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PERSONALITY AND VOCATIONAL INTERESTS
IN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
By
SHOAIB KIANI
Dr Muhammad Ajmal National Institute of Psychology
Centre of Excellence Quaid-i-Azam University
Islamabad-Pakistan 2010
PERSONALITY AND VOCATIONAL INTERESTS
IN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
BY
SHOAIB KIANI
A dissertation submitted to the
Dr Muhammad Ajmal
National Institute of Psychology Centre of Excellence
Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN
PSYCHOLOGY
2010
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments i
Abstracts iii
List of Tables iv
List of figures viii
List of Appendixes ix
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1
Personality 4
Psychological Traits 5
Historical Background of Trait Research 7
Taxonomies of Personality 8
Five Factor Model 10
Personality and Culture 12
Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) 15
Vocational Interests 21
The Concept of Fit or Congruence 22
Holland Theory of Vocational Choices 23
Self Directed Search (SDS) 29
Vocational Aspirations 33
Personality and Vocational Interests 38
Applicability of FFM to children 47
Gender differences on Personality and Vocational Interests 51
Rationale of the Study 54
CHAPTER II CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING ABOUT 60
PERSONALITY AND VOCATIONAL INTERESTS
CHAPTER III RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS 77
CHAPTER IV PERSONALITY AND VOCATIONAL INTERESTS OF 119
STUDENTS
Objectives 119
Hypotheses 120
Method 120
Psychometric properties 125
Relationship between Personality and Vocational interests 144
Discussion 163
CHAPTER V VOCATIONAL INTERESTS MEASURED BY SDS 177
SUMMARY CODES
Objectives 177
Hypotheses 178
Method 178
Results 180
Discussion 184
CHAPTER VI VOCATIONAL ASPIRATIONS OF THE STUDENTS 188
Objectives 188
Hypotheses 189
Method 189
Results 191
Discussion 202
CHAPTER VII EXPERT OPINIONS ABOUT PERSONALITY AND 210
VOCATIONAL INTERESTS
Objectives 210
Method 211
Results 213
Discussion 219
CHAPTER VIII GENERAL DISCUSSION 222
Implications of the Study 240
Limitations of the Study 242
Future Research 244
Conclusion 245
REFERENCES 246
ABSTRACT
The present study deals with the personality and vocational interests of the high school
students Relationship between personality and vocational interests and the degree of
agreement between vocational aspirations and vocational interests of the students were carried
out in the current study The differences with respect to demographical variables on personality
and vocational interests were also explored The main study was conducted on the sample of
596 students (319 male and 277 female students with a mean age of 1573 years) belonging to 7
government schools There were 303 students belonging to science group and 292 students
belonging to Arts group The different relationships between the personality and vocational
interests were assessed through a series of statistical analysis of Correlation Multiple
regression analysis t test and One Way Analysis of Variance The Alpha reliabilities of main
domains of NEO PI-R range from 36 (Openness) to 84 (Conscientiousness) The Alpha
reliabilities for scales of Self Directed Search (SDS) range from 53 to 68 for Activities 55 to
66 for Competencies 76 to 81 for Occupations and 71 to 80 for summary scales The results
established the psychometric properties of the instruments A moderate relationship was found
between FFM and Holland model The study identified the vocational preferences of students
with respect to demographical variables The results revealed significant gender differences on
personality and vocational interests The study also determined the vocational aspirations of the
students and found the degree of agreement between vocational aspirations and vocational
interests for most preferred careers The results revealed a moderate state of congruence for
careers (doctor and teacher) and a state of incongruence for some careers (army lawyer and
engineer) The findings of the study are also reinforced from the opinion of experts Some
pertinent areas were identified for future research The present research contributed both for
theory and practice The findings may be valuable in the field of career counseling as well as
for policy makers in the field of education
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Alpha reliability coefficients of 5 main scales of NEO PI-R (N=79)
102
Table 2 Item-total correlations of each item with respective subscales of
NEO PI-R (N = 79)
103
Table 3 Correlations of subscales with main scale of Neuroticism (N = 79) 105
Table 4 Correlations of subscales with main scale of Extraversion (N = 79) 106
Table 5 Correlations of subscales with main scale of Openness (N = 79) 107
Table 6 Correlations of subscales with main scale of Agreeableness (N=79) 108
Table 7 Correlations of subscales with main scale of Conscientiousness
(N = 79)
108
Table 8 Inter-correlations between five main domains of NEO PI-R (N=79) 109
Table 9 Alpha reliability coefficients of subscales of SDS (N = 79)
110
Table 10 Item-total correlations of subscales of SDS (N = 79) 112
Table 11 Inter-correlations of SDS Scales (N = 79) 116
Table 12 Alpha reliability coefficients of main scales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
126
Table 13 Item-total correlations of each item with respective subscales of
NEO PI-R (N = 596)
127
Table 14 Inter-correlations between subscales and main scale of
Neuroticism (N = 596)
129
Table 15 Inter-correlations between subscales and main scale of
Extraversion (N = 596)
130
Table 16 Inter-correlations between subscales and main scale of Openness
(N = 596)
131
Table 17 Inter-correlations between subscales and main scale of
Agreeableness (N = 596)
132
Table 18 Inter-correlations between subscales and main scale of
Conscientiousness (N = 596)
133
Table 19 Inter-correlations between five domains of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
133
Table 20 Alpha reliability coefficients of subscales of SDS (N = 596)
134
Table 21 Item-total correlations of each item with respective subscales of 136
SDS (N = 596)
Table 22 Inter-correlations of SDS Scales (N = 596) 140
Table 23 Inter-correlations between 5 main scales including 30 facet scales
of NEO PI-R and 6 summary scales of SDS (N = 596)
144
Table 24 Summary of Multiple Regression Analysis for Demographic and
Five Domains of Personality on the six Personality Types
(N = 596)
148
Table 25 Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of male and female
students on five domain scales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
150
Table 26 Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of Science and
Arts group students on five domain scales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
151
Table 27 Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of Urban and Rural
students on five domain scales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
152
Table 28 Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of 9th and 10th
class students on five domain scales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
153
Table 29 Mean and standard deviation between three groups of students
based on parents education on the scores of five domain scales of
NEO PI-R (N = 596)
154
Table 30 One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) between three groups of
students based on parents education on the scores of five domain
scales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
155
Table 31 Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of Lower age (14
to 16 yrs) and Upper age (17 to 19 yrs) groups of students on main
scales NEO PI-R (N = 596)
156
Table 32 Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of Male and
Female students on main summary scales of SDS (N = 596)
157
Table 33 Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of Science and
Arts group students on main summary scales of SDS (N = 596)
158
Table 34 Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of Urban and Rural
students on main summary scales of SDS (N = 596)
159
Table 35 Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of 9th and 10th
class students on main summary scales of SDS (N = 596)
160
Table 36 Mean and standard deviation between three groups of students
based on parents education on the scores of six personality types of
SDS (N = 596)
161
Table 37 One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) between three groups of
students based on parents education on the scores of six
personality types of SDS (N = 596)
162
Table 38 Frequencies of highest summary codes of students on six
personality types of SDS (N = 596)
180
Table 39 Frequencies of highest summary codes of male (N = 319) and
female ( N = 277) students on six personality types of SDS
181
Table 40 Frequencies of highest Summary codes of Science (N = 304) and
Arts ( N = 292) group students on six personality types of SDS
182
Table 41 Vocational aspirations of the students (N = 482) 192
Table 42 The frequencies of highest summary codes of male (N = 243) and
female (N = 239) students on six personality types of SDS
192
Table 43 Mean and standard deviation between five groups of students
based on vocational aspirations on their scores on five domains of
NEO PI-R (N = 482)
193
Table 44 Repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) between five
groups of students based on vocational aspirations on their scores
on five domains of NEO PI-R (N = 482)
194
Table 45 Frequencies of SDS Summary codes of students whose vocational
aspiration is Doctor (N = 193)
195
Table 46 Frequencies of SDS Summary codes of students whose vocational
aspiration is Army (N = 139)
196
Table 47 Frequencies of SDS Summary codes of students whose vocational
aspiration is Teacher (N = 58)
197
Table 48 Frequencies of SDS Summary codes of students whose vocational
aspiration is Lawyer (N = 55)
198
Table 49 Frequencies of SDS Summary codes of students whose vocational
aspiration is Engineer (N = 37)
199
Table 50 Frequencies obtained from highest Summary code of five groups
of students (males and females) based on vocational aspirations via
hexagonal model (N = 482)
200
Table 51 Alpha reliability coefficients of five domains of personality of
Evaluation sheet (N = 25)
214
Table 52 Item-total correlations of five domains of Evaluation sheet (N =25) 214
Table 53 Inter-correlations of main scales of Evaluation sheet (N = 25) 215
Table 54 Mean and standard deviation between five groups of experts based
on their scores on five domains of Evaluation sheet (N = 25)
216
Table 55 Repeated measure Analysis of variance (ANOVA) between five
groups of experts based on their scores on five domains of
Evaluation sheet (N = 25)
217
Table 56 Frequencies of expert opinions about personality types
corresponding with their careers (N = 25)
218
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Five Main Domains and 30 Facets of NEO PI-R 15
Figure 2 Hexagonal Structure of Hollandrsquos model 25
Figure 3
Figure 4
The Personality types (Holland 1985)
Hexagonal Representation of Inter correlations of SDS scales
(N = 596)
26
100
Figure 5 Sample Distribution in Schools 122
Figure 6 Sample Distribution within Schools 122
Figure 7 Hexagonal Representation of Inter-correlations of SDS Scales
(N = 596)
142
Figure 8 Hexagonal Representation of Inter-correlations of SDS Scales
(Naheed 1988) (N = 114)
143
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A Scoring Procedure for Vocational Aspirations on Hexagonal Model
Appendix B Focus Group Guidelines for Students
Appendix C Focus Group Guidelines for Teachers
Appendix D Demographical Questionnaire
Appendix E Future Possibilities Questionnaire
Appendix F Evaluation Sheet
Appendix G Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory
NEO PI-R (Urdu Version)
Appendix H
Appendix I
Facets Scale of NEO PI-R (Urdu Version)
Answer Sheet NEO PI-R
Appendix J Self Directed Search SDS (Urdu Version)
Appendix K
Appendix L
List of Schools
List of difficult words generally asked by the students on
NEO PI-R
Appendix M List of difficult concepts generally asked by the students on SDS
1
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
Personality traits and vocational interests are two major non-cognitive
domains in the field of psychology from dispositional realm These dispositional
attributes are important as they influence many outcomes related with work and life
success They both can measure individual differences The exact nature of the
association between the two domains remains vague despite hundreds of studies
(Borgen 1986 Hansen 1984)
The extensively used models are the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality
(Costa amp McCrae 1992a) and Hollands model of vocational interests (Holland
1985a) They both contributed the common objective of predicting and explaining
individuals work behaviors FFM focus on ways of acting thinking and feeling
Whereas Hollandlsquos vocational theory focuses on individuals preferences
It is believed that the relationship between personality and vocational
interests would be very significant when individualslsquo behavioral tendencies match
their preferences The theoretical overlap between personality and vocational
interests has been consistently established by many researchers (eg Ackerman amp
Heggestad 1997 Barrett 2009 Barrick Mount amp Gupta 2003 Berings De Fruyt
amp Bouwen 2004 Bullock amp Reardon 2008 Duffy Borges amp Hartung 2009
Ehrhart amp Makransky 2007 Harris Vernon Johnson amp Jang 2006 Hartman amp
2
Betz 2007 Hogan amp Blake 1996 Larson Rottinghaus amp Borgen 2002 Logue
Lounsbury Gupta Frederick amp Leong 2007 Nauta 2004 Staggs Larson amp
Borgen 2007 Zhang 2008)
The applicability of FFM in many populations with diverse cultures has been
determined (Costa amp Widiger 1994 McCrae 1992) The relevance of the FFM to
children has been established by Digman and Takemoto-Chock (1981) This ground-
breaking work has been followed by some significant researches in youth (Digman amp
Inouye 1986 Logue et al 2007 McCrae et al 2005 Zhang 2008) as well as in
older sample (Chapman Duberstein Soumlrensen amp Lyness 2007)
The five dimensions of FFM (Neuroticism Extraversion Openness
Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) have been thoroughly extracted by means of
diverse instruments and assessment sources (Somer amp Goldberg 1999) by using
factorial techniques (Goldberg 1990) on samples of subjects of varying ages
(Costa amp McCrae 1988b De Fruyt Mervielde Hoekstra amp Rolland 2000 Digman
amp Shemelyov 1996 Mervielde amp De Fruyt 2000) and from various cultures using a
psycho-lexical approach (Anglo-American Goldberg 1990 1992 Hofstee DeRaad
amp Goldberg 1992 Saucier 1997 German Ostendorf 1990 Dutch De Raad 1992
Czech Hrebickova 1995 Polish Szarota 1996 Turkish Somer amp Goldberg 1999)
Holland (1966b) has conceptualized vocational interests as expressions of
personality (Holland 1999 Sullivan amp Hansen 2004) He termed the six vocational
3
types ie Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising and Conventional
(RIASEC) as Personality typeslsquo (see Holland 1973) Hollands assumed that
individuals will show a liking for occupations which match to their personal way of
life (Pryor 1986) Such a match will help in adjustment and eventually occupational
success on multiple levels
Personality measures explain the social skills and drive required to succeed
whereas measures of Vocational interest describe a person liking for an occupation
Thus these measures are related supplemental but not identical Some personality
traits may correspond with many vocational interests whereas other may not match
with any vocational interests
Personal occupational daydreams are good predictor of vocational choices
and are supported in the literature review (Brown amp Brooks 1991 Crabbs 1979
Sarnoff amp Remer 1982 Touchton amp Magoon 1977 Yanico 1981) Holland
Fritzsche and Powell (1994) indicated that current vocational aspirations are a
predictor of career choices (Hirschi amp Laumlge 2008 Miller Springer Tobacyk amp
Wells 2004)
Pakistan being a developing country have achieved some economical
development but yet not developed the high standard of professional skills in human
resource The professional skills are not crystallized Hence there seems to be a state
of chaos where individuals are not clear which vocations suit their interests and
abilities Hence it is of paramount importance to focus students in their school years
4
to understand their personality and vocational interests so that they can be guided to
choose suitable career in future The present study focused on the personality and
vocational interests of high school students The relationships among personality
vocational aspirations and vocational interests also require some exploration Such an
exploration needs a delineation of the concept of personality and vocational interests
Personality
Personality is a complex concept which is difficult to define Allport (1937)
and Murray (1938) defined personality but wide-ranging definitions covering all
aspects like intra psychic qualities of mind and body relations to others and
personal goals is yet to surface
According to Hogan (1991) personality refers to the social reputation the
way an individual is perceived by others The other aspect is private and must be
inferred as it refers to processes and propensities which explain why a person
behaves in a specific way
Personality traits referred to the stable characteristics which are
psychological in nature and provide reasons for persons behavior These traits
described a person and determine his emotional cognitive and behavioral
propensities Costa and McCrae (1989) defined ―personality as enduring emotional
5
interpersonal experiential attitudinal and motivational styles that explain behavior
in different situations Funder (2002) described personality as pattern of thought
emotion and behavior Larsen and Buss (2005) defined personality as ―the set of
psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that are organized and
relatively enduring and that influence his or her interactions with and adaptations to
the intra-psychic physical and social environments (P4)
Psychological Traits
According to Larson and Buss (2005) psychological traits help to describe
people and recognize the dimensions of individual differences Second they may
facilitate to explain behavior Third traits help to predict the behavior Thus
personality helps in describing explaining and predicting individual differences
which are the hallmarks of good scientific theory
Psychological traits are fairly organized and enduring Personality is
organized because it includes decision rules and it is relatively enduring over time
and situation However some situation may be over-powering and suppress the
expression of psychological traits The person-environment interaction is a complex
personality feature and is difficult to describe The interaction with situations
included perceptions selections evocations and manipulations People interpret or
see an environment choose situations to enter and go about show reactions which
6
are produced in others and manipulate the ways to influence others All these forms
of interaction are important to understand the links between the personalities of
people and the nature of their environment
Adaptive functioning is another main feature of personality dealing with
coping adjusting and dealing with the challenges of life Generally the human
behavior is goal-directed functional and purposeful This adaptation is with
reference to physical social and intra-psychic environment The physical
environment often poses challenge for people which may be a direct threat to
survival Social environment also poses adaptive challenges The way one struggles
for belongingness love and esteem is actually coping with social environment
People have dreams needs fantasies are nevertheless real to everyone as an
important part of their psychological reality Thus social physical and intra-psychic
environment provides an important context for understanding human personality
Domains of Knowledge
The field of personality can be smartly segmented into different domains of
knowledge These consist of dispositional biological intra-psychic cognitive-
experiential social and cultural and adjustment domains as described by Larson and
Buss (2005) Dispositional domain deals with the individual differences Biological
domain assumed that human is collections of biological system and is illustrated as
the psychophysiology of personality Intra-psychic domain dealt with mental
7
mechanism of personality which generally operates at unconscious level Cognitive-
Experiential domain emphasizes on conscious thoughts feelings desires and beliefs
Adjustment domain referred to the coping adapting and adjusting in day to day
lives In the present study the dispositional domain of personality has been taken as
the theoretical base for exploring individual differences
Historical Background of Traits Research
Sir Francis Galton was the first scientist to recognize that personality
differences in peoplelsquos lives would eventually became encoded into their language
now known as the lexical hypothesis Allport and Odbert (1936) extracted 17953
adjectives and later reduced this gigantic list to 4500 personality describing words
Cattell (1943) as a starting point for his lexical analysis of personality traits reduced
the list and ended with a smaller set of 35 clusters of personality traits Fiske (1949)
later took a subset of 22 of Cattelllsquos 35 clusters and discovered five factors through
factor analysis Fiske is distinguished as the first person to determine five factor
model Tupes and Chiristal (1961) made the next major contribution to the five factor
taxonomy They studied the factor structure of 22 simplified descriptions in eight
samples and ended up with the five factor model Norman (1963) also found five
factors of personality traits Goldberg (1981) based on his lexical project found the
five factors
8
The event that led to the widespread acceptance of FFM among personality
researchers during 1980s was a symposium in Honolulu It is also followed by the
publication of the Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory Revised
(NEO PI-R) by Costa and McCrae (1992a) FFM established the common taxonomy
to understand one another
Taxonomies of Personality
Over the past century dozens of taxonomies of personality traits have been
proposed most of which are found on the intuitions of personality psychologists
Some of the taxonomies that have solid and empirical justifications are discussed
below
Eysenckrsquos Hierarchical Model of Personality
Eysenck (1981) developed a model of personality based on traits believed to
be highly heritable The three main traits were extraversion---introversion (E)
neuroticism---emotional stability (N) and psychoticism (P) and could be remembered
by an acronym PEN Eysencklsquos hierarchical model has super traits at top level and
narrow traits at the second level There is a third level of habitual acts and specific
traits are at the very lowest level
9
Extraversion included a large number of narrow traitsmdashsociable active
dominant lively etc These narrow traits co-vary significantly with each other to
load on the same large factor extraversionlsquo Eysenck and Eysenck (1975) described
extraverts as typically like to attend social parties strives for friendships and seem to
have people around them Introverts in contrast are aloof and distant prefer quiet
time and generally have predictable lifestyle (Larsen amp Kasimatis 1990) Thus
extraversion and introversion are central dimensions of human personality
Neuroticism consisted of a cluster of more specific traits like anxious lacking
self esteem tense moody irritable and guilty High scorers on neuroticism tend to
be worrier anxious and depressed The low-N scorers are more emotionally stable
balanced and calm and collected under stressful situations The third trait
Psychoticism consist of narrow traits like aggressive impulsive egocentric lacking
empathy and antisocial The high-P scorer is typically a solitary individual lacks
empathy laughs when someone gets hurt accidentally and shows insensitivity to the
pain and sufferings of others However the analyses of study by Aziz and Jackson
(2001) suggested that the five factor model was more forceful as compared to three-
factor model in the Pakistani data
Cattellrsquos Taxonomy
Cattell (1943) can be recognized with developing a strong empirical strategy
for identifying the basic dimensions of personality and with stimulating and
10
determining the entire trait approach to personality Cattelllsquos taxonomy consisted of
16 personality factors the largest in terms of the number of factors identified as basic
traits He tried to define describe explain and predict individual differences and
applied factor analysis to understand personality The 16 factors scales are
interpersonal warmth imagination boldness intelligence emotional stability
dominance impulsivity tension conformity insecurity suspiciousness shrewdness
sensitivity self-sufficiency self-discipline and radicalism
Although Cattell (1943) used factor analysis to find out common trait his
theory has not been effectively replicated Second order factor analyses of the 16
Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF Cattell Eber amp Tatsuoka 1970) pointed to
a model similar to the FFM (Cattell 1995 Krug amp Johns 1986) The numbers of
meta-analyses have confirmed the predictive value of Big Five across a wide range
of behavior
Five Factor Model (FFM)
The FFM (Costa amp McCrae 1992a) described the basic dimensions of
personality Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Agreeableness and
Conscientiousness These dimensions have been repeatedly recovered in factor
analyses in varied situations and populations (Costa amp McCrae 1985 Goldberg
1990 McCrae amp Costa 1987 Norman amp Goldberg 1966 Passini amp Norman 1966
Tupes amp Christal 1961) Similarly five factor structure have been reported and
11
evaluated by many investigators (Digman 1990 Digman amp Inouye 1986 Goldberg
1990 1992 John 1990 McCrae amp Costa 1987 McCrae amp John 1992 Wiggins amp
Pincus 1992) In many researches FFM has provided a suitable structure to interpret
and organize other personality systems (McCrae amp Costa 1985a 1989b Piedmont
McCrae amp Costa 1991)
One of the important characteristic of FFM is that the factors are dimensions
where people fall in between the extremes The five main dimensions and their facets
are heritable to some extent (Jang McCrae Angleitner Reimann amp Livesley 1998
Loehlin McCrae Costa amp John 1998) These factors are generally considered
universal recovered even in German and Chinese languages (McCrae amp Costa
1997)
Costa and McCrae used the NEO personality scales as a structure to
incorporate other measurement approaches like those developed by Eysenck (Costa
amp McCrae 1985) Jackson (Costa amp McCrae 1988a) Spielberger (Costa amp McCrae
1987) and Wiggins (McCrae amp Costa 1989b) It included scales like MMPI (Costa
Busch Zonderman amp McCrae 1986) and the MBTI (McCrae amp Costa 1989c)
These results provided commanding evidence in favor of the FFM in
subsuming other trait models of human personality During the last two decades
FFM received the most consideration and support from personality researchers
(Costa amp McCrae 1995a Goldberg 1981 McCrae amp John 1992 Saucier amp
12
Goldberg 1996 Wiggins 1996) as well as strong critics (Block 1995a 2001 Brand
1995 Briggs 1992 Cattell 1996 Costa amp McCrae 1992b 1995b Eysenck 1992
Goldberg amp Saucier 1995 Loevinger 1994 McAdam 1992 Pervin 1994)
FFM got tremendous support from personality psychologists (Digman amp
Shmelyov 1996 Kallasmaa Allik Realo amp McCrae 2000 Rolland Parker amp
Stumpf 1998 Somer amp Goldberg 1999 Tsuji et al 1997) in cross cultural studies
The FFM is claimed to be empirically rooted and theoretically sound model of
personality (as cited in Gill amp Hodgkinson 2007)
Personality and Culture
Recent years have seen an interest in studies of personality and culture
(Church 2001 Church amp Lonner 1998 Lee McCauley amp Draguns 1999 McCrae
2000) McCrae Yik Trapnell Bond and Paulhus (1998) determined the cross
cultural generalization of FFM using Chinese translations and American English of
NEO PI-R on samples in Germany Italy and South Korea The results showed that
the differences between Hong Kong and North American undergraduates and
