assessment booklet.Holland's work has been referenced in more than 1,600 citations, and the SDS is reported in hundreds of studies (Ruff, Reardon, & Bertoch, 2008). For example, Holland (1997) reported more than two dozen SDS studies with high school students, college students, and adults that demonstrated the psychometric properties of the inventory, examined the efficacy of the RIASEC typology, and investigated the relationship between the Big Five personality factors and RIASEC theory. Despite the popularity of the SDS, we were unable to locate any studies investigating the efficacy of the interpretive materials that support the SDS or the varied ways it might be used (e.g., in-person, booklet alone, personalized computer-generated report).Whiston and James (2013) concluded that although Brown and Ryan Krane (2000) found that individualized interpretations and feedback were one of five key ingredients in successful career interventions, there is little outcome research related to precisely how practitioners should interpret the results of career assessments (p. 571). Moreover, they noted that in analyzing studies published between 1983 and 1995, no treatment/control comparison studies addressed individual test interpretation (Whiston, Sexton, & Lasoff, 1998). …