Interest Inventory Research Articles

Concept Mapping Influence on Student Interest in Basic Technology in Junior Secondary School in Yenagoa Local Government Area

This study examined Concept Mapping Influence on Student Interest in Basic Technology in Junior Secondary School in Yenagoa Local Government Area. Quasi-experimental design was used. Two research questions and two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance were used to guide the study. The study population comprised 4502 JSS1I junior secondary school Basic technology students in public schools in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa. Sample of 400 JSS11 Basic Technology students was selected by simple random sampling technique for the study. Research instruments for data collection was “Basic Technology Interest Inventory Scale”. The instrument was validated by an expert and three subject teachers. The Reliability of the instrument was established using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient of 0.73. The collected data were analysed, Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the Research questions while z-test was used to test the Hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that Students that were exposed to concept mapping instructional strategy had a higher interest in Basic Technology than their counterparts taught using lecture method. Based on the findings it was recommended that Basic Technology teachers should be encouraged to use concept mapping strategy for effective teaching and learning to arouse students’ interest.

Evaluating the quality of the list of occupations recommended for further exploration.

Access to online career information increases the complexity of career decisions (choosing a major or job). When the number of alternatives is large, the first step is to compile a list of promising career alternatives for further exploration, often by using interest inventories (e.g., the Self-Directed Search). But what makes such a list useful? The judgments of 20 career counselors and 103 graduate students supported the hypothesis that higher list quality is associated with a greater similarity between the occupations on the list, fewer occupational fields represented by the occupations on the list, and a list length approximating seven occupations.

The Effect of Flipped Instructional Model on Business Education Students’ Interest and Achievement in Word Processing

The study investigated the effect of the flipped instructional model (FIM) on business education students’ interest and achievement in Word Processing. The research design used in the study was the quasi-experimental design which required no randomization as the groups (treatment and control) were used intact. The population of the study comprised 117 final year business education students offering Word Processing from seven public Universities in South East, Nigeria. Four Universities were selected through the purposive sampling technique. The selected schools were further subjected to a simple random sampling technique to assign them into groups of two schools each. One group was selected as the treatment and the other as the control group. The treatment group comprised 33 male and female students and the control group comprised 35 male and female students, making the total sample size 68 business education students offering Word Processing as a course. Data were collected with the aid of two instruments, the Word Processing Achievement Test (WPAT) and the Word Processing Interest Inventory (WPII). Kuder-Richardson Estimate (K-R 20) was used in testing WPAT and it yielded a reliability index of 0.97, while Cronbach alpha of 0.72 was obtained from the reliability testing of WPII. Two research questions and two null hypotheses were developed to guide the study. Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while hypotheses were tested at an alpha level of 0.05 using ANCOVA. The results revealed that flipped instructional model was more effective than the conventional instructional model in enhancing students’ interest and achievement in Word Processing. Again, there is a significant difference in the mean interest scores and in the mean achievement scores of students taught word processing using FIM compared to those taught using the conventional model.

Understanding, detecting, and deterring faking on interest inventories

AbstractThree recent meta‐analyses have found that interests, regardless of scoring method (e.g., summative or congruence) are valid predictors of performance in employment contexts. As these inventories gain popularity as a prehire assessment, it is important to understand whether interest assessments are susceptible to faking (i.e., applicant response distortion) similar to how personality assessments are. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether interest inventories are susceptible to faking and whether faking can be detected and prevented using similar methods as what is commonly used for faking of personality assessments. Measures of forced‐choice and single‐stimulus interests, personality, general mental ability (GMA), and impression management (IM) were collected from 236 participants across honest and faked instructions. Findings suggest that individuals were capable of faking interest inventories, but surprisingly, the effect did not vary greatly as a function of format or scoring method. Further, GMA was not strongly related to faking interests, whereas faking of personality scales was. In efforts to detect interest faking, IM scores outperformed covariances indices in distinguishing between honest and faked scores.