between undergraduates of European and Chinese living in Canada were cultural in
origin
A significant criterion of the validity of a model of personality is its cross
cultural validity that is independent of culture (John Goldberg amp Angleitner 1984)
13
Berry (1969) suggested classic distinction about research which can be divided into
two categories The emic approach aimed at discovering the constructs specific to
each culture by gathering specific linguistic material in each culture and the etic
approach on the contrary aimed at verifying whether the constructs identified in a
given culture can be found in another context thereby attempting to distinguish
universals In short studies based on the psycho-lexical approach often integrated an
emic approach where as studies using lexical markers or standardized inventories
used an etic approach Some research combined both approaches that are called an
integrated method thus enabling both cross cultural universals and specific
dimensions to be recognized (Katigbak Church amp Akamine 1996 Yang amp Bond
1990 Yik amp Bond 1993) In the present study etic approach was overwhelmingly
used along with emic approach to explore the culture specific aspects related to
personality and vocational interests
During the review of literature there seems to be some dispute on the topic of
personality and culture This controversy is also identified by Knyazev Zupančič
and Slobodskaya (2008) and Triandis and Suh (2002) McCrae and Costa (2003)
claimed that personality traits are enduring tendencies while Shweder (1991) argued
against it and argued that global traits do not exist Applicability of FFM across
Pakistani culture needs to be explored in order to analyze the existing available
literature
14
McCrae and Costa (1997) claimed that personality traits are human universal
and can be found in all cultures Nevertheless the way in which these characteristics
are expressed is shaped by culture and experience (McCrae 2001 2002 McCrae amp
Costa 2008) Allik and McCrae (2004) showed similar personality profiles by
conducting secondary analyses with FFM data from 36 cultures They observed that
European and American cultures were higher in Extraversion and Openness to
Experience and lower in Agreeableness as compared to Asian cultures
Costa Terracciano and McCrae (2001) mentioned smallest gender
differences in personality among Asian and African cultures as compared to Europe
cultures Such studies demonstrated that comparing personality across cultures could
be helpful for understanding the dynamics associated with culture and personality
(Schmitt Allik McCrae amp Benet-Martinez 2007) Finally there is a sort of national
character (see Allik amp McCrae 2004 Schmitt et al 2007) that may interact with
culture to shape the manifestation of acquired needs in work settings
The majority of cross-cultural studies on personality have been conducted
with adults or late adolescents However there are few studies conducting on children
with reference to FFM (Gartstein Knyazev amp Slobodskaya 2005) Few studies
incorporated parentslsquo view of children which may be different in different cultures
These problems can be overcome by comparing cross-cultural differences through
self-reports and opinion from the experts These procedures have been being adopted
in the present study in order to examine the personality and vocational interests of
15
high school students and evaluate the findings with the opinion of the experts A
comprehensive measure of personality has been developed based on FFM by Costa
and McCrae (1992a)
Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R)
The NEO PI-R (Costa amp McCrae 1992a) is a measure of the five main
domains of personality as well as the 6 facets representing each domain The 5
domain scales and 30 facet scales of the NEO PI-R are
Five Domains Facets
Neuroticism (N)
Anxiety Angry Hostility Depression Self-
Consciousness Impulsiveness Vulnerability
Extraversion (E)
Warmth Gregariousness Assertiveness Activity
Excitement-Seeking Positive Emotions
Openness (O) Fantasy Aesthetics Feelings Actions Ideas
Values
Agreeableness (A)
Trust Straightforwardness Altruism Compliance
Modesty Tender-Mindedness
Conscientiousness (C)
Competence Order Dutifulness Achievement
Striving Self-Discipline Deliberation
Figure 1 Five main Domains and 30 Facets of NEO PI-R
16
NEO PI-R is a well designed instrument The instructions are quite clear and
self-explanatory It has proven its value in personality research and provides
comprehensive assessment of personality and facet traits It is quite useful in any
research on personality correlates like moral development (Lonky Kaus amp Roodin
1984) ego identity status (Tesch amp Cameron 1987) response to psychotherapy
(Miller 1991) and coping with military basic training (Vickers Kolar amp Hervig
1989)
The wide use of NEO PI-R in several cross cultural investigations attested its
broad based applicability and practical validity which has earned a status of cross
cultural instrument (Yang et al 1999) The use of NEO PI-R as an inventory in
English language may be limited to English literate population in Pakistan so the
need was felt to use the already translated version of NEO PI-R in Urdu language
(Chishti 2002) which is a national and widely understood language of Pakistan
NEO PI-R items can be administered orally by an interviewer without loss of
validity (Costa amp McCrae 1992b) It is a useful instrument which can be applied on
different populations It has also been used successfully in college students (Wiggins
amp Pincus 1989) and also on individuals having only high school education One of
the greatest strength of the instrument is its comprehensiveness If some scales are
omitted important relations with other criteria may be missed There is no time limit
for completing NEO PI-R however change can be introduced in the procedures to
17
facilitates individuals with poor reading skills The shorter version of the instrument
is also available
The NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI)
This is a shortened version with only 60 items measuring 5-factors of
personality It is a self-report and can be administered to adults with a 6th grade
reading level The time for administration is 10-15 minutes It correlated with the
NEO PI-R domain scales at 77 to 92 and has a 68 to 86 internal consistency
values However NEOndashFFI (Costa amp McCrae 1992a) measures only the broad five
domains and is not a comprehensive inventory like NEO PI-R which also measures
facets scales representing each main domain Hence NEO PI-R has been used in the
present study to measure the higher and lower order personality pattern of students
Urdu Version of NEO PI-R
The adaptation translation and cross validation of NEO PI-R in Urdu
language has been conducted in Pakistan by Chishti (2002) The back translation
method was used and 4 culture specific items ie 52 68 105 and 157 were adapted
in accordance with Pakistani culture The Urdu version and original English version
of NEO PI-R were administered on sample of Pakistan Air Force cadets The
reliability and validity of the Urdu version of NEO PI-R was established The Alpha
reliability coefficient for Urdu version ranged from 73 (Openness) to 89
18
(Conscientiousness) whereas the Alpha coefficients of English version ranged from
37 (Openness) to 80 (Neuroticism) This research demonstrated that Pakistani
version of Revised NEO Personality Inventory is a reliable and valid instrument for
the Pakistani subjects
Critical Analysis of Five Factor Model of Personality
Block (1995a) and Rounds and Zevon (1983) claimed researchers may group
words together to bias the results of a lexical hypothesis with personality adjectives
to reduce the number of redundant synonyms Block (1995a) identified
developmental issues and limited work experience related to researches conducted on
college students especially when occupational interests were examined In the scope
of the present study these limitations will not matter as Hollandlsquos model was
originally developed with high school and college students
Although validation studies on FFM of personality are well constructed
plentiful and impressive (Juni 1995) however confusion in wording statement and
use of compound sentences may pose validity problems Overall this inventory can
be used in both theory and practice contexts A demographically representative
normative group would help in generalizing the instrument to various populations
Miller (1991) noted that the FFM can be used in treatment plans of patient in a
systematic way without loss of compassion for the patient
19
It has been established that the FFM is quite attuned with well known
psychological theories Although Eysenck (1991) supported the PEN model as more
appropriate but majority of psychologists are in favor of factor-analytic FFM models
in the background of current psychological research (Ewen 1998) The FFMlsquos
compatibility with other models showed that this model is compatible with other
factor-analytical models McMartin (1995) favored the structure of personality
consisting of five big traits rather than Eysencklsquos model
The Five main dimensions have shown convergent and discriminant validity
across different instruments (McCrae amp Costa 1990) Nonetheless shortcomings of
the FFM have been discussed by many researchers (Eysenck 1991 John amp Robins
1993 McAdams 1992 Waller amp Ben-Porath 1987) McCrae and John (1992) have
described there are disputes among five-factorists about the best interpretation of
the factors there are certainly important distinctions to be made at the level of the
more molecular traits that define the factors and it is possible that there are other
basic dimensions of personality (p 177)
McAdams (1992) stated that FFM cannot achieve the title of the unified
psychological theory being just a list of five variables to identify and classify
personality traits Digman (1990) stated that five dimensions of personality can be
measured with high reliability and validity providing support to the personality
structure It appeared that the FFM holds well across cultural context
20
A five-factor outcome was clearly evident in studies conducted in Japan
Philippines and Germany (Digman 1990) One of the limitations of the FFM is that
it failed to anticipate behavior in many situations However FFM was complementary
and combatable to other theories including Freuds highly subjective theory of
psychoanalysis The stumbling block for the greatness of FFM is the criticism that
the model was not a theory rather just an idea for means of classification
The FFM have been well established as predictors of success in many
occupations involving managerial and semi-skilled roles (Barrick amp Mount 1991
Barrick et al 2001 Hurtz amp Donovan 2000 Mount Barrick amp Stewart 1998
Salgado 1998 2003 Tett Jackson amp Rothstein 1991) NEO PI-R offered
information that may be valuable to the counselor or clinician in many ways (Miller
1991 Muten 1991) Two of the NEO PI-R domains Openness and
Conscientiousness are promise to be of particular interest in the area of educational
psychology Vocational interests are strongly related to personality particularly to
Extraversion and Openness (Costa McCrae amp Holland 1984) NEO PI-R scales can
form a useful complement for vocational interests (McCrae amp Costa 1991a)
21
Vocational Interests
Vocational interests have been defined by many researchers (Dawis 1991
Savickas 1999) Interests as activities that are collection of likes and dislikes (Cole
amp Hanson 1978 Strong 1960 Kuder 1977) Bingham (1937) viewed interests as a
dispositional tendency and Carter (1944) described interests as attitudes that reflect
stable personality traits Holland (1973) stated that vocational interests are simply
another aspect of personality hellip If vocational interests are expressions of personality
then it follows that interest inventories are personality inventories (p7)
To be more precise vocational psychology is concerned an individuals
choice of a particular occupation and is related to satisfaction and productivity in it
Strong (1927) published the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) for Men for the
assessment of vocational interests Kuder (1934) introduced the Kuder Preference
Record (Walsh amp Osipow 1986) Holland (1957) published his prolific theory of
vocational choice and developed Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and Self-
Directed Search to measure interest and personality types In the present study
vocational interests of the students are measured by the Self-Directed Search
22
The Concept of Fit or Congruence
The concept of fit or congruencelsquo between the person and the environment
attracted attention of many psychologists (Edwards 1991 Kristof 1996 Schneider
1987) People choose jobsworking settings which depend on many different factors
like pay and security (Argyle Furnham amp Graham 1981 Furnham amp Koritsas
1990) People have some choices to choose the vocational environment however
vocational choices or preferences are not free from restraints due to personality
influences demographic and economic constraints
Vocational interests reflect individual choices in engaging in tasks and
activities of their choice They liked to be in environments where they are attracted
by the people like them Congruency is the basic concept (French Rogers amp Cobb
1974) of compatibility between personality and the environment For example a
social personality in a social environment would prove to be highly satisfied with
opportunities and rewards
Due to rapid developments in technology the nature of jobs evolves and
changes quickly People can adapt himself to new job and even develop striking
changes in attitudes and work-related behavior Most organizations attempt through
various techniques to motivate individualslsquo behavior by giving remarkable incentives
(Furnham 1994) Even then the individual may quickly develop a misfit while other
23
negotiates for special privileges despite certain constraints (Argyle Furnham amp
Graham 1981)
In Pakistani job market where it is not easy to choose an appropriate career
that suits onelsquos personality and vocational interests thus despite having all the
motivation and suitable skills people may be unable to attain their desired careers
The economic state and policies are reflective of availability of jobs in the region
Moreover some factors like sex culture education social class may hinder people to
choose particular careers which they like most especially in developing countries
There are chances that people may continue to be in the job despite a mismatch
between interests and environment
Hollands typology advocated that congruence between interests and
environment is associated with greater satisfaction and is supported by many others
(Assouline amp Meir 1987 Mount amp Muchinsky 1978 Spokane 1985) There is a
dearth of literature in the field of vocational interests and the work environment in
Pakistani context Hence there is a requirement to investigate the level of congruence
between interests and environment of Pakistani potential workforce
Holland Theory of Vocational Choices
The work of Holland (1973 1985a and 1997) in the domain of vocational
interests stands out like a colossus He introduced an occupational classification
24
system (1958 1959 1966a 1966b) and a theory of vocational interests which
attracted substantial attention (Campbell amp Borgen 1999 McDaniel amp Snell 1999
Tracey amp Rounds 1993 1997)
Holland explicitly recognized the role of personality (1959 1966a 1973
1997) in his theory of vocational personalities and work environments He is of the
view that individuallsquos satisfaction depends on the match between hisher personality
and occupational environment
Although there was a criticism on Hollandlsquos typology (eg Gati 1991) yet
it has been widely studied in the vocational literature It has been emerged repeatedly
in cross-cultural analyses (Day amp Rounds 1998) and its generalizability has been
supported in large samples (Rounds amp Tracey 1993 Tracey amp Rounds 1993)
Holland (19731985a) theorized that personality traits self-knowledge and
occupational knowledge reflect career choices In making career choices
environmental factors like family school and social environment have a large role to
play Despite these constraints individuals searched for the type of environment
that suitscongruent with their personality type The theory specified a hexagonal
structure wherein each of the six RIASEC types appears on one point of the hexagon
It is assumed that adjacent types are most similar than types positioned opposite of
one another on the hexagon The types placed on alternate positions have a moderate
level of similarity Hollandlsquos career theory is based on concepts like match between
25
interest and work environment (congruence) difference between the highest and
lowest interest (differentiation) and similarity between the top few interests
(consistency) as mentioned by Leong and Gupta (2006) The hexagonal structural of
Holland model is represented below
Figure 2 Hexagonal structure of Holland Model (1985a)
Note R = Realistic I = Investigative A = Artistic S = Social E = Enterprising C = Conventional
Thus R-I relationship would be more consistentcongruent then R-A which is
on alternate type R-S relationship would be least consistent which are placed
opposite to each other The six personality types and their personality description are
shown below
I
E S
C A
R
26
The Realistic type like realistic jobs Has
mechanical abilities but may lack social
skills Is described as
Asocial Inflexible Practical
Conforming Materialistic Self-Effacing
Frank Natural Thrifty
Genuine Normal Uninsightful
Hardheaded Persistent Uninvolved
The Investigative type likes
investigative jobs Has mathematical and
scientific ability but often lacks
leadership ability Is described as
Analytical Independent Rational
Cautious Intellectual Reserved
Critical Introspective Retiring
Complex Pessimistic Unassuming
Curious Precise Unpopular
The Artistic type likes artistic jobs Has
writing musical or artistic abilities but
often lacks clerical skills Is described as
Complicated Imaginative Intuitive
Disorderly Impractical Nonconforming
Emotional Impulsive Open
Expressive Independent Original
Idealistic Introspective Sensitive
The Social type like social jobs Has
social skills and talents but often lack
mechanical and scientific ability Is
described as
Ascendant Helpful Responsible
Cooperative Idealistic Sociable
Empathic Kind Tactful
Friendly Patient Understanding
Generous Persuasive Warm
The Enterprising type like enterprising
jobs Has leadership and speaking
abilities but often lacks scientific ability
Is described as
Acquisitive Energetic Flirtatious
Adventurous Excitement- Optimistic
Agreeable seeking Self-Confident
Ambitious exhibitionistic Sociable
Domineering Extroverted Talkative
The Conventional type like conventional
jobs Has clerical and arithmetic abilities
but often lacks artistic ability Is
described as
Careful Inflexible Persistent
Conforming Inhibited Practical
Conscientious Methodical Prudish
Defensive Obedient Thrifty
Efficient Orderly Unimaginative
Figure 3 The personality types (Holland 1985a)
27
Hollandlsquos hexagon typically has been measured comprehensively with the
Self-Directed Search (SDS) (Holland 1985a) The other measures are the Strong
Interest Inventory (SII) (Hansen 1984 Hansen amp Campbell 1985 Harmon Hansen
Borgen amp Hammer 1994) and the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) (Holland
1985c)
Hollands measure has been applied in many settings like in managerial work
(Maurer amp Tarulli 1997) It has also been applied to the situations like career change
(Oleski amp Subich 1996) and academic comfort (Mullis Mullis amp Brailsford 1997)
Career development over the life span has been studied by Richards (1993)
Concurrent validity studies have been conducted using Hollands measures in many
studies (Bikos Krieshok amp OBrien 1998 Harmon Borgen Berreth King Schauer
amp Ward 1996 Zachar amp Leong 1997)
Hollands personality types have been related with other personality measures
like the MBTI (Nordvik 1996) and the NEO-PI (Holland Johnston amp Asama
1994) It has also been related with the EPQ (Goh amp Leong 1993) Bem Sex Role
Inventory (Miller Knippers Burley amp Tobacyk 1993) and Attachment styles
(Randolph amp Waldrop 1995)
Various cross-cultural validations studies have been conducted on Hollands
theory in countries like Hong Kong (Farh Leong amp Law 1998) Britain (Furnham
Toop Lewis amp Fisher 1995) and Portugal (Alves Joaquim amp Hood 1995) A
study conducted by Haverkamp Collins and Hansen (1994) and Ryan Tracey and
Rounds (1996) found mixed support for the theory in Asian-American employees
28
and in African-American and white high school students However cross cultural
validation of Holland theory in Pakistan conducted by Naheed (1988) provided some
support for the theory
In the existing literature congruence satisfaction relationship has got mixed
support Young Tokar and Subich (1998) found that the congruence--satisfaction
relation as a function of personality type while Furnham (1994) noted that
extroversion and neuroticism may be associated with job satisfaction Carson and
Mowsesian (1993) found little support for the congruence--satisfaction relationships
The present study would help in identifying the level of congruence between the
interests and aspirations of students
In Pakistan the Holland theory was applied but with some adaptation there
are few occupations which are totally uncalled for Pakistani population and they even
do not know about them Therefore there was a requirement to adapt this model to
the Pakistani population The adaptation and translation of SDS was carried out by
Naheed (1988) in accordance to the cultural relevance of Pakistani population and is
used in the present study to measure the vocational interests
Cross cultural studies revealed mix support for the Holland model A meta-
analysis by Rounds and Tracey (1996) is supportive of Hollandlsquos model from
samples in the United States Rounds and Day (1999) suggested cross cultures
representations of work might exist emphasizing the importance of structure of
vocational interest across diverse cultures (Fouad 1999) There might be different
clustering of interests as proposed by Holland due to idiosyncratic aspects of
29
occupational perceptions within a cultural context (eg Law Wong amp Leong
2001) Hence applicability of Hollandlsquo model on high school students in Pakistani
culture need to be explored in order to add to the existing cross cultural literature on
vocational interests
Self Directed Search (SDS)
The Self Directed Search (Holland 1985a) is a self-administered and self
interpreted vocation counseling tool It consists of two booklets an assessment
booklet and an occupational classification booklet The SDS was developed with
purpose to provide a vocational counseling to those who do not wish to have access
to vocational counselors The SDS and its underlying typology have also proved to
be helpful research tools in education business and social science
The SDS increases self understanding satisfaction with current vocational
aspirations and interests In three experiments (Avallone 1974 Krivatsy amp Magoon
1976 Nolan 1974) the beneficial effects of the SDS have proved equal to those of
professional counselors The use of SDS is controlled by its user it stimulates
initiative and learning It eliminates the need for separate answer sheets proctors
special testing dates mailing delays scoring-service costs scoring stencils and
elaborate and complex score reports Norms are incorporated in the three letter
occupational codes
30
The SDS is an outgrowth of a theory of vocational interests (Holland 1959
1966b 1973 1985a) which has undergone extensive investigation and won wide
acceptance The relations between personal characteristics and the occupations in the
occupations finder are easily understood because they are grouped by the same code
letters used to summarize a personlsquos characteristics The personal assessment is
carried out on SDS by scoring the scales activities competencies occupations and
self estimates each representing six RIASEC personality types Scores are added
against RIASEC personality types The first three highest scores are the three-letter
summary codes A person compares all the three summary codes with the
occupations in the occupation finder For instance a person has the highest three
summary codes as ESA which match with the occupation lawyerlsquo in the occupation
finder
The first edition of SDS was published in 1971 The 1977 edition closely
resembled 1971 edition however many inconspicuous changes were also made In
1985lsquos edition 59 of the 228 items were revised The most obvious change was the
doubling of the occupational finder from 500 occupations to more than 1100
occupations The Form Easy (E) was developed for adolescents and adults with
limited reading skills The booklet ―you and your career (Holland 1985b) was
developed to make the SDS a more complete and self-directed experience explaining
the typology and dealing with some common interpretive problems The dictionary
of Holland occupational codes is a translation of the Dictionary of occupational titles
(DOT US Department of Labor 1977) into the Holland (1985a) classification
31
system The computer version was developed in 1985 and computer assisted
assessments became common later on (Chauvin amp Miller 2009)
The ease with which the typology and the SDS can be used understood and
communicated has lead to numerous unanticipated adaptations and revisions
Research on the SDS or its adaptations has been conducted in Australia Canada
Japan Netherlands New Zealand Switzerland Italy Israel Nigeria and Guyana
The SDS was found valid and reliable in many countries including China South
Africa and Slovenia (Holland 1995) The same is the case in Pakistan where SDS
has been translated and adapted into Urdu language (Naheed 1988) and was found
valid and reliable The vocational interests of the high school students were measured
in the present study by Urdu translated version of SDS
The SDS is most effective in private settings but the device has also been
used successfully in small groups of 15 to 25 If larger groups must be used monitors
familiar with the SDS are needed for every 25 to 30 persons The SDS is clearly
suitable for persons aged 15 and older but the upper and lower limits have not been
well investigated The reading level is estimated to be at the seventh and eighth grade
levels according to the Dale and Chall (1948) readability formula The SDS with
minor changes has been used successfully with young children males and females
high schoolers college students employed adults Spanish-American and American
Indians
32
Gender Differences
The inconsistent results on gender differences may be due to the different
samples used and to some extent due to cultural differences Holland Fritzsche and
Powell (1997) found that Realistic and Social types are related to gender in high
school students There were significant gender differences in a sample of African
American college students (Swanson 1992) male students had significant higher
scores on realistic investigate enterprising and conventional Holland codes as
compared to female Similar findings were also reported by Hines (1983) on a
sample of black college students Leong Austin Sekaran and Komarraju (1998)
found female workers had higher scores on realistic investigative artistic social
and enterprising than male workers in India
Tang (2001) stated that female students had higher scores on Artistic Social
and Conventional as compared to male students in China Tak (2004) examined
significantly higher scores in realistic enterprising and conventional for male
students and higher scores in artistic and social types for female students The same
findings were reported by Robertu Fox and Tunick (2003)
Mau and Bikos (2000) viewed adolescentslsquo occupational aspirations as
significant determinant of both short-term educational and long-term career choices
and career self-concept (Rojewski 1999) The more the adolescents get mature it is
easier to tap their abilities interests and values in forming their occupational
aspirations (Super 1990)
33
Vocational Aspirations
According to Holland (1962) while testing the predictive validity of a
personlsquos stated vocational aspiration it was discovered that such aspirations
predicted the category of the subsequent aspiration more efficiently than the high-