Psychometric properties of the South African Career Interest Inventory – Short

Background: The South African Career Interest Inventory – Short (SACII-Short) is used in research settings to measure Holland’s six interest factors. Conclusions reached in studies using the instrument are subject to the measurement properties of the SACII-Short items and scales.Objective: This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the SACII-Short items and the fit of circumplex structure to the SACII-Short item and scale scores.Method: Secondary data from South African university students and working adults (n = 673) were used. The graded response model was used to investigate the measurement properties of the items. Factor analysis was used to investigate the circumplex structure of the item and scale scores.Results: Most of the SACII-Short items showed satisfactory measurement properties. Some concerns were observed with the item locations of the realistic and social items. The item and scale scores showed satisfactory fit to circumplex structure. The wording of some of the items could be reconsidered to increase the applicability of the content to the South African work context.Conclusion: The SACII-Short demonstrates satisfactory psychometric properties for use in research settings. These psychometric properties support the validity of results obtained from studies that have used the SACII-Short scale scores as a proxy for vocational interests.

Enhancing Career Interest Assessment in South Africa: Lessons Learned From the Development of the South African Career Interest Inventory-IsiXhosa Version.

Career interest assessment is a vital component of career guidance and counseling. Ensuring fair and ethical assessment practice is, however, complex and challenging in a diverse multicultural setting such as South Africa. A myriad of factors—including culture, and language—may moderate individual performance on career interest assessments. For this reason, it is imperative to acknowledge these factors when developing career interest assessments in the South African context. Particular attention was paid to the issues of language and culture during the recent development of the South African Career Interest Inventory (SACII) and South African Career Interest Inventory-isiXhosa version (SACII-X). In this paper, we discuss some of the crucial considerations that informed the conceptualization and development of the SACII-X. The promising initial reliability and validity demonstrated by these assessments provide support for the use of career assessments based on imported career theories if sensitivity is afforded to contextual, language, and cultural considerations during the development of such assessment measures.

A Quasi-Experimental Study on the use of Models and Students’ Interest in Auto Mechanics

This quasi-experimental study focused on the use of models and students’ interest in auto mechanics. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study was 203 Year I auto mechanics students of Technical Colleges in Lagos State, Nigeria. Auto-Mechanics Interest Inventory (AMII) was the instrument used for the study. The reliability coefficient of the AMII was found to be 0.81 using test re-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The result of this study indicated a significant difference between the mean interest scores of male and female auto mechanics students when taught with models for hypothesis 1, and a significant difference between the mean interest scores of male and female auto mechanics students when taught with models for hypothesis 2. Based on these findings, the study recommended among others that the adoption of the use of models in teaching different aspects of auto mechanics by Technical College auto mechanic teachers would help in arousing students’ interest and thus improve their academic performance and acquisition of skills.

Investigating machine learning's capacity to enhance the prediction of career choices

AbstractVocational interest measurement has long played a significant role in work contexts, particularly in helping individuals make career choices. A recent meta‐analysis indicated that interest inventories have substantial validity for predicting career choices. However, traditional approaches to interest inventory scoring (e.g., profile matching) typically capture broad, or average relations between vocational interests and occupations in the population, yet may not be accurate in capturing the specific relations in a given sample. Machine learning (ML) approaches provide a potential way forward as they can effectively take into account complexities in the relation between interests and career choices. Thus, this study aims to enhance the accuracy of interest inventory‐based career choice prediction through the application of ML. Using a large sample (N = 81,267) of employed and unemployed participants, we compared the prediction accuracy of a traditional interest profile method (profile matching) to a new machine‐learning augmented method in predicting occupational membership (for employed participants) and vocational aspirations (for unemployed participants). Results suggest that, compared to the traditional profile method, the machine‐learning augmented method resulted in higher overall accuracy for predicting both types of career choices. The machine‐learning augmented method was especially predictive of job categories with high base rates, yet underpredicted job categories with low base rates. These findings have practical implications for improving the utility of interest inventories for organizational practice, contributing to areas such as employee development, recruitment, job placement, and retention.