point code of the VPI or selected scales from the old SVIB Holland (1968)
explained that the most recent preferences are good estimates of what heshe will
choose or do next Consequently it seemed a good idea to have an aspirations section
in the SDS The inclusion of this list of vocational aspirations has proved valuable in
several ways (1) Coding the vocational aspirations leads to efficient predictions of
future aspirations and jobs (2) Discrepancies between the code of the current
aspiration and the SDS code can be used to promote self-understanding and
discussion (3) Assessing a personlsquos expressed aspirations emphasizes the importance
of a personlsquos self-direction and initiative
Daydream Codes
A personlsquos past and current aspirations are elicited in the daydreams section
of SDS The construct and predictive validity of these aspirations is usually as useful
as test information Counselors should notice the first letter code of the three most
recent vocational aspirations If they are the same (eg teacher social worker
recreation directormdashall Slsquos as per occupational finder book) then the likelihood of
the person maintaining a social aspiration is high If the first two of the three
34
aspirations have the same first letter code the predictive validity of the first
aspiration is moderate If the first three aspirations listed belong to different
occupational categories the predictive validity of the current aspiration is low
(Touchton amp Magoon 1977 Olsquo Neil amp Magoon 1977)
Daydream Code vs SDS Code
Several understandings are necessary for the skillful use of the occupational
classification First the codes are approximate not precise Consequently the degree
of discrepancy between SDS codes and occupational codes is rough not precise
Second the first letter of the occupational code is most important most descriptive
and more reliable Although codes shift slightly from sample to sample changes in
the first letter of the code are infrequent Changes in the second and third letters of
codes occur more frequently Third the distribution of occupational codes among
and within the six main categories is extremely uneven The data suggested that
people with flat profiles contradictory profiles or profiles with rare summary codes
present a variety of questions and problems These people have the greatest need of
professional assistance constructive work experience and information (Holland
1985a)
The relation between the code of the current vocational aspiration and the
SDS summary code is very significant When the first letter code of the current
aspiration and the SDS are the same the likelihood of a person maintaining that
aspiration is very high Three studies (Holland amp Lutz 1968 Holland amp Gottfredson
35
1975 Borgen amp Seling 1978) indicated that when interest inventories and reported
aspirations are in disagreement the predictive validity of the vocational aspiration
exceeds that of the interest inventory although the efficiency of this prediction is
much less than when inventory and aspiration are in agreement Hence there is a
requirement to investigate the level of congruence between vocational interests and
vocational aspirations of students within the purview of present study
In evaluating degree of agreement between SDS codes aspirations or
occupational choice the Zener-Schnuelle index (Zener amp Schnuelle 1976) can be
used Iachan (1984) has provided a mathematically more satisfying solution for
determining the agreement between any pair of three-letter codes in a six-variable
system A simpler index of agreement between any two codes can also be obtained
by employing the hexagonal model This simple procedure correlates about 75 with
the Zener-Schnuelle Index The scoring procedure entailed comparing the first letter
codes for the current vocational aspiration and the SDS The higher the score the
closer the agreement In the present study the state of congruence between the
vocational aspirations and vocational interests were determined by employing the
hexagonal model The detailed instructions and the scoring procedure for the
hexagonal model are described in Appendix ―A
Martin et al (2009) with reference to German Vocational Training System
argued that vibrant adjustments of aspirations play a decisive role for a successful
outcome from school to work transition Ali and Saunders (2009) explored the career
aspirations of rural Appalachian high school students and found adolescentslsquo
36
educational aspirations were strongly linked to future occupational aspirations and
career choices Numerous studies supported that occupational aspirations lead to
future career choices (Aziz 2001 Bandura 1986 Bandura Barbaranelli Capara amp
Pastorelli 1996 Eccles Wigfield amp Schiefele 1998 Lent Brown amp Hackett 1994
Rojewski 1999)
Career Development in Childhood
The different stages of childhood and adolescence are regarded as the years of
preparation for adulthood which covers primary school and junior high school
children They make certain decisions about their future careers It has been found
that career conscience develops in primary school students hence they can aspire
their careers in a more realistic way (Auger Blackhurst and Wahl 2005 Magnuson
and Starr 2000 Nazlı 2007 Trice and King 1991 Walls 2000)
Tokar Fischer amp Subich (1998) determined junior high school students can
associate their own characteristics with careers in Turkey Hirschi (2010) examined
the development and reciprocal interaction of vocational interests and career goals
and the relation of their development to basic personality traits in middle
adolescence According to Gottfredson (2002) career aspirationsgoals begin
developing in early childhood by eliminating occupational alternatives that conflict
with onelsquos self-concept Patton and Creed (2007) surveyed Australian high school
students on measures of occupational aspirationsexpectations and career status
aspirationsexpectations
37
The occupational interests and individual personality traits are related have
been found in the literature review (Betz amp Borgen 2000 Costa McCrae amp
Holland 1984 De-Fruyt amp Mervielde 1997 Goh amp Leong 1994 Gottfredson
Jones amp Holland 1993 Hogan amp Blake 1999 Holland Johnston amp Asama 1994
Ozone 1998)
Costa et al (1984) investigated the relationship between personality styles
and vocational interest and indicated gender differences did exist on scales of the
SDS Women scored higher in Artistic Social and Conventional interests and lower
in Realistic Investigative and Enterprising interests Furthermore significant
correlations existed between Investigative and Artistic vocational interests and
Openness and between Social and Enterprising vocational interests and Extraversion
across genders Gottfredson et al (1993) found similar results with the exception of
considerably smaller coefficients than Costa et al (1984)
Interest in examining relationships between personality and vocational
interests has long been examined so there is a requirement to deliberate on the
relationship between personality and vocational interests in Pakistani context
38
Personality and Vocational Interests
Terman (1931) stated ―For understanding an individuallsquos total personality it
is absolutely necessary to know something about the kinds and intensity of his
interests (p xvii) Darley (1941) said that interest development is an outgrowth of
personality development Berdie (1944) said that studies of interests are actually
studies of motivation and understanding the determinants of interests will solve the
riddles of personality origins Berdie hinted that interests and personality share
similar structures because they arise from similar causal determinants Darley and
Hagenah (1955) reviewed this topic extensively placing vocational interest within
personality theory Savickas (1999) masterfully surveyed the history of thought about
the theoretical meaning of interests and personality
Hollandlsquos hexagon model is the icon for an integrative theory describing
persons and environments and their interaction Several articles supported a more
unified view (eg Ackerman amp Heggestad 1997 Blake amp Sackett 1999 Borgen
1986 1999 Costa et al 1984 Holland 1997 1999 Prediger 1999) Spokane and
Decker (1999) stated ―It is increasingly apparent that interests personality self-
efficacy and other variants of personality and vocational self-concept may be facets
of a unified set of complex underlying traits (p 230)
Dawis (1991) clarified that interests are specific activities to attain values and
meet needs and personality traits are ways of acting to meet needs The relationship
39
between personality and interests would be greatest when there is a match between
individuallsquos behavioral tendencies and preferences Ackerman and Heggestad (1997)
found substantial relationship between personality and vocational interests
Hollandlsquos theory (1973 1985a) postulated that vocational interests are an
expression of personality which explicitly ―infers the structure of personality from
the clustering of vocational interests (Costa et al 1984 p 391) Therefore
Hollandlsquos model and the FFM should correspond meaningfully Goldberg (1990)
recommended further evaluation of the modellsquos comprehensiveness by testing its
capacity to encompass individual differences originating from different domains a
reasonable alternative is the structure of vocational interests Gottfredson Jones and
Holland (1993) have empirically assessed the relationship between the big five and
Hollandlsquos structural models
Personality-interest overlap by many researchers using SII (Harmon Hansen
Borgen amp Hammer 1994) and NEO-Personality Inventory-Revised (Carless 1999
Costa amp McCrae 1992a Gottfredson et al 1993 Tokar amp Swanson 1995) have
been explored The meta-analyses between personality and vocational interest have
empirically synthesized this relationship (Barrick et al 2003 Larson et al 2002)
The meta-analysis of Big Three and the Big Six have also been conducted (Staggs
2004) The present study found out the relationship between FFM including its facet
scales with six personality types
40
It is empirically well established that vocational interests show meaningful
relations to basic traits (Barrick et al 2003 Larson et al 2002) although not many
studies with adolescents are available (Hirschi amp Laumlge 2008 Larson amp Borgen
2006) The strongest and most consistent relations across studies are reported
Artistic interests relate moderately (r around 40 to 50) to the openness to experience
domain enterprising interests relate 20 to 50 with the extraversion domain social
interests relate moderately to the extraversion domain (r around 30 to 40)
investigative interests overlap 20 to 60 with the openness to experience domain
(Costa McCrae amp Holland 1984 De Fruyt amp Mervielde 1997 Gottfredson et al
1993 Holland et al 1994 Tokar amp Swanson 1995 Tokar Vaux amp Swanson
1995) and finally social interests correspond modestly (rs around 20) with the
agreeableness domain (De Fruyt amp Mervielde 1997 Tokar et al 1995) Realistic
interests and neuroticism domains were generally non-significantly correlated to
personality trait or interest type respectively
Sullivan and Hansen (2004) viewed interests as activities that are enjoyable
and motivating for individuals whereas personality are behavioral tendencies help in
motivation and determining success in particular activities They suggested the
importance of examining personality traits at facet levels and found that
extraversionlsquos underlying facets (warmth vs assertiveness) related differentially to
enterprising and social interests This distinction cannot be understood by simply
examining the main domain of extraversion Thus individual who is interested in
sales career would be happy and successful if heshe possesses assertivenesssocial
41
dominance disposition which is related to enterprising interests Heshe may not be
very successful if primarily possesses the warmthsociability disposition that is
related to social interests Logue et al (2007) investigated the five main domains
along with narrow personality facet traits He also investigated the vocational interest
linkage to satisfaction with major for college students
Tokar et al (1998) examining the five main domains reported the consistent
linkage between personality and vocational interests They found extraversion
domain correspond with enterprising and social vocational interests whereas
Openness domain has moderate relationship with artistic and investigative interests
Conscientiousness was linked to conventional interests while Agreeableness was
related with social vocational interests Neuroticism domain was generally not found
to be correlated with any vocational interests Similar findings were reported by
Ackerman and Heggestad (1997) and by Carless (1999)
This showed that consistent patterns of relationships between personality and
vocational interests have been established The meta-analysis conducted by Larson et
al (2002) found openness to be related to artistic (r =48) and investigative interests
(28) Extraversion was related to enterprising (r =41) and social interests (r =31)
Realistic interests and Neuroticism domains were not found related personality and
vocational interests respectively These findings suggested that vocational interests
may not be considered as part of individuallsquos personality disposition (Bordin 1943
Holland 1997 Tokar amp Swanson 1995 Tussing 1942)
42
In another meta-analysis examined by Barrick et al (2003) substantial
relationships between enterprising and artistic interests with extraversion and
openness to experience personality domain were obtained On the other hand the
realistic interests were not related to any personality traits RIASEC types were
regressed on the FFM scores showed a multiple R of 11 for realistic 26 for
investigative 42 for artistic 31 for social -47 for enterprising and 27 for
conventional types This meta-analysis concluded that there is relationship between
personality traits and vocational interests yet they are not identical and substitutes
for each other
Ackerman and Heggestad (1997) reviewed the relationship between
Hollands vocational interests and the FFM and found agreeableness is not related to
any vocational interests The same conclusion was reported for Neuroticism
However conscientiousness was related to conventional interests whereas
extraversion was related to enterprising and social interest Openness domain was
related with investigative artistic and social interest types They reported their
results based on three studies (Goh amp Leong 1993 Gottfredson et al 1993 Kanfer
Ackerman amp Heggestad 1996)
Empirical differences also emerged while comparing results from a study
conducted by De Fruyt and Mervielde (1999) with those of Ackerman and Heggestad
(1997) De Fruyt and Mervielde (1999) found a non significant relationship between
Investigative and Openness but found enterprising types to be significantly related to
43
conscientiousness Agreeableness was significantly related to the social and the
enterprising type Emotional stability is associated with the enterprising type and
conventional type whereas Ackerman and Heggestad (1997) did not However
consistent relationship existed between some of the personality traits and some of the
vocational interests The present study is designed to further authenticate this
consistent relationship in Pakistani context
Holland (1996) suggested that the six RIASEC types have ―strong to weak
relationships with four of the Big Five factors (p 400) Similarly a moderately
strong correlation was found between extraversion and openness personality traits by
Digman (1997)
The renaissance of interest and research in personality-interests relationship
suggested that FFM of personality traits as it relates to the Hollandlsquos model be
examined especially in the scope of present study Extraverts are very keen to obtain
organizational goals (Costa amp McCrae 1992a Goldberg 1992) Thus desire to
influence others and achieve economic gains is basic traits of extraverts (Gray
1987) Thus it can be concluded that those who are extraverted are more likely to
have preferences for enterprising and social jobs (Ackerman amp Heggestad 1997
Barrick amp Gupta 1997 De Fruyt amp Mervielde 1999 Gottfredson et al 1993)
Agreeableness domain is mainly related to social relations between each
others Those who are philanthropic gracious and eager to help others (Costa amp
McCrae 1992a) are high scorer on agreeableness domains Goldberg (1992) also
44
found that kindness generosity and fairness are related to high scorer on
agreeableness and they usually strive for cooperation rather than competition (Costa
amp McCrae 1992a) This suggested that agreeableness is likely to be related to social
vocational interests Previous Researches also supported significant relation
relationship between agreeableness and social interests (Barrick amp Gupta 1997 De
Fruyt amp Mervielde 1999)
Those who are high scorer on Openness to Experience are generally
imaginative possess intellectual curiosity and have originality On the other hand
artistic and investigative types are related to characteristics like abstraction insight
nonconformity and originality This suggested that there is a conceptual overlap
between openness to experience and artistic and investigative interests The same has
also been suggested by Barrick and Gupta (1997) and is supported by some more
studies (Ackerman amp Heggestad 1997 Gottfredson et al 1993)
Individuals who are high on neuroticism are especially attracted to jobs that
are relatively stressed free However stress is part and parcel of day to day routines
in organizational setup suggesting misfit for high scorer on neuroticism Emotional
stability and characteristics associated with Holland type are not found to be related
Therefore it is believed that scores on emotional stability will not be related to any
of the RIASEC types (Barrick amp Gupta 1997) Similar findings were reported by
Ackerman and Heggestad (1997) between any Holland type and emotional stability
45
Consequently a weak relationship is expected between emotional stability and any of
the six Holland personality types
The realistic type is non-significantly related to any personality dimension as
suggested by some studies (Ackerman amp Heggestad 1997 Barrick amp Gupta 1997
Costa et al 1984 De Fruyt amp Mervielde 1999 Tokar amp Swanson 1995) Since no
FFM personality trait are associated with preferences for aggressive action physical
activities and motor skill therefore personality traits are least expected to correspond
with realistic interests
People who scored high on conscientiousness are dependable orderly and
hardworking Thus conscientiousness is related to achievement striving (Digman
1990 Watson Clark amp Harkness 1994) These traits are essential for the success
and are related to the performance in all jobs (Barrick amp Mount 1991 Barrick et al
2001) It is expected that conscientiousness and conventional interests are more
relevant to each other Several studies have rendered support for conscientiousness
being positively related to conventional types (Ackerman amp Heggestad 1997
Barrick amp Gupta 1997 De Fruyt amp Mervielde 1999 Gottfredson et al 1993)
Costa et al (1984) found neuroticism correlated weakly with the artistic type
extraversion was strongly positively correlated with the enterprising type Openness
was strongly positively correlated with the artistic type Tokar and Swanson (1995)
concluded that openness and extraversion are particularly related to Holland model
The findings presented partial support to the existing body of literature about five-
46
factor model which claimed that it can assimilate organize and interpret other
structural model of personality
Similar conclusions were also reported by Schinka Dye and Curtiss (1997)
They reported fairly high correlations between extraversion openness and
agreeableness traits with the enterprising artistic and social personality interests
However the relationship between personality and RIASEC types are modest as 16 of
the 30 being less than r = 20 They were of the view that the FFM ―may not provide
powerful predictors of other aspects of global personalities including occupational
interests and possibly extending to other area of personal values preferences and
beliefs (p 366)
Costa McCrae and Kay (1995) have considered how NEO personality
inventory may be used in career assessment They acknowledged that ―personality
inventories should supplement rather than replace vocational interest inventories
(p 130) They were strongly supportive of three sorts of data in career assessment
ability trait and vocational interest They suggested that extraversion openness and
agreeableness of FFM are mostly relevant to vocational interests About neuroticism
they assumed neurotics are ―likely to be unhappy in whatever job they have (p
130) More importantly they distinguished between big five and facet scales Thus
they were of the view that individuals may have identical conscientiousness scores
but one is high in some facet traits and other could have the opposite pattern yet they
would be best suitable to quite different jobs This is apparent that 30 NEO
47
personality inventory facets are very vital and helpful to the expert which facets are
desirable or undesirable for different jobs
Waller Lykken and Tellegen (1995) initially conceptualized the
interrelatedness of personality and interests at a facet level in both domains One of
the limitation found in the literature review is that in most of the studies big five
traits and big six vocational interests were examined while very few studies looked at
the lower order facet level traits In the present study five personality traits were
studied along with the lower order facets in order to obtain detailed view of
personality and vocational interest relationship
Applicability of FFM to Children
The vast majority of studies have been conducted with samples of college
students and adults Whereas the FFM model has been examined and applied to
many populations cultures and domains of behavior (Costa amp Widiger 1994
McCrae 1992) Digman and Takemoto-Chock (1981) and Digman and Inouye
(1986) were the first who demonstrated the possible applicability of the FFM to
children Kohnstamm Slotboom and Elphick (1994) concluded that children of
school age demonstrated the presence of a factor similar to conscientiousness in
adults both in self-descriptions as well as in teacher and parent ratings
48
Farsides and Woodfield (2003) provided mixed empirical support about the
role five traits played in determining academic success Neuroticism was found to be
positively related to academic achievement in middle school but negatively at college
level Similarly extraversion predicted higher grades in middle school but lower
grades at the college level (De Raad amp Schouwenburg 1996 Eysenck 1996) They
proposed several reasons for this discrepancy These are due to small sample sizes
and the use of different personality measures Different criteria for academic success
varying time lapses between the collection of data and age specificity issued may
have jeopardized the results
Laidra Pullmann and Allik (2007) studied two large samples of school
children from 7 to 19 years of age and found the relationship between intelligence
and personality with respect to academic achievement in Estonian schools
Conscientiousness and openness traits have been found relevant to achievement
(Paunonen amp Ashton 2001)
Similarly Hair and Graziano (2003) analyzed five factor traits in middle
school and found correlations with high school GPA Heaven Mak Barry and
Ciarrochi (2002) and Maqsood (1993) examined the relationship between personality
variables and adjective scales for agreeableness and conscientiousness to self-rated
academic performance in adolescents of 14ndash16 years of age None of the three
Eysencklsquos PEN model correlated significantly with GPA in a sample of Russian
adolescents (Slobodskaya Safronova amp Windle 2005)
49
A somewhat different approach was taken by Parker and Stumpf (1998) to
assess personality dimensions according to five factor model on academically
talented youth (mean age = 1377) from the USA They used four different
instruments NEO-FFI ACL MBTI and CCQ The findings largely supported the
conception about FFM that data derived from adults is applicable to academically
talented youth
Chung (1983) administered 120 occupation titles which were derived from
the General Occupational Themes (GOT) of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank
(Campbell 1974) and Hollands Vocational Preference Inventory (1965) In factor
analysis it was clearly seen that Realistic and Investigative correlated more with
Factor II while Artistic Social Enterprising correlated more with Factor I
Conventional was a bi-factor variable It can be said that Factor I is Arts subjects and
Factor II is Science subjects
It is obvious from the above study that according to students choices of
academic subjects the secondary school pupils in Hong Kong are of two main types
arts students and science students Science students preferred occupations of realistic
or investigative types and arts students preferred occupations of artistic social or
enterprising types all of which were their personality types Both science students
and arts students would prefer occupations of conventional type
Larson and Borgen (2006) studied the overlap of the Strong Basic Interest
scales with the facet scales of the NEO-PI-R They found that specific Basic Interest
50
scales could be predicted best from specific facet scales of the NEO-PI-R Public
speaking interests were most related to the assertiveness facet of the extraversion
domain science interests were most related to the ideas facet of the openness
domain and office practices interests were most related to the order facet of the
conscientiousness domain
More studies of this kind need to be done to explicate the links between
interests and personality The present study examining the relationship between
lower order personality facets and vocational interests in high school students may
well locate important interest-personality linkages that are obscured in the more
general big six and big five models
McCrae et al (2002a) were of the opinion that the NEO PI-R could be
significantly used for measuring personality in adolescents Adolescentslsquo self-ratings
have also displayed a structure similar to adults (Allik Laidra Realo amp Pullman
2004 Scholte van Aken amp van Lieshout 1997) Markey Markey Ericksen and
Tinsley (2002) have suggested that preadolescent can also reliably rate themselves
using a standard measure of adult personality (NEO-Five Factor Inventory)
On the other hand many studies have linked personality traits to career
choice and interests among adolescents (Feather amp Said 1983 Hartman Fuqua amp
Blum 1985 Hartman Fuqua amp Hartman 1988 Lokan amp Biggs 1982 Medina amp
Drummond 1993) There has been little research on career decidedness and
personality traits among ―middle adolescents (ie about 14 to 17 years) Even
51
though adolescence is characterized by marked personality change and development
(Piaget 1952) it is also a time when relatively stable personality traits emerge
(McCrae et al 2002b)
Gender Differences on Personality and Vocational Interests
Previous research suggested that there are considerable differences in
vocational interests due to gender (Benbow 1988 Hansen Collins Swanson amp
Fouad 1993 Lubinski amp Benbow 1992) The literature also suggested the
differences between traits and interests on sample of college students when compared
with sample of working adults Goh and Leong (1993) found low to moderate
correlations between personality and RIASEC personality types may be because of
sample of college students They assumed that older adults could be expected to have
more highly differentiated vocational interests
Existing literature showed that differences in personality factors can be
expected for high achiever students (Dauber amp Benbow 1990 Goff amp Ackerman
1992) Same is the case about differences in vocational choices for intelligent
students as compared to average students (Lubinski amp Benbow 1992) Intelligent
students have been found to be high on realistic and investigative categories
(Benbow amp Stanley 1982 Dauber amp Benbow 1990)
52
In supporting the applicability of the FFM in Chinese adolescents Wu
Lindsted Tsai and Lee (2008) used NEO personality inventory revised (NEO-PI-R)