University students’ ambition levels and vocational tendencies associated with common culture

Introduction.Jordanian education system encourages students to invest their potentials to fulfill their needs, make their ambitions come true and achieve success in their lives. However, many students still face problems in determining their ambitions and vocational tendencies to attain their goals.Aim.This studyaimsto identify the degree of ambition level and its relation to the vocational tendencies among university students with respect to the common culture. It focused on two main domains, namely the ambition level and its relation with vocational tendencies.Methodology and research methods.A quantitative method was adopted to analyse the data. The study sample consisted of 500 male and female students studying at Al-Balqa Applied University (BAU) chosen randomly. The authors developed a study instrument which was divided into ambition level 10 items. Strong – Campbell Interest Inventory Scale was applied to examine the tendencies of vocational development. This scale consisted of 42 items divided into six domains.Results.The results showed there was a statistically significant positive relation between the ambition level and vocational tendency among BAU students. There were statistically significant differences at (.05 = a) in the ambition level attributed to the effect of the gender factor in favour of females. Also, there were statistically significant differences in the vocational tendencies attributed to the gender effect in all domains except the vocation selection domain. These differences were in favour of males in relation to the study materials domain, but in favour of females in relation to all the other domains as a whole. The vocational tendencies variable was considered a significant variable that increased the achievement of students’ ambitions.Scientific novelty.The study concluded that developing social changes require a high level of ambitions to cope with the continuous developments in different domains particularly the academic domain. Educators can develop students’ ambition level and identify vocational tendencies to excel in their own goals toward innovation and creativity in light of the common culture.Practical significance.The study draws interesting conclusions based on the analysis and discusses practical recommendations for key stakeholders. The Ministry of Education in Jordan should pay more attention to the vocational tendencies among students from earlier stages to direct these tendencies in appropriate ways that provide students with a good academic life leading to decent social, vocational and practical life that gets along with the common Jordanian culture. Besides, universities are recommended to focus on ways of developing the ambition level among students by raising parents’ awareness to set a good example to their children, bring them up from an early age to be ambitious and promote their ambition level.

Development and psychometric properties of the Nonverbal Vocational Interest Scale (NVIS)

Vocational interest inventories play an important role in supporting adolescents and young adults in their vocational choice. However, existing verbal and pictorial questionnaires have limitations regarding the complexity, abstraction level, and ambiguity of the item material. The presented research attempts to overcome these limitations by developing a new pictorial questionnaire. Study 1 describes the construction process of the Nonverbal Vocational Interest Scale (NVIS) and its psychometric properties, evaluation, and construct validation. Data from N = 363 adolescents and young adults in lower secondary school and vocational training centres were considered. Study 2 was conducted to confirm convergent and discriminant validity. N = 237 adolescents and young adults completed the revised form of the NVIS and the Photo-Interest-Inventory (F-I-T). The results confirm that the NVIS is a reliable and valid computer-based instrument for assessing vocational interests. Limitations and implications for further research and use in vocational training and counselling settings are discussed.

Effect of Assessment for Learning Strategy (AFLS) on Student’s Achievement and Interest in Senior Secondary School Mathematics in Ondo State

The paper examined the effect of assessment for learning strategy (AFLS) on Student’s Achievement and interest in Senior Secondary School Mathematics in Ondo State. The study employed quasi experimental research design involving the non-randomized prelest, postlest, control group. The population comprises all Senior Secondary II students in Akoko North East Local Government, Area of Ondo State. A sample size of 100 Senior Secondary II students from two public Secondary school was used for the study. The sample was randomly grouped into one experimental and control. Data were collected using Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) (r=0.76) and Mathematical Interest Inventory (MII) (r =0.82). Two hypotheses were generated to guide the study. The findings revealed that there was significant effect of instrument on students’ performance and interest with a (F value 4.161 and p value 0.000) at 0.005 level of significance based on the findings, it was recommended that Assessment for learning strategy should be employed or adopted in teaching Secondary students to enhance their interest in mathematics.

What Do Interest Inventories Measure? The Convergence and Content Validity of Four RIASEC Inventories

Despite the widespread use of RIASEC interest inventories, little is known about whether these inventories actually measure the same core constructs and provide similar career recommendations to individuals. This study investigates the construct validity among four major interest inventories—the Self-Directed Search (SDS), O*NET Interest Profiler (IP), ACT Interest Inventory (UNIACT), and Strong Interest Inventory (SII). Results showed that RIASEC interest scores from the four inventories were highly correlated, but the measures often gave respondents different high-point codes. Item content analysis revealed that the basic interests reflected in each RIASEC scale both overlapped and diverged across inventories, providing an explanation for why RIASEC inventories are not interchangeable. We integrate findings across our analyses to offer cautionary notes for choosing among established RIASEC inventories and interpreting interest results. Furthermore, we also provide recommendations for constructing the next generation of basic interest inventories.