in Taiwanese adolescents Women found to be higher in neuroticism extraversion
and agreeableness scores as opposed to males The gender differences reported in the
study are supportive of the results from other cultures This suggested that the
Chinese NEO-PI-R retains the psychometric properties of other language versions
In a study related to gender differences and personality Costa Terracciano
and McCrae (2001) based on the analyses of NEO PI-R data from 26 cultures (N =
23031) suggested that gender differences replicated across cultures for college age
and adult samples They found that the differences are broadly consistent with
gender stereotypes Personality factors were reasonably unchangeable across ages
Schmitt Realo Voracek and Allik (2009) suggested that sex differences in
personality traits are larger in countries whose cultures are prosperous healthy and
egalitarian Women have more opportunities in such cultures which are equal with
those of men They reported the findings in which women reported higher levels of
neuroticism extraversion agreeableness and conscientiousness than did men across
most nations
Women scored higher scores on social types measured by SDS as these are
related to people and service oriented occupations (Holland et al 1994) Men scored
significantly higher scores on Realistic scales which are related to technical skilled
trades engineering occupations Hansen et al (1993) found different career structure
53
for men and women He assessed sex differences in Hollands hexagon ordering of
career interests as measured by the SII They found that women scores on
Investigative and Realistic scales were highly correlated supporting significant
gender differences on Hollandlsquos model
The literature is rich in studies investigating gender differences in personality
traits (Feingold 1994 Jorm 1987) These differences are replicated regardless of
culture period and instruments used to measure these traits These differences
appeared to be a universal phenomenon (Colom amp Jayme-Zaro 2004) and have been
found among adults children and young people in almost all countries (Barrett amp
Eysenck 1984 Delgado 1995 Francis 1993)
The present study was designed to find out the personality vocational
interests and vocational aspirations of the high school students The differences with
respect to demographic variables on personality and vocational interests were also
determined
54
Rationale of the Study
One of the long held goals of psychology has been to establish a model that
can conveniently describe human personality and can be used in the remedying of
personality disorders and improving general understanding of personality One of the
prominent models in contemporary psychology is what is known as the five-factor
model of personality (Digman 1990) This model incorporated five different
variables into a conceptual model for describing personality Neuroticism
Extraversion Openness Agreeableness and Conscientiousness are five mains
domains of personality which are measured by NEO PI-R (Costa amp McCrae 1992a)
The five factors are sometime referred to as the ―Big Five (Ewen 1998) The FFM
is among the newest models and showed promise to be among the practical and
applicable models available in the field of personality psychology (Digman 1990)
Hollandlsquos model explicitly recognized the role of personality in fact
Hollandlsquos taxonomy is personality taxonomy Holland (1985a) clearly outlined the
domain of personality traits believed to correspond with each of the six personality
types If Holland taxonomy is personality taxonomy then five factor model and
Holland taxonomy should correspond with each other Hollands RIASEC typology
has shown that congruence between interests and environment is associated with
greater satisfaction (Assouline amp Meir 1987 Mount amp Muchinsky 1978 Spokane
1985) ―Congruency is the primary concept (French et al 1974) and refers to the
55
compatibility of the personality and the environment Vocational interests are
multifaceted orientations associated with behaviors that reflected an individuals
choice to engage in tasks and activities they like and to be in environments where
they are surrounded by people who are similar to them
Five factor model of personality and Hollandlsquos model of vocational interests
are most widely accepted and used models in the research literature on personality
and vocational interests Recent trends in literature review showed that there is
consistent pattern of relationship between personality and vocational interests
(Barrett 2009 Barrick et al 2003 Bullock amp Reardon 2008 Ehrhart amp
Makransky 2007 Harris et al (2006) Larson et al 2002 Logue et al 2007
Staggs et al 2007 Zhang 2008) Lot of studies and meta-analyses were conducted
to determine this relationship between personality and vocational interests This
relationship has been described in studies in diverse population and samples
Majority of the studies were conducted on the sample of college students or adults
However few studies were also conducted on the school students The results showed
that general relationship pattern between personality and other variables have been
replicated on the sample of school students (Hair amp Graziano 2003 Laidra et al
2007 Parker amp Stumpf 1998 Wu et al 2008)
In Pakistan there are few studies conducted on the five factor model of
personality (Akhtar 2004 Anis-ul-Haque 2003 Chishti 2002 Safdar 2002
Shaheen 2007 Taj 2003) In these studies Urdu translated versions of NEO PI-R to
56
measure personality were used on Pakistani population Similarly translation and
adaptation of SDS measuring vocational interests on Pakistani High school students
was conducted by Naheed (1988) However the relationship between personality and
vocational interests has not been explored earlier within the context of Pakistani
society
The present study is an endeavor to find out the relationship between
personality and vocational interests among high school students There are many
types and categories of schools in Pakistan There are private schools as well as
government schools The general trend in Pakistan is that parents send their children
to private schools which are also popularly known as English medium schools
However majority of English medium schools are located in the urban localities
Whereas in rural areas there are very few English medium schools in the near
vicinity and therefore the government schools generally cater for the majority of rural
students Another reason for sending the children to government schools is the socio-
economic status of parents The fee structure of government schools is affordable to
commoners in Pakistan
The government schools from both urban and rural areas belonging to
Rawalpindi district are taken in the study In Punjab the biggest province of
Pakistan the government schools have almost the same syllabus and same facilities
in all schools Hence the sample was taken from Rawalpindi district and it was
assumed that the results of the study could be generalized to the population of
57
students of government schools in Punjab Although there are limited facilities in
government school (Memon 2007) the students from these schools are contributing
in the development of Pakistan in different capacities However still there are large
numbers of students who could not complete their studies and might not have
achieved suitable careers Therefore this appears to be a neglected area which
requires immediate attention
The present study also explored the differences in demographical variables on
personality and vocational interests The participation rates of women in occupations
traditionally held by men have increased dramatically in the past few decades Many
more women are becoming doctors bankers human resource managers lawyers and
are working on many executive and managerial positions Overall men and women
still show somewhat different participation rates in the occupations and these
differences seem to be related to differences in values
In Pakistan the students after passing 8th
class have to choose two different
categories of subjects ie the science group and humanities group There are many
career opportunities which are based on these categories of subjects Therefore
students of 9th
and 10th
classes were taken in the study Since there are no career
counselor in the schools to guide the students about suitable career matching their
personality and vocational interests the present study also endeavored to explore the
vocational interest preferences and vocational aspirations of the students Whether
the degree of agreement between vocational aspirations and vocational interests of
58
the students exist To authenticate the results and add in cultural relevance to the
concepts used in the study the opinion of experts about personality and vocational
interests are also incorporated These were the issues which were addressed in the
study
The current study would be helpful in further refinement of the theoretical
framework and explore relationship that exists between personality and vocational
interests Whether the consistent relationship between personality and vocational
interests would replicate in Pakistani context The work values nature of jobs career
opportunities pay structure etc are quite different from western culture Therefore
this study endeavored to explore the relationship between personality and vocational
interest in Pakistani context It further explored the differences of various
demographical variables on personality and vocational interest The current study
will help in generalizing the results and application of two widely used models in
Pakistani context These models have been empirically supported by previous studies
and thus are taken as theoretical framework for the present study The study will also
add to the understanding of career counselors and policy makers about the vocational
aspirations of the students their preferences and level of congruence between
vocational interests and vocational aspirations
The study has been designed into six parts The part 1 of the study was
designed to develop insight and conceptual understanding about the personality and
vocational interests in high school students Part 2 of the study is regarding the
59
development of research instruments Part 3 of the study is designed to find out the
relationship between personality and vocational interests of the students In Part 4
the vocational interests and general pattern for the preferences for occupational types
by the students was studied Part 5 is associated with the degree of agreement
between vocational aspirations and vocational interests of the students Part 6 is
about the evaluation of personality profile by the experts and finally the results were
discussed along with the implications of the study
60
Chapter II
PART 1 - EXPLORATION OF CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING ABOUT
PERSONALITY AND VOCATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE STUDENTS
Majority of the previous researches were conducted on the relationship
between personality and vocational interests among college students and adults
(Ackerman amp Heggestad 1997 Barrick et al 2003 Larson et al 2002) However
the relationship between personality and vocational interests among high school
students is not very prevalent in the reported literature This study was designed to
develop insight and conceptual understanding about the personality and vocational
interests of high school students in Pakistan
The sample selected for the study was consisted of students of government
schools under the administrative control of Punjab (the biggest province in Pakistan)
A large segment of society has low socio-economic status and lives in the urban as
well as rural areas of Pakistan (World Bank 2000) Government schools generally
catered for the students belonging to this segment of society Hence there is a
requirement to understand the dynamics of personality and vocational interests in
students of government schools
The vocational aspirations are also considered as part of Self Directed Search
(SDS) in which participants were asked to give the list of vocational preferences
Since there are no proper mechanisms in Pakistani school where students can be
guided and counseled hence exploring their vocational aspirations is of great
61
importance Vocational aspirations of the students depend on many factors Due to
limited availability of research literature in Pakistan about vocational aspirations
there is a requirement to explore and understand the vocational aspirations of the
students and find out the degree of agreement with vocational interests Gender
differences between the personality vocational interest and vocational aspirations of
the students were also explored The information gathered in this study was quite
helpful in designing the subsequent parts of the research study
Objectives
To develop insight about the personality and vocational interests of high
school students
Method
In this part series of focus groups and interviews were conducted to develop
insight into the study Focus group is a carefully planned discussion designed to
obtain perceptions feelings and manner of thinking about subject under
investigation It provides a fast easy and practical way of getting in touch with the
target population This part of the research consisted of following steps
Step 1 Focus groups with the students
Step 2 Focus groups with the teachers
Step 3 Interviews with the Principals
62
In this study 6 focus groups were conducted 4 with students and 2 with
teachers of different schools The willingness of the participants was taken before
hand and a convenient sampling technique was used in this part of the study Few
guidelines (attached at Appendix ―B) with the help of experts (one PhD scholar and
one MPhil scholar) in the field of psychology were prepared before the focus group
with students in order to get maximum information about the personality development
and vocational choices of the students
Two focus groups were conducted one with male and the other with female
teachers independently The topic guide was prepared with the help of experts (one
PhD scholar and one MPhil scholar) in the field of psychology and attached at
Appendix Clsquo The researcher acted as moderator assisted by one co-moderator
(MPhil in Psychology) Before starting each focus group a brief introduction about
the purpose of the study was provided to the participants The participants in groups
were asked to introduce themselves with each other They were explained the general
rules and discussion guidelines They were given assurance about the confidentiality
of their opinions and comments
According to guidelines prepared for the focus groups participants were asked
open and neutral questions Participants were asked to talk freely with each other and
pay respect to the opinions of others There is no concept of right and wrong answers
in this discussion Separate focus groups were conducted with male and female
students as well as teachers The logic for conducting separate focus groups for male
and female students and teacher was that female students as well as teachers were
reluctant to conduct focus groups with male counterparts All the focus group
63
discussion was transcribed with notes The samples procedures and findings of the
focus groups and interviews are described below
Step 1 Focus groups with students
Total 4 focus groups were conducted with students The details are shown below
Sample
Two focus groups were conducted with the male students Two focus groups
were conducted with female students Two focus groups were conducted with the
students of urban areas (one each with male and female students) and similarly two
focus groups were conducted with the students of rural areas In each focus group 8
participants were selected 4 students from 9th
class (2 each from Science and Arts
group) and 4 students from 10th
classes (2 each from Science and Arts groups) were
selected All the students were from government schools located in Rawalpindi The
age range was from 14 years to 19 years (mean age = 165 years)
Procedure
The participants were approached in the schools with the help of school
administration After getting their consent 8 students were selected for each focus
group They were given oral instructions and general purpose of the study was
explained to them Participants were encouraged to give frank and honest opinion
The session took about 60 to 80 minutes for each focus group The discussion was
64
noted down and at the end participants were acknowledged for their cooperation and
participation
Findings of the Focus Groups with Students
Following information was obtained from the focus groups conducted with the
students
1 Most of the students responded that they were studying because they wanted
to achieve good career and some of them responded to become good human
beings
2 Majority of the male student wanted to become doctor engineer army officers
etc These seem to be the favorite careers for male students in Pakistan While
most of the female students wanted to become doctor teacher lawyer nurse
etc They agreed that there were many factors which influenced them to
choose particular choices as future careers However they were of the opinion
that whatever they had selected best matched with their temperaments
3 Some of the students responded that the idea to adopt their desired career has
not been from the childhood They further responded that with the passage of
time they had changed the profession of their choices This showed that
initially they have choices at fantasy level but with the passage of time they
changed it realistically With regard to future choices majority of the students
were inspired either by the influence of media or by their interactions with
any of the successful close relative
65
4 Most of the students were aware of the basic criteria for the attainment of
choice of profession up to some extent Although they did not have the
complete details about the basic selection criteria about the profession of their
choices however they have working knowledge Students were aware of the
fact that they have to work hard in studies in order to achieve the desired
careers They were also taking interest in games and activities related to their
career choice
5 Students were asked to narrate the benefits which they will have to get after
adopting the particular profession Most of them responded that it would be
interesting and they will get a good job and will be financially better off
They also said that they would get respect in the society and will improve
their personality Once they were asked about the demerits of choosing
particular profession they responded that they may have to go far away from
home and some said that there is a continuous struggle and study in life
6 The students did not have clear second and third choices Some of the
students responded that their second choice would be business while some
were sure to achieve their first career choice Most of the students narrated
that they did not receive any formal guidancecounseling in order to adopt
any career Some of the students said that teachers informally discussed about
their choice of careers This showed that at school level there is no proper
counselingguidance program
7 Most of the students narrated that their fathers had asked to adopt a particular
profession This showed that parents have tried to influence their children for
66
adopting a particular career Most of the students were of the view that their
personality suited to the vocations of their choices and their activities and
interests also matched with the desired careers
8 Science students were interested to become doctors engineers and scientists
etc Majority of the students had opted science group in 9th
class While very
few opted Arts group rather their teachers had put them in Arts groups due to
less marks Science students were of the opinion that if they did not succeed
to achieve the desired careers that depend on science subjects then they could
shift to other many options Arts group students narrated that if they did not
succeed to achieve the career of their choice then they have many other
options including army civil superior services lawyer teacher and even any
government job etc
9 Students were aware of the facts that very few students achieved good marks
to get admission in professional colleges However they said that they are
trying hard to achieve their targets Majority of the students mentioned that
they are not very good in English as a subject They said that they have
problems in spoken English Majority of the students mentioned that they are
very good in Urdu language as compared to English language
Step 2 Focus Groups with Teachers
Two focus groups were conducted with teachers One focus group was
conducted with male teachers and one focus group was conducted with female
teachers The details are shown below
67
Sample
The composition of the focus group included teachers having at least 10 years
of teaching experience Teachers having a minimum stay of 3 years in a school
where science and arts subjects are being taught to students were selected Focus
groups were conducted with teachers selected from six different schools The most
senior teachers teaching Science and Arts subjects were selected Five of them were
vice-principals and 3 were senior teachers There were 8 participants in the focus
group for male teachers 4 teachers were science teachers and 4 teachers were
teaching Arts subjects The age range for male teachers was from 32-48 years and
mean age was (M = 38 years)There were 6 participants in the focus group for female
teachers 3 teachers were science teachers and 3 were teaching Arts subjects The age
range for female teachers was from 30-45 years and mean age was (M = 35 years)
Procedure
The participants were approached in the schools with the help of school
administration After getting their consent the selected participants were briefed
about the purpose of the discussion They were encouraged to give frank and honest
opinion The session started with the introduction of all the participants Initially the
discussion was on general topics but later on it was moved to more specific topics It
was made sure for each participant to get a chance to speak The session took about
60 to 70 minutes for each focus group The discussion was generated focusing on the
individual differences between the students vocational choices of the students
factors affecting them and the procedures adopted in the schools for allotting Science
68
and Arts group The educational policy and curriculum (Aly 2006) and their effects
on helping and guiding the students were also discussed The discussion was noted
down and at the end participants were acknowledged for their cooperation and
participation
Findings of the Focus Groups with Teachers
Followings information was obtained from the focus group conducted with
the teachers
1 According to the teachers there are no significant things in curriculum which
could be helpful for the students to set direction for their future adjustments
Similarly the educational policy was also not very lucid (Zaman 2008) in this
regard
2 Schools have their own method of allotting Science and Arts groups to
students however generally the criteria to allot Science group and Arts group
are based on marks Students who get more marks are placed in Science
group while those who scored less marks are placed in Arts group However
sometimes preference is given to the choices of students as well It was also
observed that students after passing grade 8th have to choose between two
major groups ie Science group and Arts group The subjects and the
curriculum taught at the schools are not much helpful in choosing suitable
careers Majority of the schools in Rawalpindi city have science group in
Matriculations While very few offered both Science and Arts group In some
of the schools the strength of student either in science or in arts groups was
69
very low There are differences between science and arts students regarding
choice of careers
3 There are lot many private English medium schools in urban areas whereas
very limited such opportunity are available in rural areas Only government
schools catered for the majority of rural population Generally speaking due
to low socio economic status of parents children are being sent to
government schools There are separate schools for boys and girls hence no
coeducation in government high schools Teachers are of the opinion that the
fee structure of government schools is very reasonable and people with less
income can afford to send their children in government schools
4 In some schools even the shortage of teaching staff lack of adequate funds
and facilities were also mentioned by the teachers According to them proper
facilities should be provided to the government schools They considered
teachers as low paid employees They admitted that teachers sometimes
behaved harshly with the students According to teachers students have
limited career choices due to non availability of job opportunities for them
They said that most of the students are interested to join jobs in public sector
Female students have even more limited careers choices due to socio-cultural
scenario and non availability of job opportunities for them However they are
very eager to join even the non-traditional careers which were not encouraged
earlier for females
5 Teachers are of the opinion that some of the students are very hard working
and achieved outstanding results while majority of the students are just
70
mediocre They said that there are many factors which influence the
vocational aspirations of the students
6 They said that well trained career counselor should be appointed in the
schools to help students identifying their true potentials It will also be helpful
in guiding the students to achieve suitable careers Teachers said that they
tried to guide the students about their career choices They said that students
are very keen to choose desired profession and are well aware about the basic
requirement of achieving the desired profession
Step 3 Interviews with the Principals of Schools
Few interviews were also conducted with the principals from both Boys and
Girls government Schools These were unstructured interviews however the focus
was on the guidelines prepared for the focus groups Principals from 4 boy and 3 girl
government schools were interviewed The schools were both from urban and rural
areas All the principals had at least 20 years of service It took about 30 to 45
minutes for each interview The researcher was accompanied by one well trained
assistant All the details and information were transcribed by taking short notes All
the principals were briefed about the purpose of the study They were assured about
the confidentiality of the interviews Initially general discussion was started followed
by asking specific questions based on the guidelines prepared for the focus groups
for teachers and students Detail information was collected which were given below
71
Findings of the Interviews with Principals of Schools
Maximum information was collected from interviews Followings were the
observations based on the content analysis and feedback received from the
interviews
1 All the principals were highly qualified and experienced teachers Majority of
the principals were satisfied by the performance of their students It was felt
that there are lack of proper facilities shortage of teachers and limited
allocation of funds for the government schools
2 They said that there are some highly qualified teachers in the schools
Principals are of the strong opinion that career counselors should immediately
be posted to each school
3 They said that students had different attractive vocational aspirations however
very few able to achieve them There are gender differences between students
about vocational interests Science and arts students also differed with each
other about the vocational interests They were of the opinion that limited
career opportunities are available for the students in public sector Students
belonging to rural areas should be given some incentives in terms of marks
and scholarships to compete with the students of urban areas
4 Well paid and highly qualified teachers should be posted to these categories
of schools Rural areas schools catered for large number of students hence
their standard should be enhanced by providing latest audio-visual and
electronic equipments Principals were of the opinion that the government
should enhance educational budget for government schools A large number
72
of talents can be polished to become good citizen by providing proper
facilities and guidance to the students of government schools
5 It would be of great significance if the vocational aspirations of the students
are based on their related interests and competencies Moreover they should
be provided opportunities to join the occupations of their interests They are
very likely to excel in the field of their interests
Discussion
The present study was planned to get insight about the personality and
vocational interests of high school students With the help of literature review
researcher was able to identify certain issues related to personality and vocational
interests of different samples However issues related to personality and vocational
interests of Pakistani school students are of great importance In Pakistan the students
of high schools have to decide two major categories of science and arts (humanities)
group These distinctions are of paramount importance because many careers depend
on the distinctions of these subjects For instance doctors and engineers are the
profession which can only be achieved by science students Therefore this stage is very
important for students in decision making about future career
The findings of this part of the study revealed that there are gender differences
between the vocational interests of the students Male students have preferences for
different occupations while females have preferences for some other occupations
Similarly these differences were also observed for science and arts group students
73
There were many factors which influenced the choices of the students Since
this study dealt with the personality and vocational interests of the students who are
yet not admitted in any professional college so the vocational aspirations of the
students were of great concern Although vocational aspirations are part of
vocational interests measured by SDS but the findings of focus groups and interviews
suggested that some in depth analysis on vocational interests of the students need to
be carried out
According to Hollandlsquos model (Holland 1994) when there is congruence
between vocational aspirations and vocational interests there are more chances for
the individual to succeed in their desired career The findings of this part of the study
also observed that there are gender differences about the vocational aspirations of the
students It was also noticed that science and arts group students have different
vocational aspirations depending on the subjects which they are studying The
present study also endeavored to explore the vocational aspirations of the students
and find out the degree of agreement between vocational aspirations and vocational
interests measured by Hollandlsquos model Gender differences about the vocational
aspirations of the students were also explored
The sample selected for the study was from government schools which are
located in urban as well as rural areas Majority of the students were of same socio-
economic background In rural areas there are very few private schools while
majority of the students are being catered for by the government schools Another
reason for choosing government schools in the study was that majority of the
population lives in rural areas therefore students from these areas are being
74
accommodated by these schools Neglecting these government schools in term of
facilities meant that government is neglecting the educational rights of majority of
the rural population Hence there is a requirement to deeply analyze the personality
and vocational interests of the students of government schools Another point of
concern was that there are no career counselors in the schools to guide and counsel
the students according to their vocational interests Hence the vocational aspirations
as well as vocational interests of the students also need to be explored in depth
The main study exploring conceptual understanding related to personality and
vocational interests was conducted on 9th
and 10th
class students The effects of
demographical variables were also observed both on personality and vocational
interests independently The sample selected may not be mature enough and the
findings of the study need to be validated for cultural relevance by the experts of
different fields Although the findings obtained by conducting focus groups and
interviews showed that students were well aware about their vocational aspirations
have matching personality and interests with the desired careers and are striving hard
to achieve them However it was felt that opinion of experts of different fields may
be obtained about the personality profiles related to their occupations Experts were
also requested to categorize the matching personality types mentioned by Holland
model (Holland 1985a) with their respective occupations in Pakistani context
The consistent relationship between FFM and vocational interests was found
in the literature review (Barrick et al 2003 Larson et al 2002 Staggs et al 2007)
Extraversion is consistently related to social and enterprising interests openness is
related to investigative and artistic interests agreeableness is related to social
75
interests and conscientiousness is related to conventional interests The present study
will further help in exploring personality-interest relationships
The findings of the present study are also supported by the literature on
gender differences (Costa et al 1984 Gottfredson et al 1993 Holland et al 1994)
Bullock and Reardon (2008) illustrated male college students showed an interest in
Realistic and Enterprising vocations whereas women showed an interest in Social
Artistic and Enterprising vocations Hence it is assumed that Male will prefer
Realistic Investigative and Enterprising interests and Female will prefer Artistic and
Social interests
According to Holland occupational classification Doctor as a vocational
aspiration of students should have Investigative interests Army should have Realistic
interests Teacher should have Social interests Lawyer should have Enterprising and
Engineer should have Realistic and Investigative interests Thus it is expected that
studentslsquo vocational aspirations should match with their interests to attain the state of
congruence
The findings of the present study about preferences of Science and Arts
students are also supported by the research conducted in Hong Kong by Chang
(1981) Science students will prefer Realistic and Investigative occupations and Arts
students will prefer occupations of Artistic Social and Enterprising types Both
Science and Arts students will prefer occupations of Conventional types The results
are supported by the existing literature (Leung amp Hua 2005 Staggs et al 2007) The
findings of the study supplemented the existing body of literature about differences
between gender and science and Arts students
76
In the present study the Urdu translated version of NEO PI-R (Chishti 2002)
and SDS (Naheed 1988) to measure personality and vocational interests respectively
were used on the high school students It was decided that pretesting of both the
instruments on the sample of high school students may be carried out Overall this
part of the research was of great help in designing subsequent studies related to
personality and vocational interests of the Pakistani students
77
Chapter III
PART 2 - RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS
This part of the study was designed to finalize the research instruments
comprehendible to the target population The study pertained to the measurement of
personality and vocational interests of the high school students Five factor model of
personality (Costa amp McCrae 1992a) and Hollandlsquos model (Holland 1985a) of
vocational interests provided the theoretical framework for the present study
Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) measures the
personality domains and Self Directed Search (SDS) measures the vocational interests
Demographic Sheet Future Possibilities Questionnaire and Evaluation Sheet were also
designed to obtain the required information Pretesting of the research instruments were
also carried out on a small sample
Objectives
1 To carry out pretesting of the research instruments
Method
The study was conducted to finalize the followings instruments
Step 1 Demographic Sheet
Step 2 Future Possibilities Questionnaire
Step 3 Evaluation sheet
78
Step 4 NEO PI-R
Step 5 SDS
Step 6 Pretesting of the Research Instruments
Step 1 Demographic Sheet
Based on the information gathered in previous part (see chapter II) of the study
a demographic sheet was constructed with the help of experts (two PhD students and
one MPhil psychologist) from National Institute of Psychology Quaid-i-Azam
University Islamabad The demographic sheet consisted of detailed information about
the participants including variables like name gender age class sciencearts group
urbanrural fatherlsquos income fatherlsquos education and name of school etc The
demographic sheet is attached at Appendix Dlsquo
Step 2 Future Possibilities Questionnaire
Future possibilities questionnaire asked two questions about the vocational
aspirations of the students The first question was ―What career do you intend to adopt
in futurelsquolsquo The second question was ―If you have more than one career choice please
write in order of preference Some of the information about the demographical
variables was also obtained The future possibilities questionnaire is attached at
Appendix Elsquo
Step 3 Evaluation Sheet
An evaluation sheet was constructed to evaluate the personality profile of
selected vocations by the experts An evaluation sheet was developed with the help of
experts (one PhD psychologist one PhD scholar and One MPhil in psychology)
79
Evaluation sheet consisted of rating of 30 facets of personality (NEO PI-R) on a seven
point scale (1 to 7) ranging from least desiredlsquo to most desiredlsquo The conceptual
definitions of 30 facets of personality (Costa amp McCrae 1992a) are printed on the
evaluation sheet Experts of different fields were administered evaluation sheet to get
personality profiles related to their occupations Experts were also given the detailed
definitions of six personality types as described in Hollandlsquos typology Experts in each
field are required to choose one out of six personality types which meaningfully
correspond with their respective profession Detailed instructions were written on the
evaluation sheet Personal information like name profession designation and
experience were also mentioned The evaluation sheet along with detailed instructions
is attached at Appendix Flsquo
Step 4 NEO Personality Inventory Revised (NEO PI-R)
The NEO PI-R is self-administered and available in two parallel versions Form
S is designed for self-reports and Form R is the rating version of the instrument
Research has been conducted on this instrument and it has been translated into many
languages The NEO PI-R is a systematic assessment of emotional interpersonal
experimental attitudinal and motivational styles The inventory gives a detailed
assessment of normal personality can be used in human resource development
industrialorganizational psychology as well as vocational counseling and clinical
practice It consisted of 240 items and 3 validity items with the administration time of
35-45 minutes It can be administered to students and adults and the reading level
should be at least 6th grade The scoring options include hand scoring and software
scoring
80
Development and Validation
The NEO PI-R began in 1978 as the NEO inventory with three domains and 18
facets relating to N E and O In 1983 18 items domain scales measuring A and C were
added In 1985 the instrument was published as NEO personality inventory In 1990
facets scales for A and C were completed and some minor modifications were made in
original N E and O items which lead to the development of NEO PI-R The revised
inventory differed in the addition of facet scales for the A and C domains and also in
minor changes in some of the items comprising the N E and O scales These changes
were made to improve upon the internal consistency and validity of several facet scales
Correlation between the original scales and the revised scales ranged from (r = 93 to
95) The five-factor model has emerged as being an important development in the
study of individual differences These constructs have been shown to be quite robust
empirically and have impressive validity The field of personality assessment is moving
rapidly towards the five-factor model as the conceptual framework for most assessment
needs
Scoring of the Instrument
The NEO PI-R has a 5-point self-rating response format (strongly agree to
strongly disagree) The scoring options include hand scoring and software scoring
The scoring of NEO PI-R is quite easy The scorer examined the answer sheet and
check that a response has been given for each item The respondents should be
encouraged to complete the missing responses If the respondent is unsure of the
meaning of an item or is unsure of how to respond he or she may be told to use the
neutral response option The NEO PI-R should not be scored if 41 responses are
missing If three responses are missing from a facet scale it should be interpreted with
81
caution If the respondent has 150 or more agree and strongly agree responses or 50 or
fewer items as agree and strongly agree the NEO PI-R should be interpreted with
caution 106 items are negatively scored
The scales of NEO PI-R and NEO-FFI measure traits that approximate normal
distributions Majority of the individuals score near average while few lie on the
extremes Scales are most conveniently explained by describing characteristics of
extremely high or extremely low scores It may also be useful to consider pairs of
domain scores in terms of two-dimensional planes which correspond in many cases to
particular areas of life The affective plane defined by N and E which represents the
individuallsquos basic emotional styles (Costa amp McCrae 1980 Watson amp Tellegen 1985)
and the interpersonal plane or circumplex defined by E and A (McCrae amp Costa
1989c) have been extensively researched E and O together are important both for
vocational interests (Costa et al 1984) and for the selection of optimal forms of
therapy (Miller 1991) E and C jointly determine patterns of activity O and A are
relevant to attitudes O and C are important to academic performance and A and C
represent the basic dimensions of character
Reliability
Internal consistency coefficients for both forms (ie form S and form R) range
from 86 to 95 for domain scales and from 56 to 90 for facet scales Alphas for the
domain range from 86 to 92 for Form S and from 89 to 95 for Form R Internal
consistency estimates for the facets Form S range from 56 to 81 For the Form R
facets these values range from 60 to 90 (Costa amp McCrae 1992b) Six-year retest
reliabilities for the Neuroticism Extraversion and Openness domains ranged from 68
to 83 in both self-reports and observer ratings Three-year retest coefficients between
82
63 and 79 were found for the domains of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness (Costa
amp McCrae 1992b) The reliability and validity of the Urdu version of NEO PI-R
(Chishti 2002) was established in Pakistan The alpha reliability coefficient for Urdu
version of NEO PI-R ranged from 73 (Openness) to 89 (Conscientiousness) whereas
the Alpha coefficients of English version ranged from 37 (Openness) to 80
(Neuroticism) This demonstrated that Urdu version of Revised NEO Personality
Inventory is a reliable and valid instrument for the Pakistani subjects
Validity
Many studies have been conducted on the external validity (eg Golberg 1989
John 1989 McCrae amp Costa 1985a 1987 Ostendorf 1990 Trapnell amp Wiggin
1990) Details about different types of validity (Costa amp McCrae 1992a) are given
below
Content Validity Content validity means that the test samples appropriately
from the range of characteristics it is intended to represent In the NEO PI-R content
validity is addressed by identifying six distinct facets to sample each domain and by
selecting non-redundant items to measure each facet (Costa amp McCrae 1992a)
Criterion Validity It means that identifiable groups of individuals differ in their
mean scores in theoretically predictable ways The findings that patients in
psychotherapy score high on Neuroticism (Miller 1991) and that drug abusers score
low on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness (Brooner King Kidorf Schmidt amp
Bigelow 1997) provided some evidence of criterion validity for NEO-PI scales
83
Construct Validity The value of a scale lies in its ability to show meaningful
relations to external criteria that allow making valid inferences about scale scores while
interpreting individual cases Data on construct validity show that the scales of NEO
PI-R are generally successful in measuring the intended constructs The dimensions of
the NEO PI-R have been found to emerge over different types of factoring methods and
types of samples (Costa 1996 McCrae Zonderman Costa Bond amp Paunonen 1996)
over self-reports and observer ratings (McCrae 1994 Peidmont 1994) and even cross-
culturally (eg Spanish Korean Hebrew Chinese and German see McCrae and
Costa 1997 for a review of cross-cultural data) Several studies that demonstrated the
theoretically appropriate predictive power of NEO PI-R scales with respect to a variety
of external criteria including psychological well-being coping and defenses needs and
motivation Jungian types interpersonal traits and creativity and divergent thinking
provided evidence of construct validity for both forms
Convergent and Discriminant Validity Convergent and discriminant validity of
the facet scales have been established as well (eg Costa McCrae amp Holland 1984
Costa amp McCrae 1986 Lorr 1986) Sufficient data exists documenting the convergent
and discriminant validity of the facets themselves documenting their utility as useful
and non redundant measures of personality (Costa 1996 Costa McCrae amp Dye 1991
Peidmont amp Weinstein 1993) The clinical value of NEO PI-R has also been
documented Information from this instrument has been shown relevant to anticipating
psychotherapeutic outcome (Miller 1991) and for understanding the Axis 11
personality disorders (Trull 1992)
84
Costa and McCrae (1992b) outlined several strategies for using the NEO in a
clinical context Convergent validity is seen in the fact that NEO PI-R facet scales are
correlated with alternative measures of similar constructs For example N1 Anxiety is
related to Anxiety as measured by the State-Trait Personality Inventory (Spielberger et
al 1979) and Tension as measured by the Profile of Mood States (McNair Lorr amp
Droppleman 1971) A1 Trust is positively correlated with the Trusting scale of the
Interpersonal Style Inventory (Lorr 1986) and negatively correlated with the Suspicion
scale of the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (Buss amp Durkee 1957) All 30 scales
show substantial correlations with appropriate criteria
Discriminant validity is seen by contrasting the correlates of different facets
particularly from different domain The Personality Research Form (PRF Jackson
1984) is considered as correlates of the E facet scales PRF Affiliation is related to E1
Warmth and E2 Gregariousness PRF Dominance is related to E3 Assertiveness PRF
harm avoidance is negatively related to E5 Excitement ndashSeeking and PRF Play is
related to E6 Positive Emotion A study examined the 300 items of the Adjective
Check List (ACL Gough amp Heilbrun 1983) and the seven largest correlates were
identified for each of the 30 NEO PI-R facets These correlates showed an appropriate
and distinctive pattern that testifies to the discriminant validity of the facet scales
Norms Normative information for Form S is based on a sample of 500 men and
500 women screened from a larger pool of 2273 individuals These 1000 individuals
were selected demographically in order to match US Census projections for 1995 Form
R norms were obtained from 143 ratings of 73 men and 134 ratings of 69 women
These ratings were obtained from both spouses and multiple peer ratings (McCrae amp
Costa 1991a)
85
Judgesrsquo Evaluation of NEO PI-R
The NEO PI-R Form S was translated in Urdu at National Institute of
Psychology Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad by Chishti (2002) The Urdu version
of NEO PI-R is used in this study The Urdu version was given to four experts (two
PhD psychologists and two were MPhil in psychology) to evaluate the possibility of
administering the inventory to grade 9th
and 10th
students It was evaluated by the
expert that the translated version is quite easy to understand however few words and
concepts may be difficult to understand by some of the students It was also suggested
that any queries raised by the students must be addressed and meaning of words may be
explained in a standardized way NEO PI-R Urdu version along with detailed
instructions is attached at Appendix Glsquo The facet scales of NEO PI-R (Urdu version)
are attached at Appendix Hlsquo The answer sheet is attached at Appendix Ilsquo
Conceptual Definitions of the Personality
The dispositional domain of Personality was measured by NEO PI-R which was
developed to operationalize the five factor model of personality The five factors
represent the most basic dimensions underlying the traits identified in both natural
language and psychological questionnaire Factors are defined by groups of inter-
correlated traits called facets Each cluster of facets determined the domain The basic
definitions (Costa amp McCrae 1992a) as well as crucial distinctions of 5 domains and
30 facets are described below
Neuroticism (N) The most pervasive domain of personality scales contrasts
adjustment or emotional stability with maladjustment or neuroticism The general
tendency to experience negative effects such as sadness embarrassment anger guilt
86
and disgust is the core of neuroticism domain People who score high on such
dimension tend to experience greater level of stress In contrast people who score low
tend to be generally calm relaxed hardy relatively unemotional self-satisfied High
scorer may be at risk for some kinds of psychiatric problems but the N scale should not
be viewed as a measure of psychopathology
Extraversion (E) The high score in this domain indicates that extraverts like
people prefer large group and gathering They are assertive active and talkative like
excitement and stimulation and tend to be cheerful in disposition They are upbeat
energetic and optimistic The introverts are reserved rather than unfriendly
independent rather than followers even paced rather than sluggish Introverts may be
shy but they do not necessarily suffer from social anxiety and are not unhappy or
pessimistic
Openness (O) Individuals who are high on Openness (O) have been described
as imaginative aesthetic sensitivity creative intellectual curiosity independent
analytical traditional artistic liberal and having broad interests Open individuals are
curious about both inner and outer worlds and their lives are experientially richer They
are willing to entertain novel ideas and experience both positive and negative emotions
more keenly than do closed individuals In contrast individuals who are low in (O)
have been described as conventional down to the earth uncreative simple not
curious non adventurous conforming non analytical traditional conservative and as
having narrow interests Alternative formulations of FFM often label this factor as
Intellect and (O) scores are modestly associated with both education and measured
intelligence
87
Agreeableness (A) Agreeableness is primarily a dimension of interpersonal
tendencies The agreeable person is fundamentally altruistic He or she is sympathetic
to others and eager to help them and believe that other will be equally helpful in return
By contrast the disagreeable or antagonistic person is egocentric impractical of otherslsquo
intensions and competitive rather than cooperative Low (A) is associated with
narcissistic antisocial and paranoid personality disorders whereas high (A) is
associated with the dependent personality disorders (Costa amp McCrae 1990)
Conscientiousness (C) Conscientious individuals are purposeful strong-willed
determined scrupulous punctual reliable consistent and is associated with academic
and occupational achievement Low scorers are not necessarily lacking in moral
principles but they are less exacting in applying them just as they are attention
seeking low assertiveness low orderliness and more lackadaisical in working toward
their goals
Neuroticism Facets
Anxiety (N1) Anxious individuals are apprehensive fearful prone to worry
nervous tense and jittery High scorers are more likely to have such fears as well as
free-floating anxiety Low scorers are calm and relaxed They do not dwell on things
that might go wrong
Angry Hostility (N2) Angry hostility represents the tendency to experience
anger and related states such as frustration and bitterness This scale measures the
individuallsquos readiness to experience anger Low scorers are easygoing and slow to
anger
88
Depression (N3) It measures normal individual differences in the tendency to
experience depressive affect High scorers are prone to feelings of guilt sadness
hopelessness and loneliness They are easily discouraged and often dejected Low
scorers rarely experience such emotions
Self-Consciousness (N4) Self conscious individuals are uncomfortable around
others sensitive to ridicule and prone to feeling of inferiority Low scorers do not
necessarily have poise or good social skills they are simply less disturbed by awkward
social situations
Impulsiveness (N5) It refers to the inability to control cravings and urges
Desires (for food cigarettes possessions etc) are perceived as being so strong that the
individual cannot resist them although he or she may later regret the behavior Low
scorers find it easier to resist such temptations having a high tolerance for frustration
Vulnerability (N6) Individuals who score high on this scale feel unable to cope
with stress becoming dependent hopeless or panicked when facing emergency
situations Low scorers perceive themselves as capable of handling themselves in
difficult situations
Extraversion Facets
Warmth (E1) Warm people are affectionate and friendly They genuinely like
people and easily form close attachments to others Low scorers are neither hostile nor
necessarily lacking in compassion but they are more formal reserved and distant in
manner than high scorers
Gregariousness (E2) Gregariousness is the preference for other peoplelsquos
company Gregarious people enjoy the company of others and the more the merrier
89
Low scorers tend to be loners who do not seek- or who even actively avoid ndash social
stimulation
Assertiveness (E3) High scorers on this scale are dominant forceful and
socially ascendant They speak without hesitation and often become group leaders Low
scorers prefer to keep in the background and let others do the talking
Activity (E4) A high Activity score is seen in rapid tempo and vigorous
movement in a sense of energy and in a need to keep busy Active people lead fast-
paced lives Low scorers are more leisurely and relaxed in tempo although they are not
necessarily sluggish or lazy
Excitement-seeking (E5) High scorers crave excitement and stimulation
They like bright colors and noisy environments Low scorers feel little need for thrills
and prefer a life that high scorers might find boring
Positive emotion (E6) It assesses the tendency to experience positive emotions
such as joy happiness love and excitement High scorers laugh easily and often They
are cheerful and optimistic Low scorers are not necessarily unhappy they are merely
less exuberant and high-spirited
Openness Facets
Fantasy (O1) Individuals who are open to fantasy have a vivid imagination
and an active fantasy life They daydream not simply as an escape but as a way of
creating for themselves an interesting inner world They elaborate and develop their
fantasies and believe that imagination contributes to a rich and creative life Low
scorers are more prosaic and prefer to keep their minds on the task at hand
Aesthetics (O2) High scorers have a deep appreciation for art and beauty
They are moved by poetry absorbed in music and intrigued by art They need not have
90