Validity and Reliability of Turkish Version of Skills Confidence Inventory

The Vocational Interest Inventory is one of the most commonly used instruments in career counselling in the past and present. The aim of this study is to adapt the Skills Confidence Inventory (SCI) and obtain validity and reliability evidence for its Turkish version. The SCI Turkish version is called BGMIE (Becerilere Güven Mesleki Ilgi Envanteri) and is a list of vocational interests consisting of 164 items measuring 17 different areas of vocational interests. In the study, data were collected from 32 university students for the linguistic equivalence test, from 765 high school students for the pretest, and from 1449 high school students for the final test. The validity of the BGMIE was examined using the bilingual group, linguistic equivalence, and CFA (Confirmatory Factor Analysis) scores. The results of the CFA analyses indicate a perfect fit for nine factors (Creative Production, Cultural Sensitivity, Data Management, Helping, Leadership, Office Services, Public Speaking, Science, Teamwork), a good fit for seven factors (Mechanics, Organisational Management, Project Management, Sales, Teaching, Use of Technology, Writing), and an acceptable fit for one factor (Mathematics).

Comparative Effects of Demonstration Method and Blending Learning on Academic Achievement and Interest of Agricultural Science Students in Nsukka Education Zone of Nigeria

The study focused on the comparative effects of demonstration method and blended learning on the achievement and interest of Agricultural Secondary School Student in Nsukka. Two research questions guided the study while two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Quasi experimental design, specifically pre-test and post-test group was adopted. The sample for the study was 80 SSII Students comprised of males and females from intact class. The two classes were randomly assigned experimental group I and II. The experimental group one was taught with demonstration method while experimental group II were taught with blended learning and. The treatment lasted for four weeks. The instruments for data collection were Agricultural Achievement Test (AAT) comprising thirty questions and Interest Inventory. The two instruments used for data collection were validated by three experts all from Department of Agricultural Education. The reliability of the instruments was established using Cronbach alpha for AAT and Kudder-Richardson 20 for AII. AAT and AII yielded a coefficient of 0.74 and 0.77 respectively. Mean, standard deviation and Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used to analyze the data collected for the study. Findings of the study revealed that blended learning enhanced students’ achievement and interest in Agricultural science more than demonstration method. Furthermore, the tested hypotheses revealed that there was significant different between the effects of demonstration and blended learning on students’ interest in Agricultural science. Hence, the study recommended amongst others that; that the federal ministry of education should provide internet facilities in secondary schools to ensure blended learning is incorporated as to improve achievement and interest of students and also state government should organize workshops, in-service training programme for teachers so that they would be conversant in the use of blended learning.

Effects of Teaching Geometry Using Mobile App Instructional Technique on Students Interest in Bayelsa State

The study investigated the effect of teaching geometry using mobile application instructional technique on senior secondary students' interest in Geometry in Bayelsa State. A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group design was used in the study. All the 506 SS2 mathematics students in the three federal unity schools formed the population of the study. One hundred and seventy nine (179) students from two schools formed the sample of the study. Intact classes were assigned by flipping of coin to either experimental or control group; and separately taught by their regular mathematics teachers who had earlier been trained for the purpose. All the groups were pre and post-tested. Geometry Interest Inventory (GII) was used as instruments for both the control and experimental groups. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used in testing the hypotheses at .05 levels of significance. The result showed that the use of mobile application instructional technique as a medium of teaching improves students' interest in geometry. Also there was no significant effect between teaching method, gender and choice of discipline on students' interest in Geometry. The study recommended that the use of mobile application should be integrated into the teaching and learning of mathematics generally.

Review of Career Assessment Tools

This paper provides an overview of career assessment tools. Background on key career concepts is first introduced. A number of career assessment tools are then examined. These assessment tools included reviewing personal history, interest inventories, values assessments, personality assessments, and aptitude tests. The importance and limitations of these career assessment tools are then discussed.