artistic talent nor even necessarily what most people would consider good taste but for
many of them their interest in the arts will lead them to develop a wider knowledge and
appreciation than that of the average individual Low scorers are relatively insensitive
to and uninterested in art and beauty
Feelings (O3) Openness to feelings implies receptivity to onelsquos own
inner feelings and emotions and the evaluation of emotion as an important part of life
High scorers experience deeper and more differentiated emotional states and feel both
happiness and unhappiness more intensely than others Low scorers have somewhat
blunted affects and do not believe that feeling states are of much importance
Actions (O4) Openness is seen behaviorally in the willingness to try different
activities go new places or eat unusual foods High scorers prefer novelty and variety
to familiarity and routine Over time they may engage in a series of different hobbies
Low scorers find change difficult and prefer to stick with the tried-and-true
Ideas (O5) This trait is seen not only in an active pursuit of intellectual
interests for their own sake but also in open-mindedness and a willingness to consider
new perhaps unconventional ideas High scorers enjoy both philosophical arguments
and brain-teasers Openness to ideas does not necessarily imply high intelligence Low
scorers on the scale have limited curiosity and if highly intelligent narrowly focus
their resources on limited topics
Values (O6) Openness to Values means the readiness to re-examine social
political and religious values Closed individuals tend to accept authority and honor
tradition and as a consequence are generally conservative regardless of political party
affiliation
91
Agreeableness Facets
Trust (A1) High scorers have a disposition to believe that others are honest
and well-intentioned Low scorers tend to be cynical and skeptical and to assume that
others may be dishonest or dangerous
Straightforwardness (A2) The individuals with high scores on this scale are
frank sincere and ingenuous Low scorers are more willing to manipulate others
through flattery craftiness or deception They view these tactics as necessary social
skills and may regard more straightforward people as naive
Altruism (A3) High scorers have an active concern for otherslsquo welfare as
shown in generosity consideration of others and a willingness to assist others in need
to help Low scorers are somewhat self-centered and are reluctant to get involved in the
problems of others
Compliance (A4) This facet concerns characteristic reactions to interpersonal
conflict The high scorer tends to defer to others to inhibit aggression and to forgive
and forget Compliant people are meek and mild The low scorer is aggressive prefers
to compete rather than cooperate and has no reluctance to express anger when
necessary
Modesty (A5) High scorers are humble and self-effacing although they are not
necessarily lacking in self-confidence or self-esteem Low scorers believe they are
superior people and may be considered conceited or arrogant by others A pathological
lack of modesty is part of the clinical conception of narcissism
Tender-Mindedness (A6) This facet scale measures attitudes of sympathy
and concern for others High scorers are moved by otherslsquo needs and emphasize the
92
human side of social policies Low scorers are more hardheaded and less moved by
appeals to pity They would consider themselves realists who make rational decisions
based on cold logic
Conscientiousness Facets
Competence (C1) Competence refers to the sense that one is capable
sensible prudent and effective High scorers feel well prepared to deal with life Low
scorers have a lower opinion of their abilities and admit that they are often unprepared
and inept
Order (C2) High scorers are neat tidy and well organized They keep
things in their proper places Low scorers are unable to get organized and describe
themselves as unmethodical Carried to an extreme high order might contribute to a
compulsive personality disorder
Dutifulness (C3) In one sense conscientious means ―governed by
conscience and that aspect of conscientiousness is assessed as dutifulness High
scorers adhere strictly to their ethical principles and scrupulously fulfill their moral
obligations Low scorers are more casual about such matters and may be somewhat
undependable or unreliable
Achievement Striving (C4) Individuals who score high on this facet have high
aspiration levels and work hard to achieve their goals They are diligent and purposeful
and have a sense of direction in life Very high scorers however may invest too much
in their careers and become workaholics Low scorers are lackadaisical and perhaps
even lazy They are not driven to succeed They lack ambition and may seem aimless
but they are often perfectly content with their low levels of achievement
93
Self-Discipline (C5) It is the ability to begin tasks and carry them through to
completion despite boredom and other distractions High scorers have the ability to
motivate themselves to get the job done Low scorers procrastinate in beginning chores
and are easily discouraged and eager to quit People low in self-discipline cannot force
them to do what they want themselves to do
Deliberation (C6) Deliberation is the tendency to think carefully before
acting High scorers are cautious and deliberate Low scorers are hasty and often speak
or act without considering the consequences At best low scorers are spontaneous and
able to make snap decisions when necessary
Step 5 Self-Directed Search (SDS)
The SDS is an outgrowth of a theory of vocational choices (Holland 1959
1966b 1973 1985a) which has undergone extensive investigation and won wide
acceptance The SDS Form R (SDS Holland 1994) is one of the most widely used
interest inventories (Spokane amp Holland 1995) and is available in multiple formats
eg paper-pencil personal computer internet mail-in scoring (Professional Report
Service) and kit (Vocational Exploration and Insight Kit) (Reardon amp Lenz 1998) The
SDS is a self-administered self-scored and self interpreted vocation counseling tool It
included two booklets an assessment booklet and an occupational classification
booklet To use the SDS a person fills out the assessment booklet and obtained three
letter occupational codes The code is then used to locate suitable occupations in the
occupational classification booklet the occupation finder Most people can complete
the SDS in 40 to 50 minutes The SDS is used in high school colleges adult centers
correctional institutions women centers and employment offices for career education
94
vocational guidance and placement The SDS is not helpful for people who are grossly
disturbed uneducated or illiterate The scale and rating in the SDS assessment booklet
include
Activities (six scales of eleven items each)
Competencies (six scales of eleven items each)
Occupations (six scales of fourteen items each)
Self estimate (two sets of six ratings each rating corresponding to a type)
Total items = 228
The SDS is clearly suitable for persons aged 15 and older but the upper and
lower limits have not been well investigated The SDS in its published form or with
minor changes has been used successfully with males and females college students
young children employee adults etc
Reliability and Validity of SDS
The SDS (Holland 1985a) is an extension of Hollands work on the study of
personality types Holland contended that each individual to some extent resembles
one of six basic personality types realistic investigative artistic social enterprising
or conventional The SDS consisted of an assessment workbook which is scored by the
client and a reusable booklet The Occupations Finder The workbook begins with a
section on Occupational Daydreams The sections that follow deal with Activities
Competencies Occupations (attitudes toward specific occupations) and Self-Estimates
(of abilities) Raw scores are converted into a three-letter summary code which
95
reflected a preferred style The order of the three letters in the summary code is
hierarchical the first letter representing the strongest preference for a particular type
Hollandlsquos six personality types are unique This is not to suggest that other
researchers have not proposed six major personality factors (Brand 1995) but none are
described in the same terminology as has been done by Holland Over the past decade
there has been a renewed interest in the topic of personality at work (Hough 1998)
There have been meta-reviews in the area (Barrick amp Mount 1991 Salgado 1997) as
well as studies looking at personality trait correlates of specific work outcomes like
absenteeism (Judge Martocchio amp Thoresen 1997) and job satisfaction tension and
propensity to leave (Van der Berg amp Feij 1993) Numerous studies have been
conducted to establish the reliability and validity of SDS The cross cultural researches
also provided evidence that SDS is a reliable and valid instrument
Reliability Internal consistency coefficient for the assessment scales range from
84 to 92 for males and 86 to 91 for females (age range 14 to 18) In general the 1985
revision is slightly more reliable than the 1977 revision 69 of the summary scales are
more reliable 17 show no difference and 14 is less reliable The standard error of
the difference score at the 5 level range from 78 to 98 for the 14 to 18 years old
sample from 78 to 94 for the 19 to 25 years old sample and from 84 to 97 for the 26
to 74 years old sample Internal consistency coefficients on the summary scale
coefficients on the paper version of the SDS ranged from 90 to 94 Test-retest
reliability correlations for the summary scales ranged from 76 to 89 (Holland et al
1994)
96
Validity In general the concurrent or predictive validity of the SDS summary
scales or occupations scales are comparable with and sometimes exceed the
concurrent or predictive validities of other interest inventories (Dolliver 1975
Gottfredson amp Holland 1975 Hanson Noeth amp Prediger 1977 Holland amp
Gottfredson 1975 Hughes 1972 OlsquoNeil Magoon amp Tracey 1978 Touchton amp
Moggon 1977 Wiggins amp Westlander 1977) Kappa (k) is an index of agreement that
takes into account the marginal in the 6 x 6 tables that were used to obtain the
percentage of hits so that it is an accurate index of agreement The value of k is 27 and
36 for females and males respectively for 14 to 18 years old The value of k is 44 and
36 for females and males respectively for 19 to 25 years old
The validity of Hollandlsquos (1973 1985b) trait characterizations of the types
generally has been supported by empirical studies relating scores on type measures
(eg SDS VPI) to a wide range of personality inventories including Cattelllsquos 16PF
(Holland 1962 Ward Cunningham amp Wakefield 1976) the Edwards Personal
Preference Schedule (Utz amp Korben 1976 Wakefield amp Cunningham 1975) the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Martin amp Bartol 1986) and the NEO Inventory (Costa
et al 1984) In addition Holland group membership has been related to scores on the
16PF (Bolton 1985 Peraino amp Willerman 1983) Jacksonlsquos (1967) Personality
Research Form (Beysner Bodden amp Winer 1978) the California Psychological
Inventory (Taylor amp Kelso 1973) and the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey
(Turner amp Horn 1975) among others Various studies have looked at the cross-cultural
validity of Hollands theory such as Khan Alvi Shaukat Hussain and Baig (1990) and
Siddiqa (1999) who performed their study in Pakistan They revised many items
because of cultural differences and not being able to confirm statistics yet they
97
concluded that the model promises to be useful in a non-western culture (p 132)
Judgesrsquo Evaluation of the SDS
The SDS was translated in Urdu at National Institute of Psychology Quaid-i-
Azam University Islamabad by Naheed (1988) The procedures used in translation were
direct translation team or committee approach and back translation Field probe
techniques were used for cultural adaptation and modification After thorough
deliberation 18 items were discarded from the inventory The final version has 210
items Activities have six scales of eleven items each Competencies have six scales of
ten items each Occupations have six scales of twelve items each and Self ratings have
two sets of six ratings each rating corresponding to a type The Urdu version of SDS is
used in the present study
The Urdu version was given to four experts (two PhD and two MPhil scholars)
in the field of psychology to evaluate the possibility of administering the inventory to
grade 9th
and 10th
students It was evaluated by the expert that the translated version is
quite easy to understand however few words and concepts may be difficult to
understand by some of the students It was also suggested that any queries raised by the
students must be addressed and meaning of words may be explained in a standardized
way The Urdu version of SDS is attached at appendix Jlsquo
Conceptual Definitions of Vocational Interests
The dispositional aspects of vocational interests are conceptualized by the
Holland typology of vocational interests Vocational interests are measured by Self
98
Directed Search (Holland 1985a) The SDS measures six types of vocational interests
known as personality types The definitions are described below
Personality Types
According to Holland (1985a) most people can be described as one of six
personality types realistic investigative artistic social enterprising and conventional
The description of each type is shown below
Realistic type The realistic types are predisposed to activities that entail
working with objects perceive themselves as having mechanical and athletic abilities
and value the tangibles They prefer activities involving the systematic manipulation of
machinery tools or animals
Investigative type The investigative types prefer to engage in activities
involving observational symbolic and creative inquiry see themselves as being
scholarly and intellectual and value science They tend to be analytical curious
methodical and precise
Artistic type The artistic types like ambiguous free and unsystematic
activities perceived themselves as expressive original intuitive introspective
nonconforming and value aesthetic qualities
Social type The social type like working with others to inform train cure
and enlighten see themselves as liking to help others understanding others and having
teaching ability and value social and ethical concerns and activities
Enterprising type The enterprising types show preference for activities that
involve manipulation of others to achieve organizational goals or economic gain
perceive themselves as aggressive self-confident and sociable and value political and
economic achievement
99
Conventional type The conventional types tend to like activities that entail
ordered manipulation of data and records perceive themselves as conforming and
orderly and value business and economic achievement
Step 6 Pretesting of Research Instruments
This part of the study dealt with the pretesting of research instrumentsNEO PI-
R and SDS along with the demographic sheet were administered to the small sample of
students The results showed the reliabilityvalidity of main domains of NEO PI-R and
main scales of SDS The sample procedures and results of the study are discussed
below
Sample
In this part of the study 100 students were taken from one boy school for the
study purpose All the students were taken from a school situated near Rawalpindi
After getting their consent 100 willing students were randomly selected 50 students
were taken from 9th
class and 50 students were taken from 10th
class 50 Science and 50
Arts students were randomly selected Convenient sampling technique was used as far
as selection of school is concerned One Government school where arts and science
subjects are being taught was taken for the study Within the school the sample is
divided into two main categories 9th
class students and 10th
class students Then in each
class (9th
or 10th
class) sample is distributed into science and arts groups students In
each science or arts group 25 students were selected using the systematic random
sampling techniques Depending on the number of students available in each category
the interval k was calculated by dividing the total available students by 25 Once k is
computed then any number between 1 and computed k has been randomly selected for
100
each category Using the nominal roll of students for each category every student
falling on the selected number in the sequence was selected for the study The
distribution of sample is described below
Distribution of Students in a School
Figure 4 Sample distribution in a school
All the tests were administered to 100 students and after scrutinizing the data
and eliminating the absentees the sample was left with only 79 students The age
range is from 14 years to 19 years The mean age is 1615 years There are 43 science
students and 36 arts students 45 students were from 9th
class and 34 students were
from 10th
class
Procedure
The tests were administered to the students in the course of two days The
students were administered demographic sheet NEO PI-R and SDS as per the
convenience of school administration On the first day demographic sheet and SDS
One School
(100 Students)
50 Students
from 10th
Class
50 Students
from 9th
Class
25 Students
(Science Group)
25 Students
(Arts Group)
25 Students
(Science Group)
25 Students
(Arts Group)
101
were administered to the students On the second day NEO PI-R was administered on
the same students The testing was carried out in-groups of 50 students Detail
instructions were printed on the cover pages of inventories however students were
also briefed about the instructions verbally as well Questions and queries were also
addressed The tests were personally administered by the researcher assisted by two
well trained individuals The consent of the students and the school administration
were sought prior to test administration The students were briefed about the purpose
of the study They were also requested to inform or write down any problem they
face while completing these inventories There were no significant observations
pointed out by the sample during this phase
Results
The data was analyzed by computer using SPSS 13 Alpha reliability
coefficients of all the main scales of NEO PI-R were computed Item total
correlations of all the items with their respective subscales were also computed
Correlations of subscales of NEO PI-R and inter-correlation between the five main
domains were calculated The results showed the reliability and validity of NEO PI-R
and are shown in Table 1 to Table 8 Alpha reliability coefficients of subscales of
SDS are shown in Table 9 Item-total correlations of each item with respective
subscales and the inter-correlations matrix between the subscales and summary
scales are shown in Table 10 to 11 The result demonstrated the reliability and
validity of the SDS
102
ReliabilityValidity of NEO PI-R
The reliabilityvalidity of NEO PI-R was calculated The alpha reliability
coefficients of five main scales of NEO PI-R illustrated the internal consistency of
the instrument and are shown in Table 1
Table 1
Alpha reliability coefficients of 5 main scales of NEO PI-R
Scales No of items Alpha coefficients Alpha coefficients
(N = 79) (N = 60)
Neuroticism 48 76 77
Extraversion 48 62 80
Openness 48 34 73
Agreeableness 48 68 76
Conscientiousness 48 81 89
Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory
source of alpha coefficients (N =60) (Chishti 2002)
Five main scales of NEO PI-R (Neuroticism Extraversion Openness
Agreeableness Conscientiousness) showed moderate Alpha reliability coefficients
ranging from 34 (Openness) to 81 (Conscientiousness) Overall the results
demonstrated high internal consistency of the instrument as reflected by alpha
coefficients except Openness domain An alpha value of 5 or 6 or more was deemed
sufficient for the purpose of estimating the reliability of scale However subscale
Openness showed weak internal consistency as compared to other four scales
Whereas Alpha coefficient determined by Chishti (2002) showed high internal
consistency of five domains including (73) Openness domain This showed low
internal consistency of openness domain However item-total correlations of each
scale have been calculated to find out the construct validity of each subscale
103
Table 2
Item-total correlation of each item with respective subscales of NEO PI-R (N = 79)
Anxiety (N1)
(Items = 8)
r Warmth
(E1)
(Items = 8)
r Fantasy
(O1)
(Items = 8)
r Trust
(A1)
(Items = 8)
r Competence
(C1)
(Items = 8)
r
n1 55 n2 34 n3 03 n4 31 n5 53
n31 42 n32 53 n33 59 n34 52 n35 45
n61 53 n62 47 n63 07 n64 41 n65 35
n91 42 n92 42 n93 56 n94 34 n95 22
n121 38 n122 53 n123 25 n124 60 n125 35
n151 51 n152 40 n153 42 n154 52 n155 46
n181 44 n182 48 n183 34 n184 55 n185 37
n211 42 n212 46 n213 34 n214 44 n215 42
Hostility
(N2)
(Items = 8)
r Gregarious
(E2)
(Items = 8)
r Aesthetics
(O2)
(Items = 8)
r Straight
Forward
(A2) (Items = 8)
r Order
(C2)
(Items = 8)
r
n6 46 n7 30 n8 27 n9 38 n10 41
n36 45 n37 65 n38 44 n39 58 n40 41
n66 48 n67 43 n68 40 n69 41 n70 38
n96 30 n97 54 n98 38 n99 33 n100 35
n126 44 n127 26 n128 47 n129 58 n130 52
n156 34 n157 33 n158 45 n159 52 n160 31
n186 37 n187 53 n188 39 n189 53 n190 53
n216 66 n217 53 n218 47 n219 33 n220 30
Depression
(N3)
(Items = 8)
r Assertive-
ness
(E3)
(Items = 8)
r Feelings
(O3)
(Items = 8)
r Altruism
(A3)
(Items = 8)
r Dutifulness
(C3)
(Items = 8)
r
n11 12 n12 44 n13 34 n14 55 n15 42
n41 59 n42 17 n43 57 n44 21 n45 40
n71 25 n72 60 n73 41 n74 57 n75 40
n101 37 n102 28 n103 35 n104 50 n105 49
n131 33 n132 49 n133 55 n134 50 n135 60
n161 37 n162 22 n163 44 n164 65 n165 52
n191 32 n192 41 n193 47 n194 51 n195 47
n221 39 n222 13 n223 41 n224 38 n225 50
Continuedhellip
104
Self-
Conscious
(N4) (Items = 8)
r Activity
(E4)
(Items = 8)
r Actions
(O4)
(Items = 8)
r Compliance
(A4)
(Items = 8)
r Achievement
Striving
(C4) (Items = 8)
r
n16 44 n17 46 n18 35 n19 39 n20 55
n46 03 n47 30 n48 12 n49 53 n50 49
n76 72 n77 33 n78 46 n79 35 n80 50
n106 46 n107 56 n108 32 n109 50 n110 51
n136 42 n137 52 n138 30 n139 60 n140 51
n166 39 n167 25 n168 22 n169 38 n170 54
n196 54 n197 39 n198 36 n199 51 n200 51
n226 38 n227 40 n228 49 n229 33 n230 59
Impulsive-
ness (N5) (Items = 8)
r Excitement
seeking (E5)
(Items = 8)
r Ideas
(O5) (Items = 8)
r Modesty
(A5) (Items = 8)
r Self Discipline
(C5) (Items = 8)
r
n21 23 n22 19 n23 25 n24 39 n25 40
n51 57 n52 34 n53 26 n54 33 n55 71
n81 34 n82 46 n83 41 n84 49 n85 58
n111 35 n112 36 n113 53 n114 16 n115 63
n141 39 n142 35 n143 23 n144 50 n145 52
n171 40 n172 42 n173 52 n174 49 n175 38
n201 46 n202 45 n203 48 n204 41 n205 47
n231 39 n232 55 n233 50 n234 55 n235 53
Vulnerability
(N6)
(Items = 8)
r Positive
Emotion
(E6) (Items = 8)
r Values
(O6)
(Items = 8)
r Tender
Mindedness
(A6) (Items = 8)
r Deliberation
(C6)
(Items = 8)
r
n26 50 n27 44 n28 39 n29 39 n30 34
n56 39 n57 49 n58 45 n59 39 n60 66
n86 49 n87 46 n88 39 n89 30 n90 42
n116 53 n117 32 n118 50 n119 53 n120 65
n146 48 n147 48 n148 42 n149 41 n150 37
Continuedhellip
105
Vulnerability
(N6)
(Items = 8)
r Positive
Emotion
(E6) (Items = 8)
r Values
(O6)
(Items = 8)
r Tender
Mindedness
(A6) (Items = 8)
r Deliberation
(C6)
(Items = 8)
r
n176 61 n177 56 n178 24 n179 44 n180 19
n206 56 n207 29 n208 28 n209 48 n210 52
n236 29 n237 40 n238 32 n239 40 n240 56
Note n1 to n240 represent each item of Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R)
Neuroticism domain includes subscales N1 N2 N3 N4 N5 N6 Extraversion domain includes subscales
E1E2E3E4E5E6 Openness domain includes subscales O1O2O3O4O5O6 Agreeableness domain
includes subscalesA1A2A3A4A5A6 Conscientiousness domain includes subscales C1C2C3C4C5C6
P lt 05 P lt 01 P lt 001
The findings in Table 2 illustrated the item-total correlations of each subscale
of NEO PI-R Items of each subscale are positively correlated with the total score of
respective subscale The results showed that almost all the items significantly
correlated with the total of their respective subscale However 11 items (3 11 22
42 44 46 48 63 114 180 and 222) from subscales fantasy depression excitement
seeking assertiveness altruism self-conscious actions fantasy modesty
deliberation and assertiveness have non-significant correlations with their respective
subscales Overall the results showed the construct validity of 30 subscales of NEO
PI-R
Table 3
Correlations of subscales with main scale of Neuroticism (N=79)
Subscale r
Anxiety (N1) 76
Angry Hostility (N2) 61
Depression (N3) 55
Self-Consciousness (N4) 71
Impulsiveness (N5)
Vulnerability (N6)
67
68
p lt 001
106
In Table 3 the correlations of six subscales with the main scale of Neuroticism
domain were computed The results showed that all the six subscales i-e Anxiety
(N1) Angry hostility (N2) Depression (N3) Self-Consciousness (N4) Impulsiveness
(N5) and Vulnerability (N6) are highly significantly correlated with the main scale of
Neuroticism domain The range of magnitude of correlations is from a minimum
(r = 55 p lt 001) of subscale (N3) to a maximum (r = 76 p lt 001) of subscale (N1)
This showed the construct validity of subscales of Neuroticism domain of NEO PI-R
Table 4
Correlations of subscales with main scale of Extraversion (N=79)
Subscale r
Warmth (E1) 68
Gregariousness (E2) 58
Assertiveness (E3) 36
Activity (E4) 47
Excitement-seeking (E5)
Positive Emotion (E6)
61
63
p lt 001
The finding in Table 4 showed that all the six subscales i-e Warmth (E1)
Gregariousness (E2) Assertiveness (E3) Activity (E4) Excitement seeking (E5)
and Positive Emotion (E6) are highly significantly correlated with the main scale of
Extraversion domain The range of magnitude of correlations is from a (r = 36 p lt
107
001) of subscale (E3) to a maximum (r = 68 p lt 001) of subscale (E1) This
showed the construct validity of facet scales of Extraversion domain of NEO PI-R
Table 5
Correlations of subscales with main scale of Openness (N=79)
Subscale r
Fantasy (O1) 42
Aesthetics (O2) 55
Feelings (O3) 54
Actions (O4) 45
Ideas (O5)
Values (O6)
52
24
p lt 05 p lt 001
The correlations of six subscales with the main scale of Openness domain
shown in Table 5 revealed that all subscales are significantly correlated with the
main scale of Openness domain The range of magnitude of correlations is from a
minimum (r = 24 p lt 05) of subscale (O6) to a maximum (r = 55 p lt 001) of
subscale (O2) The subscale of Values has moderate correlation with the openness
domain scale Overall this showed the construct validity of facet scales of Openness
domain of NEO PI-R
108
Table 6
Correlations of subscales with main scale of Agreeableness (N=79)
Subscale r
Trust (A1) 46
Straight forwardness (A2) 65
Altruism (A3) 60
Compliance (A4) 67
Modesty (A5)
Tender mindedness (A6)
29
64
p lt 01 p lt 001
In Table 6 the correlations of six subscales with the main scale of
Agreeableness domain were computed All the six subscales i-e Trust (A1) Straight
forwardness (A2) Altruism (A3) Compliance (A4) Modesty (A5) and Tender
mindedness (A6) are highly significantly correlated with the main scale of
Agreeableness domain The range of magnitude of correlations is from (r = 29 p lt
01) of subscale (A5) to a maximum (r = 67 p lt 001) of subscale (A4) This showed
the construct validity of facet scales of Agreeableness domain of NEO PI-R
Table 7
Correlations of subscales with main scale of Conscientiousness (N=79)
Subscale r
Competence (C1) 51
Order (C2) 50
Dutifulness (C3) 69
Achievement striving (C4) 72
Self discipline (C5)
Deliberation (C6)
81
77
p lt 001
109
The findings in Table 7 showed that all the six facets subscales are highly
significantly correlated with the main scale of Conscientiousness domain The range
of magnitude of correlations is from a minimum (r = 50 p lt 001) of subscale (C2)
to a maximum (r = 81 p lt 001) of subscale (C5) This displayed the construct
validity of subscales of Conscientiousness domain of NEO PI-R
Table 8
Inter-correlations between five main domains of NEO PI-R (N=79)
Scale I II III IV V
I Neuroticism (N) -
II Extraversion (E) -11 -
III Openness (O) -15 26 -
IV Agreeableness (A) -13 11 05 -
V Conscientiousness (C) -43 33 27 54 -
Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory
p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001
Table 8 indicated the inter-correlations of five main domains of NEO PI-R The
result showed that the 5 main domains (Neuroticism Extraversion Openness
Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) are significantly correlated with each other
Neuroticism (N) domain is negatively correlated with all other domain however
significantly negatively correlated with Conscientiousness (r = -43 p lt 001)
Extraversion (E) is significantly correlated with Openness (r = 26 p lt 05) and
Conscientiousness (r = 33 p lt 01) Conscientiousness (C) is significantly correlated
with all other domains This inter correlation matrix showed the construct validity of
the five domains of NEO PI-R
110
ReliabilityValidity of SDS
Table 9 showed the alpha reliability coefficients of summary scales and
subscales of activities competencies occupations and self-estimates of SDS on the
basis of six personality types ie Realistic (R) Investigative (I) Artistic (A) Social
(S) Enterprising (E) and Conventional (C) Item-total correlations of each item with
their respective subscales were calculated Inter-correlation of subscales activities
competencies occupations self-estimate1 self-estimate2 and main summary scales
were also computed to establish the reliabilityvalidity of SDS
Table 9
Alpha reliability coefficients of subscales of SDS (N=79)
Scales No of items Alpha coefficients
(N = 79)
Alpha coefficients
(N = 120)
Activities
Activities (R) 11 48 57
Activities (I) 11 48 65
Activities (A) 11 57 60
Activities (S) 11 51 65
Activities (E) 11 58 60
Activities (C) 11 52 66
Continuedhellip
111
Scales No of items Alpha coefficient
(N = 79)
Alpha coefficient
(N = 120)
Competencies
Competencies (R)
10
63
57
Competencies (I) 10 69 60
Competencies (A) 10 65 59
Competencies (S) 10 61 70
Competencies (E) 10 61 61
Competencies (C)
Occupations
10
52
62
Occupations (R) 12 72 55
Occupations (I)
Occupations (A)
Occupations (S)
Occupations (E)
Occupations (C)
Summary
Realistic
Investigative
Artistic
Social
Enterprising
Conventional
12
12
12
12
12
33
33
33
33
33
33
77
70
77
77
78
76
77
75
71
75
74
56
65
63
55
50
-
-
-
-
-
-
Note SDS = Self Directed Search
Source of alpha coefficients Urdu version SDS (N = 120) (Siddiqa 1999)
112
Table 9 showed the Alpha reliability coefficients of main summary scales
ranging from 71 (Social) to 77 (Investigative) This showed very high internal
consistency of the instrument Alpha reliability coefficients of Activities subscales
range from 48 (Activities R amp Activities I) to 58 (Activities E) whereas the alpha
reliability coefficient computed by Siddiqa (1999) on working women also range
from 57 (Activities R) to 66 (Activities C) The alpha reliability coefficients of 6
subscales of Competencies range from 52 (Competencies C) to 69 (Competencies
I) while alpha coefficient computed by Siddiqa (1999) were ranging from 57
(Competencies R) to 70 (Competencies S) The Alpha reliability coefficients of 6
subscales of Occupations range from 70 (Occupations A) to 78 (Occupations C)
whereas alpha coefficient computed by Siddiqa (1999) ranging from 55
(Occupations R) to 65 (Occupation A) This showed that alpha coefficients of SDS
have same values as compared to alpha coefficients determined by Siddiqa (1999)
Overall the results revealed that all subscales of SDS have moderate to high internal
consistency
Table 10
Item-total correlation of subscales of SDS (N=79)
Activities
(R)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(R)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(R)
(Items=12)
r Self-
estimates 1
(Items =6)
r
v1 51 V67 48 V127 36 S1 59
V2 37 V68 58 V128 54 S2 37
V3 23 V69 32 V129 47 S3 50
V4 50 V70 48 V130 46 S4 52
V5 46 V71 45 V131 61 S5 63
V6 52 V72 29 V132 50 S6 61
V7 42 V73 56 V133 46
Continuedhellip
113
Activities
(R)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(R)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(R)
(Items=12)
r Self-
estimates 2
(Items =6)
r
V8 44 V74 62 V134 44 S7 65
V9 39 V75 36 V135 51 S8 58
V10 21 V76 66 V136 49 S9 58
V11 31 V137 51 S10 60
V138 59 S11 54
S12 35
Activities (I)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(I)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(I)
(Items=12)
r
V12 41 V77 41 V139 56
V13 40 V78 64 V140 46
V14 42 V79 65 V141 50
V15 32 V80 41 V142 46
v16 33 V81 52 V143 61
V17 21 V82 46 V144 62
V18 52 V83 60 V145 51
v19 43 V84 42 V146 61
V20 50 V85 41 V147 45
V21 68 V86 59 V148 47
V22 11 V149 61
V150 50
Activities
(A)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(A)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(A)
(Items=12)
r
V23 36 V87 41 V151 54
V24 25 V88 36 V152 48
V25 49 V89 45 V153 48
V26 52 V90 59 V154 55
V27 45 V91 63 V155 55
Continuedhellip
114
Activities
(A)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(A)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(A)
(Items=12)
r
V28 34 V92 41 V156 37
V29 39 V93 47 V157 48
V30 39 V94 48 V158 50
V31 64 V95 59 V159 53
V32 41 V96 51 V160 52
V33 49 V161 43
V162 37
Activities
(S)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(S)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(S)
(Items=12)
r
V34 48 V97 50 V163 41
V35 46 V98 53 V164 41
V36 44 V99 46 V165 58
V37 20 V100 36 V166 57
V38 34 V101 47 V167 63
V39 56 V102 40 V168 50
V40 12 V103 37 V169 67
V41 41 V104 61 V170 49
V42 47 V105 43 V171 34
V43 56 V106 54 V172 50
V44 33 V173 60
V174 69
Activities
(E)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(E)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(E)
(Items=12)
r
V45 56 V107 66 V175 50
V46 47 V108 41 V176 52
V47 47 V109 48 V177 53
V48 52 V110 28 V178 52
Continuedhellip
115
Activities
(E)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(E)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(E)
(Items=12)
r
V49 32 V111 63 V179 55
V50 32 V112 56 V180 66
V51 34 V113 34 V181 52
V52 50 V114 44 V182 61
V53 41 V115 51 V183 65
V54 51 V116 40 V184 47
V55 37 V185 56
V186 33
Activities
(C)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(C)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(C)
(Items=12)
r
V56 37 V117 49 V187 60
V57 40 V118 49 V188 49
V58 42 V119 44 V189 61
V59 50 V120 58 V190 56
V60 35 V121 48 V191 57
V61 33 V122 23 V192 56
V62 49 V123 20 V193 40
V63 42 V124 50 V194 59
V64 44 V125 31 V195 51
V65 39 V126 55 V196 51
V66 51 V197 58
V198 52
Note SDS = Self Directed Search V1 to V198 and S1 to S12 represent each item of Self Directed Search (SDS)
Activities Competencies and Occupations each comprising RIASEC subscales
p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001
Table 10 showed the item-total correlation of subscales of SDS Almost all
the items significantly correlated with the total of each subscale (activities
competencies occupations and self-estimates) except items no 10 17 22 37 40
and 123 The results showed the construct validity of each subscale of SDS
116
Table 11
Intercorrelation of SDS Scales (N=79) Activities Competencies Occupation Self Rating 1 Self Rating 2 Summary
Ra Ia Aa Sa Ea Ca Rc Ic Ac Sc Ec Cc Ro Io Ao So Eo Co R1 I1 A1 S1 E1 C1 R2 I2 A2 S2 E2 C2 Rs Is As Ss Es Cs
Ra -
Ia 23 -
Aa 31 14 -
Sa 30 27 27 -
Ea 34 14 58 32 -
Ca 24 35 36 45 47 -
Rc 51 22 48 26 40 18 -
Ic 31 39 31 24 49 37 50 -
Ac 43 16 65 32 47 22 63 42 -
Sc 34 24 42 27 49 17 47 46 62 -
Ec 40 33 47 46 59 33 57 48 60 64 -
Cc 30 29 36 19 48 38 52 56 49 50 55 -
Ro 58 16 39 23 38 10 63 31 57 54 52 47 -
Io 43 17 38 21 59 27 40 54 51 59 50 54 62 -
Ao 41 09 59 26 34 03 40 10 60 47 42 27 61 59 -
So 32 21 29 26 40 21 40 48 41 51 51 52 42 72 51 -
Eo 30 02 36 22 42 26 40 29 34 35 42 42 43 45 40 53 -
Co 33 10 30 26 36 37 36 33 30 39 43 56 46 59 44 62 78 -
R1 22 13 30 08 15 03 17 13 16 35 28 20 21 25 24 30 20 25 -
I1 18 18 31 16 48 15 33 31 32 18 40 30 25 16 21 23 22 11 19 -
A1 00 06 04 09 06 01 -02 14 08 25 23 08 05 22 -05 24 -07 04 20 -06 -
S1 -05 -04 33 -12 08 -01 -08 03 14 13 03 08 05 07 24 11 10 11 26 17 -07 -
E1 09 08 04 -02 02 02 -06 36 18 25 02 19 10 38 14 28 19 26 24 -14 32 19 -
C1 13 -11 08 04 18 -04 00 28 17 07 04 12 02 21 11 16 11 14 07 19 20 12 36 -
R2 05 05 39 13 27 10 03 12 22 22 23 22 26 34 33 34 23 21 52 17 16 27 36 12 -
I2 11 04 23 19 34 24 20 29 15 23 29 26 18 27 19 33 15 30 21 31 19 00 24 21 28 -
A2 10 -06 13 -06 27 -03 19 20 26 35 27 07 15 29 34 23 03 01 28 40 11 08 07 17 20 38 -
S2 03 -02 36 -12 19 -03 08 09 28 24 16 13 12 24 35 22 11 14 29 14 04 77 26 15 31 00 17 -
E2 26 28 23 12 15 24 14 51 26 34 33 25 20 50 18 38 11 27 31 -02 46 01 53 29 25 22 13 18 -
C2 13 -07 20 19 29 -01 21 05 16 14 10 24 15 21 26 17 23 36 01 17 05 10 19 24 04 12 -01 22 -01 -
Rs 71 23 53 30 47 19 73 41 62 58 61 52 84 62 61 53 48 49 57 34 11 12 20 09 51 28 26 23 32 17 -
Is 42 51 44 33 62 43 53 82 52 58 63 63 52 77 39 67 39 50 29 51 19 07 33 25 31 54 37 16 51 16 62 -
As 41 10 74 29 53 18 54 35 82 65 61 40 58 63 79 53 36 36 36 36 31 24 22 21 38 33 54 38 37 22 67 59 -
Ss 31 21 53 38 48 24 38 44 56 69 58 48 45 63 60 75 45 53 42 28 19 58 33 18 42 26 26 67 36 24 58 61 68 -
Es 44 24 53 35 69 41 48 64 57 64 73 60 53 72 48 66 72 70 36 31 26 13 46 28 41 37 23 27 59 26 65 75 64 68 -
Cs 37 18 41 34 55 56 42 51 42 42 48 74 42 61 38 58 64 84 20 27 11 13 33 44 23 37 06 18 35 52 49 64 44 57 75 -
Note SDS = Self Directed Search Please read Ra as Realistic Activities Ia as Investigative Activities Aa as Artistic Activities Sa as Social Activities Ea as Enterprising Activities Ca as Conventional
Activities Rc as Realistic Competencies Ic as Investigative Competencies Ac as Artistic Competencies Sc as Social Competencies Ec as Enterprising Competencies Cc as Conventional Competencies Ro as
Realistic Occupations Io as Investigative Occupations Ao as Artistic Occupations So as Social Occupations Eo as Enterprising Occupations Co as Conventional Occupations R1and R2 as Realistic self estimateI1 and I2 as Investigative self estimate A1 and A2 as Artistic self estimate S1 and S2 as Social self estimate E1 and E2 as Enterprising self estimate C1 and C2 as Conventional self estimate Rs as
Realistic Summary Is as Investigative Summary As as Artistic Summary Ss as Social Summary Es as Enterprising Summary Cs as Conventional Summary r ge 22 is significant at 05 to 001 level
117
Table 11 showed the inter-correlations of SDS scales (Activities
Competencies Occupations Self-estimates and Summary scores) on six personality
types The substantial relationship existed between the subscales of SDS The results
indicated that the inter-correlations of six subscales of Activities are significantly
correlated with each other
All Competencies scales have significant positive correlations ranging from (r
= 42 p lt 001) to (r = 64 p lt 001) with each other The inter-correlation of six
subscales of Occupations showed that all the 6 subscales are significantly correlated
ranging from (r = 40 p lt 001) to (r = 78 p lt 001) with each other All the 6
summary scales are significantly correlated with each other ranging from (r = 44 p lt
001) to (r = 75 p lt 001) This inter-correlation matrix showed the construct validity
of the six subscales of SDS
Discussion
This part of the study dealt with the pretesting of measures of personality and
vocational interests on small scale Pretesting of both the instruments (NEO PI-R and
SDS) and reliability and validity of the instruments were established in this part of the
study The pretesting of Urdu versions of the instruments was decided on a sample of
randomly selected 100 high school students from government school of Rawalpindi
district After scrutinizing the data and eliminating the absentees the analysis was
carried out on a sample of 79 students The aim in this part of the study was to find
out the reliabilityvalidity of both the instruments and get acquainted with the
practical problems which can come across during the research Overall the results
showed that both the instrument NEO PI-R and SDS have significant reliability and
118
validity The results demonstrated moderate alpha reliability coefficients of subscales
of both the instruments and were highly internally consistent The inter-correlations
between the main and subscales of both the instruments showed the construct validity
of all the scales The alpha coefficients of Urdu translated versions of NEO PI-R and
SDS were compared with alpha coefficients computed by Chishti (2002) and Siddiqa
(1999) The results revealed moderate internal consistency of the scales of NEO PI-R
and SDS except for Openness domain Burki (2009) reported alpha value of 35 for
openness domain in organizational setup Fayyaz (2008) reported alpha value of 38
for openness domain in pilot study and 58 for main study after adding synonyms for
difficult words Safdar (2002) reported alpha coefficient of 59 for openness domain
on MSc students The low internal consistency of openness scale may be due cultural
effect
Since the sample was quite less as compared to the numbers of items in the
inventories however no major decisions like discarding and changing the items
based on the statistical analysis was done The analyses provided the researcher a
confidence about the reliabilityvalidity of the instruments It was decided to conduct
the pretesting on the sample which has to be selected for the main study However
during the pretesting stage researcher faced some problems regarding the willingness
of few individuals to participate in the study on second day of testing Few minor
questions and queries were raised by the students like time of the tests meaning of
few words use of pencil or pen etc Overall the results of the study showed that Urdu
versions of both the scales (NEO PI-R and SDS) can be administered being the
reliable and valid instruments on the main sample of high school students
119
Chapter IV
PART 3 PERSONALITY AND VOCATIONAL INTERESTS
OF THE STUDENTS
This part of the study was designed to find out the relationship between
personality based on five factor model (Costa amp McCrae 1992a) and vocational
interests based on RIASEC model (Holland 1985a) of high school students NEO PI-
R is used to measure personality profiles of students and SDS is used to establish the
vocational interests During literature review the consistent pattern of relationship
between personality and vocational interests was observed (Barrick et al 2003
Larson et al 2002 Staggs et al 2007) The relevance of these two heuristic models
in Pakistani culture has been explored The psychometric properties of NEO PI-R and
SDS were established on the main sample The mean differences on personality and
vocational interests with respect to demographic variables were also computed All
theoretically derived hypotheses on the personality-interests relationship and gender
differences were also empirically verified The objectives hypotheses sample
sample characteristics procedures and results are discussed below
Objectives
1 To study the relationship between personality (five factor model) and
vocational interests (Hollandlsquos typology) among high school students
120
2 To find out the mean differences with respect to demographic variables
(gender sciencearts urbanrural 9th
10th
classes parentslsquo education) on
personality and vocational interests of the students
3 To establish psychometric properties of the research instruments
Hypotheses
Followings hypotheses were formulated to study the above mentioned
objectives
1 Extroversion will be positively correlated with the Enterprising and Social
types
2 Openness to Experience will be positively correlated with Artistic and
Investigative types
3 Agreeableness will be positively correlated with the Social type
4 Conscientiousness will be positively correlated with Conventional type
5 Female tend to score higher on Neuroticism Extraversion Agreeableness and
Conscientiousness as compared to male
6 Male tend to score higher on Realistic interests as compared to female
7 Female tend to score higher on Artistic and Social interests as compared to
male
Sample
Initially the researcher got the list of all government schools situated in
Rawalpindi Tehsil and District by the Directorate of education where Science and
121
Arts classes are being taught The schools were contacted on telephone Only seven
schools could be traced which have sufficient numbers of Science and Arts students
Thus convenient sampling technique was used as far as selection of school is
concerned The main study was conducted on the 700 students of 7 different schools
of Rawalpindi The list of boysgirls and urbanrural areas schools is attached at
Appendix Klsquo
The sample has been taken randomly within the school Among the list of
willing students 100 students from each school were selected In each school 50
students 25 science students and 25 Arts students were randomly selected from grade
10th
and similarly 50 students 25 science students and 25 Arts students from grade 9th
were randomly selected In each science or arts group 25 students were selected using
the systematic random sampling techniques Depending on the number of students
available in each category the interval k was calculated by dividing the total available
students by 25 Once k is computed then any number between 1 and computed k has
been randomly selected for each category Using the nominal roll of students for each
category every student falling on the selected number in the sequence was selected for
the study 4 boy schools and 3 girl schools were selected 2 boy schools and 2 girl
schools were selected from urban areas of Rawalpindi while 1 boy and 1 girl school
was selected from rural areas of Rawalpindi 1 boy school which was selected for the
pretesting of research instrument contained majority of the students from rural areas
The sample of the main study included the data from the study conducted in Chapter
III (pages 99 to 101) regarding pretesting of research instruments Overall 400 boys
and 300 girls were selected The distribution of schools and the students in each
school are shown in the following figures
122
Distribution of Sample in Schools
Figure 5 Sample Distribution in Schools
Distribution of Students in each School
Figure 6 Sample Distribution within Schools
4 Boys
Schools (400
Students)
3 Girls
Schools (300
Students)
2 Schools from
Rural Areas
(200 students)
2 Schools
from Urban
Areas
(200 students)
1 School from
Rural Areas
(100 students)
2 Schools
from Urban
Areas
(200 students)
(200
Seven Schools
(700 Students)
One School
(100 Students)
50 Students
from 10th
Class
50 Students
from 9th
Class
25 Students
(Science Group)
25 Students
(Arts Group)
25 Students
(Science Group)
25 Students
(Arts Group)
123
Sample Characteristics
All the tests were administered on the 700 students in a course of two days
Some of the individuals did not correctly fill the questions of the inventories
according to the instructions and few of them were absent on the second day of
testing After scrutinizing the data and eliminating the absentees the sample is left
with a total of 596 students Cases with incomplete data were excluded from further
analyses which led to a decrease in the number of valid cases by 1485 There are
319 male and 277 female students Their age range is from 14 years to 19 years with
a mean age of 1573 years The average fatherslsquo income for 494 students is Rs 7634-
approximately (102 cases are missing) ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 50000 There are
only 14 cases having father income greater than 20000 There are 382 students
belonging to urban areas and 214 students were from rural areas Among them 328
students from 9th
class and 268 students are from 10th
class There are 304 students
belonging to science group and 292 students belonging to Arts group
Instruments
Following instruments were used in the study
1 NEO PI-R
2 SDS
3 Demographic sheet
(See details about instruments in chapter III pages 78 to 99)
Procedure
The booklets were prepared for two inventories (NEO PI-R amp SDS) The
inventories were administered to the participants in group settings The consent of the
124
students and school administrations were taken before administration of tests Data
were collected during the second half of the school year (from January to March) The
measures were administered in a group in classrooms during school hours All the
participants from different schools were divided into groups of 50 Two groups one
from 9th
class including 50 students were administered tests separately and the second
group including 50 students from 10th
class were administered the same tests on the
same day The testing procedures were carried over the course of two days
The group of 50 students from each class was administered SDS and
Demographic sheet on the first day of testing and NEO PI-R was administered on the
same group on second day Two well trained invigilators assisted the researcher in
conduct of tests The timings of administering the tests were also adjusted according
to the convenience of school administration The participants were given written
instructions printed on the first page of each inventory Before the start of the
inventories some sentences were written in order to explain the response format and
specific instructions regarding the inventory Subjects were also briefed about the
approximate time required to complete the inventory The average time to complete
one inventory is 40 minutes List of some difficult words asked by students for
explanation from NEO PI-R are attached at Appendix Llsquo and that of SDS are at
Appendix Mlsquo Once the data is completed then it is subjected to statistical analysis
OperationalConceptual Definitions of the Variables
Personality (details are in chapter III pages 85 to 93)
Vocational interests (details are in chap III pages 97 to 99)
125
Science group students The science group students are those who studied
science subjects (Physics Chemistry Mathematics and Biology) along with
compulsory subjects (English Urdu Pakistan Studies Islamiat)
Arts group students (Humanities group) The arts group students are those
who studies humanities subjects which are non-scientific and non-technical subjects at
school (For instance Social studies Arabic Islamiat (elective) Home economics etc)
along with compulsory subjects (English Urdu Pakistan Studies Islamiat)
Urban students The school students who are resident of urban area and are
studying in schools which are located in the urban localities of Rawalpindi city
Rural students The school students who are resident of rural area and are
studying in schools which are located in the rural areas of Rawalpindi city
Parentsrsquo education Three groups of students were formulated based on the
education of parents Father Mother educated grouplsquo have at least matriculation
education for both father and mother father educated grouplsquo father have at least
matriculation education but mothers are not matriculates father mother uneducated
grouplsquo have none of father or mother have matriculation education
The results of the study are computed and are mentioned in the following
Psychometric Properties of the Research Instruments
The psychometric properties of research instruments (NEO PI-R and SDS)
were established on the main sample of the study The Alpha reliabilities item-total
correlations and inter-correlations between the subscales and main scales of all the
126
three research instruments were computed A hexagonal arrangement of vocational
interests for the main sample was also calculated
ReliabilityValidity of NEO PI-R
Table 12 showed the Alpha reliability coefficient of main scales and subscales
of NEO PI-R
Table 12
Alpha reliability coefficients of main scales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
Scales No of items Alpha coefficients
Neuroticism 48 67
Extraversion 48 65
Openness 48 36
Agreeableness 48 71
Conscientiousness 48 84
Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory
The results showed the Alpha reliability coefficients of 5 main scales of NEO
PI-R The 5 main scales revealed moderate Alpha reliability coefficients ranging from
36 (Openness) to 84 (Conscientiousness) The highest alpha value is of scale
Conscientiousness and lowest value is of scale Openness The same findings were
observed during the pretesting stage (see Table 1) Overall the results showed
moderate to high internal consistency of the NEO PI-R except Openness domain
127
Table 13
Item-total correlation of each item with respective subscales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
Anxiety
(N1)
(Items = 8)
r Warmth
(E1)
(Items = 8)
r Fantasy
(O1)
(Items = 8)
r Trust
(A1)
(Items = 8)
r Competence
(C1)
(Items = 8)
r
n1 49 n2 44 n3 18 n4 38 n5 46
n31 51 n32 55 n33 50 n34 49 n35 47
n61 27 n62 41 n63 26 n64 38 n65 48
n91 47 n92 34 n93 57 n94 47 n95 20
n121 29 n122 51 n123 37 n124 54 n125 51
n151 50 n152 46 n153 51 n154 46 n155 46
n181 40 n182 46 n183 34 n184 49 n185 43
n211 47 n212 40 n213 32 n214 41 n215 51
Hostility
(N2)
(Items = 8)
r Gregarious-
ness
(E2)
(Items = 8)
r Aesthetic
(O2)
(Items = 8)
r Straight
Forward
(A2)
(Items = 8)
r Order
(C2)
(Items = 8)
r
n6 52 n7 52 n8 40 n9 42 n10 27
n36 30 n37 55 n38 45 n39 47 n40 40
n66 50 n67 43 n68 41 n69 39 n70 49
n96 21 n97 49 n98 35 n99 47 n100 40
n126 40 n127 38 n128 47 n129 44 n130 50
n156 30 n157 40 n158 53 n159 51 n160 38
n186 35 n187 42 n188 52 n189 56 n190 42
n216 44 n217 57 n218 49 n219 34 n220 45
Depression
(N3)
(Items = 8)
r Assertive-
ness
(E3)
(Items = 8)
r Feelings
(O3)
(Items = 8)
r Altruism
(A3)
(Items = 8)
r Dutifulness
(C3)
(Items = 8)
r
n11 35 n12 49 n13 46 n14 49 n15 41
n41 59 n42 30 n43 35 n44 32 n45 41
n71 27 n72 56 n73 36 n74 56 n75 44
n101 46 n102 26 n103 36 n104 49 n105 50
n131 42 n132 40 n133 49 n134 45 n135 53
Continuedhellip
128
Depression
(N3)
(Items = 8)
r Assertive-
ness
(E3)
(Items = 8)
r Feelings
(O3)
(Items = 8)
r Altruism
(A3)
(Items = 8)
r Dutifulness
(C3)
(Items = 8)
r
n161 48 n162 38 n163 39 n164 50 n165 50
n191 46 n192 41 n193 42 n194 47 n195 52
n221 42 n222 40 n223 41 n224 45 n225 52
Self-
Conscious
(N4)
(Items = 8)
r Activities
(E4)
(Items = 8)
r Actions
(O4)
(Items = 8)
r Compliance
(A4)
(Items = 8)
r Achievement
Striving
(C4)
(Items = 8)
r
n16 45 n17 35 n18 40 n19 34 n20 50
n46 24 n47 29 n48 21 n49 51 n50 54
n76 59 n77 18 n78 33 n79 49 n80 43
n106 45 n107 44 n108 39 n109 34 n110 57
n136 49 n137 46 n138 37 n139 50 n140 53
n166 23 n167 41 n168 34 n169 46 n170 60
n196 50 n197 50 n198 43 n199 50 n200 50
n226 35 n227 46 n228 46 n229 44 n230 53
Impulsive
(N5)
(Items = 8)
r Excitement
Seeking
(E5)
(Items = 8)
r Ideas
(O5)
(Items = 8)
r Modesty
(A5)
(Items = 8)
r Self
Discipline
(C5)
(Items = 8)
r
n21 31 n22 44 n23 38 n24 39 n25 34
n51 51 n52 34 n53 31 n54 44 n55 63
n81 38 n82 41 n83 47 n84 49 n85 51
n111 34 n112 47 n113 48 n114 21 n115 51
n141 38 n142 47 n143 43 n144 46 n145 50
n171 40 n172 44 n173 46 n174 48 n175 56
n201 40 n202 43 n203 44 n204 32 n205 53
n231 45 n232 50 n233 48 n234 50 n235 50
Vulnerability
(N6)
(Items = 8)
r Positive
emotion
(E6)
(Items = 8)
r Values
(O6)
(Items = 8)
r Tender
Minded
(A6)
(Items = 8)
r Deliberation
(C6)
(Items = 8)
r
n26 49 n27 55 n28 44 n29 38 n30 47
n56 38 n57 46 n58 36 n59 44 n60 56
Continuedhellip
129
Vulnerability
(N6)
(Items = 8)
r Positive
emotion
(E6)
(Items = 8)
r Values
(O6)
(Items = 8)
r Tender
Minded
(A6)
(Items = 8)
r Deliberation
(C6)
(Items = 8)
r
rn86 42 n87 47 n88 31 n89 45 n90 42
n116 51 n117 38 n118 30 n119 50 n120 54
n146 50 n147 55 n148 30 n149 37 n150 45
n176 45 n177 54 n178 26 n179 49 n180 37
n206 45 n207 15 n208 36 n209 50 n210 46
n236 39 n237 46 n238 38 n239 47 n240 56
Note n1 to n240 represent each item of Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R)
Neuroticism domain includes subscales N1 N2 N3 N4 N5 N6 Extraversion domain includes subscales
E1E2E3E4E5E6 Openness domain includes subscales O1O2O3O4O5O6 Agreeableness domain includes
subscalesA1A2A3A4A5A6 Conscientiousness domain includes subscales C1C2C3C4C5C6
p lt 001
The item-total correlations of each subscale of NEO PI-R are mentioned in
Table 13 All the items are significantly positively correlated with their respective
subscale Whereas during pretesting stage 11 items were not significantly correlated
with their respective subscale (see Table 2) The results displayed the construct
validity of each subscale of NEO PI-R
Table 14
Inter-correlation between subscales and main scale of Neuroticism (N = 596)
Scales I II III IV V VI VII
I Anxiety (N1) -
II Hostility (N2) 32 -
III Depression (N3) 22 21 -
IV Self Conscious (N4) 27 20 27 -
V Impulsiveness (N5) 15 26 20 11 -
VI Vulnerability (N6) 29 31 17 19 35 -
VII Neuroticism (N) 64 62 57 56 57 65 -
p lt 01 p lt 001
130
In Table 14 the inter-correlation of six subscales of Neuroticism domains of
NEO PI-R are shown The result showed that all the 6 subscales are significantly
correlated with each other The range of magnitude of correlations between subscales
and main domain scale is from a minimum (r = 56 p lt 001) of subscale Self
Conscious (N4) to a maximum (r = 65 p lt 001) of subscale Vulnerability (N6) The