Number Manipulation Strategy: A Model of Experiential Instruction and Interest in Arithmetic Learning of Pupils of Lower Basic Level in Enugu State, Nigeria

The study investigated the efficacy of the number manipulation strategy (NUMAS) as a model of experiential instruction and interest in arithmetic learning for pupils of lower basic levels. The population of the study consisted of 1205 lower basic III level pupils of the 2018/2019 session in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area (L.G.A.) of Enugu State. A sample of 121 primary five pupils from 4 schools out of 53 primary schools in the study area was randomly sampled. The 121 pupils were composed of 42 males and 79 females used for the study. The study was guided by four research questions and four hypotheses. The hypotheses were tested at a p<.05 level of significance. The instruments used for the study were Arithmetic Test (ART) and Mathematics Interest Inventory Questionnaire (MIIQ) developed by the researcher. The ART and MIIQ instruments were faces validated by experts and their reliability indexes were 0.85 and 0.79 respectively, established using Cronbach alpha and split-half methods respectively. The data obtained with the instruments were analyzed using mean, standard deviations (SD), t-test and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) statistics. Mean and SD was used in answering the research questions, while t-test and ANCOVA statistics were used in testing the hypotheses at P<.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that NUMAS is effective in teaching arithmetic, especially in enhancing the addition and subtraction skills acquisition of the pupils. Gender was found not to be a significant factor of variance in arithmetic achievement when the teaching of arithmetic is NUMAS based. The use of NUMAS was recommended to teachers, lower basic mathematics textbook authors and stakeholders in education, to ensure that NUMAS is adopted and adapted for use in Mathematics classroom instruction and learning.

Psychometric properties of the African Career Interest Inventory in Ghana

Psychometric properties of the African Career Interest Inventory in Ghana

THE IMPACT OF CONCEPT MAPPING AS A TEACHING STRATEGY ON THE STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND INTEREST IN ENGLISH

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of concept mapping as a teaching strategy on the students’ achievement and interest in English. It is a quasi-experimental design of non- equivalent pre-test post-test control group is used. Stratified random sampling technique is adapted in selecting the 250 students from the different schools in the Philippines. Two research instruments is developed by the researchers and used for data collection are: Students’ English Achievement Test (STAT) and Students’ Interest Inventory (SII). Mean and Standard Deviation are used to answer the three research questions, while three hypotheses are tested at 0.05 error margins using the t-test analysis. The result of the findings showed that there is significant difference in the mean achievement scores and interest rating of students are exposed to concept mapping strategy in English. There is a significant impact on the gender of the respondents on achievement of students that are exposed to concept mapping strategy. The researchers recommended among other things: the integration of concept mapping strategy in the curriculum, adequate training of English teachers on the use of concept mapping strategy. KEYWORDS: concept mapping; achievement; interest; gender; teaching strategy; and interest in English

Reflective teaching strategy on students achievement and interest in basic technology

The design for this study was quasi experimental, specifically the non-randomized control group pretest posttest design involving two groups – the control group and experimental group was used in this study. 6125 (JSS III) students who are offering Basic Technology in Minna Educational zone formed the population of this study. 241 Junior Secondary three (JSS III) students of two co-educational schools offering Basic Technology were sampled. The two-co-educational secondary schools were randomly drawn using balloting from four co-educational schools offering Basic Technology in Minna educational zone. Two intact classes were used for the study. In each of the sampled schools, all the JSS III students in the intact class randomly selected belonged to one group either the experimental (RTS) or control (TAT) group and thus received the same treatment. Basic Technology Achievement Test (BTAT) and the Basic Technology Interest Inventory (BTII), were developed and validated. An internal reliability consistency of BTAT was found to be 0.75 using Kuder Richardson formula 20(K – R20) and that of BTII was 0.85 using Cronbach Alpha. The BTAT and BTII were administered as pretest to the two groups. Mean and Standard Deviation was used to analyzed research questions; while analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the analyses indicated that the effect of RTS on students’ achievement and interest in Basic Technology was significant and gender was not a significant factor on students’ academic achievement and interest in Basic Technology among others.