similar findings for correlations between subscale and main scale of neuroticism were
found during pretesting stage (see Table 3) This inter-correlation matrix showed the
construct validity of the six subscales of Neuroticism domains of NEO PI-R
Table 15
Inter-correlation between subscales and main scale of Extraversion (N = 596)
Scales I II III IV V VI VII
I Warmth (E1) -
II Gregariousness (E2) 34 -
III Assertiveness (E3) 14 05 -
IV Activities (E4) 22 05 16 -
V Excitement Seeking(E5) 27 15 08 20 -
VI Positive Emotion (E6) 37 24 01 20 12 -
VII Extraversion (E) 70 59 40 51 56 59 -
p lt 01 p lt 001
Table 15 showed the inter-correlation of six subscales of Extraversion
domains of NEO PI-R The 6 subscales are significantly correlated with each other
and are highly significantly correlated with the main scale of Extraversion domain as
131
were observed in Table 4 The range of magnitude of correlations between subscale
and main domain scale is from a minimum (r = 40 p lt 001) of subscale (E3) to a
maximum (r = 70 p lt 001) of subscale (E1) This inter-correlation matrix showed
the construct validity of the six subscales of Extraversion domains of NEO PI-R
Table 16
Inter-correlation between subscales and main scale of Openness (N = 596)
Scales I II III IV V VI VII
I Fantasy (O1) -
II Aesthetics (O2) 03 -
III Feelings (O3) -07 25 -
IV Actions (O4) 02 02 -03 -
V Ideas (O5) -02 19 27 -01 -
VI Values (O6) 05 -10 -08 05 -04 -
VII Openness (O) 32 62 54 33 57 24 -
p lt 01 p lt 001
The findings in Table 16 showed the inter-correlation of six subscales of
Openness domains of NEO PI-R The result showed that Fantasy (O1) and Actions
(O4) have non-significant correlation with all other subscales Values (O6) is
significantly negatively correlated with Aesthetic (O2) and Feelings (O3) The results
revealed that six subscales are significantly correlated with the main scale of
Openness domain The magnitude of correlations for Fantasy Actions and Values
with main domain of Openness is fairly low as compared to other scales This may
have effect on the overall low internal consistency of the Openness domain (see Table
132
1 5 and 12) This inter-correlation matrix showed the moderate construct validity of
the six subscales of Openness domains of NEO PI-R
Table 17
Inter-correlation between subscales and main scale of Agreeableness (N = 596)
Scales I II III IV V VI VII
I Trust (A1) -
II Straight Forwardness (A2) 12 -
III Altruism (A3) 39 19 -
IV Compliance (A4) 24 15 29 -
V Modesty (A5) -05 20 -09 16 -
VI Tender mindedness (A6) 28 17 30 28 05 -
VII Agreeableness (A) 60 54 62 65 35 60 -
p lt 05 p lt 001
The result mentioned in Table 17 revealed that all the 6 subscales are
significantly correlated with each other However Altruism (A3) is significantly
negatively correlated with Modesty (A5) All the six subscales are significantly
correlated with the main scale of Agreeableness domain The range of magnitude of
correlations is from a minimum (r = 35 p lt 001) of subscale (A5) to a maximum (r
= 65 p lt 001) of subscale (A4) Similar correlations between subscales and main
scales of agreeableness were observed in Table 6 This showed the construct validity
of the six subscales of Agreeableness domains of NEO PI-R
133
Table 18
Inter-correlation between subscales and main scale of Conscientiousness (N=596)
Scales I II III IV V VI VII
I Compliance (C1) -
II Order (C2) 34 -
III Duty (C3) 40 40 -
IV Achievement striving (C4) 44 46 56 -
V Self discipline (C5) 43 41 56 50 -
VI Deliberation (C6) 40 37 47 49 50 -
VII Conscientiousness (C) 68 65 77 79 79 73 -
p lt 001
The results shown in Table 18 revealed that all the 6 subscales are
significantly correlated with each other and also with the main scale of
Conscientiousness domain (also see Table 7) The range of magnitude of correlations
is from a minimum (r = 65 p lt 001) of subscale (C2) to a maximum (r = 79 p lt
001) of subscale (C4 and C5) This inter-correlation matrix showed the construct
validity of the six subscales of Conscientiousness domains of NEO PI-R
Table 19
Inter-correlations between five main domains of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
Scale I II III IV V
I Neuroticism (N) -
II Extraversion (E) -17 -
III Openness (O) -09 34 -
IV Agreeableness (A) -25 14 10 -
V Conscientiousness (C) -49 27 22 55 -
Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory
p lt 05 p lt 001
134
The findings in Table 19 showed that all the 5 main scales are significantly
correlated with each other Neuroticism (N) domain is significantly negatively
correlated with all other domains The inter correlation matrix provided well defined
evidence of construct validity of the five domains of NEO PI-R as compared to inter
correlations matrix during pretesting stage (see Table 8)
ReliabilityValidity of SDS
Following tables showed the alpha reliability coefficients of summary scales
and subscales of Activities Competencies and Occupations of SDS on the basis of
six personality types ie Realistic (R) Investigative (I) Artistic (A) Social (S)
Enterprising (E) and Conventional (C) Item-total correlations of each item with their
respective subscales were also calculated Inter-correlations of subscales and main
summary scales were also computed to establish the validity of SDS
Table 20
Alpha reliability coefficients of subscales of SDS (N = 596)
Scale No of items Alpha coefficients
Activities
Activities (R) 11 54
Activities (I) 11 65
Activities (A) 11 62
Activities (S) 11 53
Activities (E) 11 62
Activities (C) 11 68
Continuedhellip
135
Scale No of items Alpha coefficients
Competencies
Competencies (R)
10
63
Competencies (I) 10 66
Competencies (A) 10 63
Competencies (S) 10 55
Competencies (E) 10 58
Competencies (C)
Occupations
10
65
Occupations (R) 12 76
Occupations (I)
Occupations (A)
Occupations (S)
Occupations (E)
Occupations (C)
Summary
Realistic
Investigative
Artistic
Social
Enterprising
Conventional
12
12
12
12
12
33
33
33
33
33
33
80
77
77
81
81
78
76
80
71
77
80
Note SDS = Self Directed Search
136
The Alpha reliability coefficients of each subscale based on six personality
types of SDS are shown in Table 20 The Alpha coefficient of summary scales ranged
from 71 (Social) to 80 (Artistic and Conventional) This displayed very high
internal consistency of the SDS The alpha coefficient value of Activities subscales
ranged from 53 (Activities S) to 68 (Activities C) Competencies subscales ranged
from 55 (Competencies S) to 66 (Competencies I) and Occupations subscales
ranged from 76 (Occupations R) to 81 (Occupations E and C) This showed that
alpha coefficients of all subscales of SDS are better than the alpha coefficients
determined at pretesting stage of SDS (see Table 9) This revealed construct validity
of subscales of SDS
Table 21
Item-total correlation of each item with respective subscale of SDS (N = 596)
Activities
(R)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(R)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(R)
(Items=12)
r Self-
estimates 1
(Items =6)
r
V1 57 V67 32 V127 37 S1 56
V2 40 V68 57 V128 58 S2 53
V3 31 V69 34 V129 58 S3 40
V4 20 V70 50 V130 59 S4 49
V5 58 V71 56 V131 58 S5 57
V6 52 V72 39 V132 47 S6 60
V7 43 V73 57 V133 55 Self-
estimates 2
(Items = 6)
r
V8 45 V74 56 V134 41 S7 65
V9 45 V75 48 V135 46 S8 62
V10 24 V76 54 V136 54 S9 60
V11 44 V137 53 S10 55
V138 61 S11 52
S12 50
Continuedhellip
137
Activities
(I)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(I)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(I)
(Items=12)
r
V12 55 V77 43 V139 60
V13 45 V78 49 V140 54
V14 41 V79 38 V141 63
V15 52 V80 40 V142 60
v16 35 V81 42 V143 64
V17 30 V82 57 V144 54
V18 65 V83 50 V145 56
v19 62 V84 44 V146 55
V20 62 V85 30 V147 47
V21 44 V86 53 V148 44
V22 12 V149 56
V150 55
Activities
(A)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(A)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(A)
(Items=12)
r
V23 45 V87 51 V151 55
V24 32 V88 50 V152 49
V25 52 V89 42 V153 62
V26 49 V90 50 V154 58
V27 52 V91 54 V155 59
V28 47 V92 48 V156 50
V29 35 V93 49 V157 49
V30 37 V94 41 V158 52
V31 52 V95 43 V159 50
V32 54 V96 52 V160 52
V33 45 V161 54
V162 50
Continuedhellip
138
Activities
(S)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(S)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(S)
(Items=12)
r
V34 44 V97 40 V163 47
V35 35 V98 57 V164 50
V36 42 V99 45 V165 59
V37 45 V100 29 V166 58
V38 44 V101 42 V167 59
V39 50 V102 44 V168 48
V40 30 V103 35 V169 52
V41 37 V104 44 V170 53
V42 46 V105 49 V171 48
V43 49 V106 52 V172 52
V44 44 V173 52
V174 56
Activities
(E)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(E)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(E)
(Items=12)
r
V45 51 V107 49 V175 59
V46 42 V108 50 V176 55
V47 44 V109 45 V177 62
V48 43 V110 40 V178 53
V49 44 V111 45 V179 48
V50 45 V112 43 V180 62
V51 49 V113 43 V181 53
V52 35 V114 48 V182 58
V53 42 V115 47 V183 58
V54 58 V116 46 V184 62
V55 49 V185 54
V186 52
Continuedhellip
139
Activities
(C)
(Items=11)
r Competencies
(C)
(Items=10)
r Occupations
(C)
(Items=12)
r
V56 36 V117 55 V187 59
V57 58 V118 50 V188 61
V58 37 V119 43 V189 64
V59 57 V120 53 V190 61
V60 34 V121 49 V191 60
V61 51 V122 33 V192 55
V62 52 V123 39 V193 47
V63 50 V124 59 V194 57
V64 55 V125 49 V195 57
V65 45 V126 59 V196 44
V66 55 V197 56
V198 61
Note V1 to V198 and S1 to S12 represent each item of Self Directed Search (SDS)
p lt 01 p lt 001
The results shown in Table 21 are related to the item-total correlations of
subscales (Activities Competencies Occupations and Self-estimates) based on six
personality types (Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising and
Conventional) of SDS The results showed that all the items significantly correlated
with the total of their respective subscale whereas 6 items were non-significantly
correlated with their subscales during pretesting stage (see Table 10) The results
displayed the construct validity of each subscale of SDS
140
Table 22
Inter-correlations of SDS Scales (N = 596) Activities Competencies Occupations Self Rating 1 Self Rating 2 Summary
Ra Ia Aa Sa Ea Ca Rc Ic Ac Sc Ec Cc Ro Io Ao So Eo Co R1 I1 A1 S1 E1 C1 R2 I2 A2 S2 E2 C2 Rs Is As Ss Es Cs
Ra -
Ia 26 -
Aa 38 26 -
Sa 19 35 29 -
Ea 39 33 53 37 -
Ca 39 40 48 37 66 -
Rc 57 28 28 19 32 33 -
Ic 26 54 27 22 38 38 38 -
Ac 30 24 63 30 43 36 40 39 -
Sc 22 30 35 31 40 32 29 40 47 -
Ec 38 31 41 35 54 46 44 41 50 53 -
Cc 35 34 36 29 46 53 43 50 46 39 58 -
Ro 54 23 32 15 35 36 53 31 37 29 41 42 -
Io 38 38 35 19 36 41 35 51 39 32 40 45 61 -
Ao 33 24 55 25 42 39 26 27 56 37 40 39 55 61 -
So 31 32 32 32 42 43 28 41 37 35 43 48 48 67 57 -
Eo 38 22 39 25 49 50 36 28 38 28 48 45 57 57 62 64 -
Co 36 26 34 29 45 52 34 31 37 24 44 53 53 55 53 62 75 -
R1 21 13 11 10 16 09 22 10 12 12 21 16 23 18 15 20 20 25 -
I1 22 03 10 08 26 18 23 08 06 11 27 12 20 08 11 09 27 24 26 -
A1 -04 17 08 19 09 09 -07 17 12 15 07 09 00 15 11 22 04 11 09 -02 -
S1 03 03 38 11 19 15 02 09 33 24 20 18 07 13 32 15 18 14 09 13 04 -
E1 12 34 10 09 11 18 16 41 19 12 17 18 14 36 17 25 12 20 13 02 28 13 -
C1 27 11 05 07 17 12 28 17 11 11 20 15 27 23 12 17 22 23 26 26 01 07 29 -
R2 15 19 22 18 26 25 13 23 21 15 28 31 23 27 23 31 30 29 31 14 16 21 25 17 -
I2 18 15 21 13 21 21 22 19 19 21 29 28 20 18 19 22 22 29 25 25 15 18 24 23 40 -
A2 05 13 19 15 18 11 08 22 27 29 24 18 09 23 24 22 14 17 08 13 25 17 17 12 24 29 -
S2 -01 01 32 03 14 08 -01 07 31 20 16 11 04 12 30 13 13 11 11 13 07 69 13 11 20 16 19 -
E2 12 26 05 10 12 17 12 36 18 19 19 19 08 21 07 17 05 13 12 06 21 08 33 17 21 12 18 11 -
C2 12 19 08 14 14 14 16 15 14 13 17 12 15 17 16 16 09 17 06 19 21 03 23 18 17 18 24 06 23 -
Rs 75 33 40 23 44 43 75 39 43 33 52 50 81 56 48 48 56 54 53 30 03 11 23 37 49 35 15 09 19 20 -
Is 43 68 39 31 49 51 47 76 43 43 54 55 53 78 50 59 53 55 28 40 20 17 44 31 38 49 31 15 32 27 63 -
As 34 31 77 36 51 46 31 39 80 49 50 46 45 55 82 54 52 49 17 12 38 39 26 12 31 29 51 37 18 23 48 56 -
Ss 24 32 52 51 48 43 25 39 56 62 52 47 35 50 60 69 51 48 20 17 22 68 25 17 35 29 32 64 21 16 41 54 69 -
Es 46 44 49 37 73 64 45 54 53 47 75 60 53 62 58 64 77 68 26 29 18 24 47 32 41 33 27 21 44 25 63 73 64 63 -
Cs 47 40 43 37 60 74 48 46 45 37 58 73 56 59 52 61 68 83 26 30 15 18 31 47 37 36 24 14 26 41 64 69 56 55 79 -
Note SDS = Self Directed Search Please read Ra as Realistic Activities Ia as Investigative Activities Aa as Artistic Activities Sa as Social Activities Ea as Enterprising Activities Ca
as Conventional Activities Rc as Realistic Competencies Ic as Investigative Competencies Ac as Artistic Competencies Sc as Social Competencies Ec as Enterprising Competencies
Cc as Conventional Competencies Ro as Realistic Occupations Io as Investigative Occupations Ao as Artistic Occupations So as Social Occupations Eo as Enterprising Occupations
Co as Conventional Occupations R1and R2 as Realistic self estimateI1 and I2 as Investigative self estimate A1 and A2 as Artistic self estimate S1 and S2 as Social self estimate E1
and E2 as Enterprising self estimate C1 and C2 as Conventional self estimate Rs as Realistic Summary Is as Investigative Summary As as Artistic Summary Ss as Social Summary Es
as Enterprising Summary Cs as Conventional Summary r ge 08 is significant at 05 to 001 level
141
Table 22 showed the inter correlations matrix of all the scales of Activities
Competencies Occupation Self-estimates and Summary scales of SDS All the 6
subscales of Activities are significantly correlated with each other and have moderate
internal consistency The range of magnitude of inter-correlations is from a minimum
(r = 19 p lt 001) to a maximum (r = 66 p lt 001) The range of magnitude of inter-
correlations for Competencies subscales is from a minimum (r = 29 p lt 001) to a
maximum (r = 58 p lt 001) The results also displayed the inter-correlation of six
subscales of Occupations and range of magnitude is from a minimum (r = 48 p lt
001) to a maximum (r = 75 p lt 001) which provided evidence of construct validity
of SDS subscales
The inter-correlations of six main summary scales of SDS showed that all the
6 summary scales ie Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising and
Conventional are significantly correlated with each other and have moderate internal
consistency The range of magnitude of inter-correlations is from a minimum (r = 41
p lt 001) to a maximum (r = 79 p lt 001) This inter-correlation matrix
demonstrated the construct validity of all the subscales of SDS
The inter correlation matrix was plotted to find out the correlational pattern
among the scales of the SDS The relationships among the major categories can be
ordered according to a hexagon in which distances between occupational classes are
inversely proportional to the size of the correlations between them The spatial
arrangement facilitates the interpretation of the degrees of similarity and difference
among the categories
142
Hexagonal Representation of Inter-correlations of SDS Scales
Figure 7 Hexagonal Representation of Inter-correlations of SDS Scales (N = 596)
Note SDS = Self Directed Search read R as Realistic I as Investigative A as Artistic S as Social E as
Enterprising and C as Conventional
Figure 7 presented the representation of averages of all the inter-correlations
between the subscales and summary scales of SDS Any relationship between two
types is the average of 36 correlations in 6 x 6 matrixes Data from Table 22 are
arranged in this hexagon for each of the 6x6 matrices (activities competencies
occupations self-estimates and summary scores) The evidence for the hexagonal
arrangement of vocational interests is substantial According to a hexagon the
distances between the occupational classes depend on the size of correlations Closer
the distances between occupational classes better the size of correlation The results
showed that the relationship between RI is better than RA and similarly the
relationship between RA is better than RS Similarly in almost all the cases the
relationships between occupational classes are determined according to Hollandlsquos
33 24
26
33
29
37
32
33
34
A
S E
C
24
25
30
27
20
32
25
I R 30
143
assumptions However the relationship between IE which are placed opposite on the
hexagon have stronger relationship of (r = 34) which is even better than the IS and IC
which are adjacent types In Figure 7 the magnitude of average correlations ranged
from (20 to 37) However arrangements of occupational classes on the hexagon are
supportive of Holland assumption The hexagonal representation of inter-correlations
computed by Naheed (1988) on high school students (Figure 8) showed almost the
same pattern This displayed the validity of Holland model on high school students
Hexagonal Representation of Inter-correlations of SDS Scales (Naheed 1988)
Figure 8 Hexagonal Representation of Inter-correlations of SDS Scales (N = 114)
Note SDS = Self Directed Search read R as Realistic I as Investigative A as Artistic S as Social E as
Enterprising and C as Conventional
Source Naheed (1988)
33 24
23
33
35
40
32
27
39
A
S E
C
27
29
23
33
23
33
27
I R 26
144
Relationship between Personality and Vocational Interests
The results in this section demonstrated the relationship of five main domains
of personality and six personality types of vocational interests according to the main
objective of the study The 30 facets of five domains of personality are also correlated
with the six personality types The mean differences with respect to demographic
variables (gender sciencearts group urbanrural 9th
10th
classes and parentslsquo
education) on personality and vocational interests were also computed The results are
shown below
Table 23
Inter-correlations between 5 main scales including 30 facet scales of NEO PI-R and 6
summary scales of SDS (N = 596)
Scaletypes Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
Neuroticism (N) -12 -06 -03 01 -10 -11
Anxiety (N1) -10 -05 02 -02 -10 -06
Hostility (N2) -07 02 07 08 01 -02
Depression (N3) -05 -02 -05 01 -01 01
Self Conscious (N4) 04 03 03 05 01 -02
Impulsiveness (N5) -07 -03 -05 -01 -05 -09
Vulnerability (N6) -18 -15 -10 -06 -20 -22
Extraversion (E) 08 16 27 25 22 13
Warmth (E1) 02 15 21 23 18 12
Gregariousness (E2) -01 01 02 04 05 -02
Assertiveness (E3) 08 07 19 15 12 07
Activities (E4) 08 13 17 13 14 08
Excitement (E5) 08 07 19 20 13 09
Positive Emotion (E6) 03 13 18 13 14 11
Continuedhellip
145
Scaletypes Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
Openness (O) 09 13 24 22 15 10
Fantasy (O1) -07 -11 -11 -07 -11 -11
Aesthetics (O2) 06 12 25 23 10 07
Feelings (O3) 01 12 17 16 14 07
Actions (O4) 01 -02 06 01 -04 -02
Ideas (O5) 20 21 20 18 25 22
Values (O6) -03 -07 -03 -03 -01 -04
Agreeableness (A) 05 12 10 04 14 15
Trust (A1) 11 14 13 12 19 18
Straight Forwardness (A2) 01 08 06 -01 04 05
Altruism (A3) 02 10 06 05 11 10
Compliance (A4) 03 01 04 -01 04 07
Modesty (A5) -04 -06 -15 -18 -11 -06
Tender mindedness (A6) 05 15 20 14 20 15
Conscientiousness (C) 18 21 14 13 25 27
Compliance (C1) 21 22 15 17 21 26
Order (C2) 08 06 -01 01 05 10
Duty (C3) 07 16 12 08 18 16
Achievement striving (C4) 14 25 15 12 29 27
Self discipline (C5) 15 10 08 08 16 18
Deliberation (C6) 12 13 12 13 17 21
Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory SDS = Self Directed Search
p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001
The results shown in Table 23 are related to the correlations between five
main domains including 30 facets of NEO PI-R and six personality types of SDS The
results showed substantial relationship exists between personality and vocational
interests both at higher and lower order facet scales The Neuroticism domain is
significantly negatively correlated with Realistic Enterprising and Conventional
146
personality types The six subscales of Neuroticism domain generally have non-
significant correlation with all six personality types except Vulnerability subscale
which is significantly negatively correlated with five personality types Extraversion
domain is significantly positively correlated with all six personality types except
Realistic type Extraversion have the magnitude of relationships with Enterprising
type is (r = 22 p lt 001) with Social type is (r = 25 p lt 001) and (r = 27 p lt
001) The facets scales of Extraversion domain generally significantly correlated with
all the six personality types except Gregariousness which is non-significantly
correlated with any of the six personality types The findings supported the hypothesis
no1 of the study which stated that Extraversion is correlated to Social and
Enterprising types
Openness domain is significantly positively correlated with all the six
personality types The magnitude of relationship is (r = 09 p lt 05) with Realistic
types (r = 22 p lt 001) with Social type (r = 24 p lt 001) with Artistic type and (r
= 13 p lt 01) with Investigative type All the subscale of Openness domain generally
significantly correlated with all the six personality types except facet scale Fantasy
which is negatively significantly correlated with four personality types Facet scales
Values and Actions have non-significant correlation with all the six types The facet
scales of Fantasy Actions and Values also have non-significant correlation with
other facet scales of Openness domain (see Table 16) Overall the findings supported
the hypothesis no 2 that openness to experience will be positively correlated with
Artistic and Investigative types
Agreeableness domain is significantly positively correlated with Investigative
(r = 12 p lt 01) Artistic (r = 10 p lt 05) Enterprising (r = 14 p lt 001) and
147
Conventional types (r = 15 p lt 001) This domain is non-significantly correlated
with Social and Realistic types The subscale Trust of Agreeableness domain
significantly correlated with all the six types while facet scale Modesty is negatively
correlated with all six types The findings did not support the hypothesis no 3 which
stated that agreeableness will be positively related to social personality types
However Trust and Tender-mindedness facet scales are positively significantly related
to Social interests
Conscientiousness domain is significantly positively correlated with all six
personality types The magnitude of relationship range from (r = 13 p lt 001) with
Social type and (r = 25 p lt 001) with Enterprising type and (r = 27 p lt 001) with
Conventional type All the six facets scale of Conscientiousness domain generally
significantly correlated with all the six personality types except facet scale Order
which is non-significantly correlated with five personality types The findings that
Conscientiousness is positively correlated to Conventional interests supported the
hypothesis no 4 Overall it is obvious from the results that considerable relationship
existed between Five Factor Model and Hollandlsquos typology
In Table 24 multiple regression analysis was conducted to find out specific
contribution of various variables on six personality types (realistic investigative
artistic social enterprising and conventional) The predictor variables included
gender 9th
10 classes urbanrural scienceArts group parents education neuroticism
extraversion openness agreeableness and conscientiousness Variables were entered
simultaneously in the block Six RIASEC types were entered one by one as criterion
variable
148
Table 24
Summary of Multiple Regression Analysis for Demographic and Five Domains of
Personality on the six Personality Types
Dependent Variables
Independent
Variables
b SE β t
REALISTIC INTERESTS
R = 370 R
2 = 137
Adj R2
= 124
Constant 4291 7993
9th
10th
class -1825 622 -116 -2936
Gender
UrbanRural
-3271
1765
653
653
-228
108
-5445
2703
Conscientiousness 073 022 179 3374
INVESTIGATIVE INTERESTS
R = 401 R
2 = 161
Adj R2
= 148
Constant 8384 7666
9th
10th
class -1405 596 -092 -2356
SceinceArts
Conscientiousness
-4459
079
599
021
-297
199
-7442
3814
ARTISTIC INTERESTS
R = 460 R
2 = 212
Adj R2
= 199
Constant -21365 7708
9th
10th
class -2054 600 -130 -3423
Gender
Openness
4566
128
632
031
290
166
7230
4136
Extraversion 108 023 194 4757
Continuedhellip
149
Dependent Variables
Independent
Variables
b SE β t
SOCIAL INTERESTS
R = 391 R
2 = 153
Adj R2
= 139
Constant -10357 7133
9th
10th
class -1860 556 -132 -3347
Conscientiousness
Openness
053
101
019
029
144
147
2754
3541
Extraversion 042 021 089 1986
ENTERPRISING INTERESTS
R = 381 R
2 = 145
Adj R2
= 132
Constant -3502 7643
9th
10th
class -1817 595 -121 -3052
ScienceArts
Conscientiousness
-2294
085
598
021
-154
216
3836
4104
Extraversion 079 022 150 3532
CONVENTIONAL INTERESTS
R = 345 R
2 = 119
Adj R2
= 105
Constant -1025 8543
9th
10th
class -1800 627 -115 -2873
Gender
Conscientiousness
-1677
108
660
022
-108
264
-2541
4921 p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001
150
The results showed that Urbanrural (β = 108 p lt 01) and Conscientious (β
= 179 p lt 001) have some impact on Realistic interests Conscientious (β = 199 p
lt 001) have some impact on Investigative interest Gender (β = 290 p lt 001)
Openness (β = 166 p lt 001) and Extraversion (β = 194 p lt 001) have an impact
on Artistic interests Conscientiousness (β = 144 p lt 001) Openness (β = 147 p lt
001) and Extraversion (β = 191 p lt 001) have some impact on Social interests
Conscientiousness (β = 216 p lt 001) and Extraversion (β = 150 p lt 001) have
some impact on Enterprising interests Conscientiousness (β = 264 p lt 001) have
an impact on Conventional interests Gender contributed considerably to predict
Artistic interests Extraversion contributed substantially to predict the Enterprising
and Social interests Openness contributed significantly in predicting the Artistic
interests Conscientiousness contributed substantially in predicting the Conventional
interests Hence the results demonstrated support to the hypotheses no 1 2 and 4
Table 25
Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of male and female students on five
main domain scales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
Scales Gender Total No
of cases
M SD t
Neuroticism Male 319 13714 1477
178 Female 277 13931 1498
Extraversion Male 319 14954 1211
240 Female 277 15226 1555
Openness Male 319 13537 955
186 Female 277 13685 988
Agreeableness Male 319 16169 1444
484 Female 277 16736 1403
Conscientiousness Male 319 16958 1963
104 Female 277 17121 1777
Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory
p lt 05 p lt 001 df = 594
151
Table 25 showed the mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of male
and female students on the five domains of NEO PI-R There are significant mean
differences between male and female scores on Extraversion and Agreeableness
domains Although there are non-significant mean differences between male and
female students on Neuroticism Openness and Conscientiousness domains yet the
female students mean scores are higher than male studentslsquo scores on all the five main
domain scales These findings supported the hypothesis no 5 of the study
Table 26
Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of Science and Arts group students on
five main domain scales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
Scale Group Total No
of cases
M SD t
Neuroticism Science 303 13949 1584
224 Arts 293 13677 1376
Extraversion Science 303 15155 1420
135 Arts 293 15001 1352
Openness Science 303 13655 977
120 Arts 293 13560 962
Agreeableness Science 303 16559 1420
218 Arts 293 16300 1478
Conscientiousness Science 303 17112 2009
103 Arts 293 16952 1736
Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory
p lt 05 df = 594
The finding in Table 26 displayed that there are significant mean differences
between scores of Science and Arts students on Neuroticism and Agreeableness
domains The science students mean scores are higher than Arts students score
152
Overall there are non-significant mean differences between science and Arts students
on Extraversion Openness and Conscientiousness domains This showed that science
or arts students have non-significant differences with respect to personality profiles
Table 27
Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of Urban and Rural group students
on five main domains of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
Scale Group Total No
of cases
M SD t
Neuroticism Urban 382 13827 1453
27 Rural 214 13793 1556
Extraversion Urban 382 15221 1385
335 Rural 214 14828 1357
Openness Urban 382 13622 977
55 Rural 214 13576 962
Agreeableness Urban 382 16478 1439
102 Rural 214 16351 1476
Conscientiousness Urban 382 17087 1878
92 Rural 214 16939 1879
Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory
p lt 001 df = 594
The results mentioned in Table 27 showed the mean standard deviation and t-
value of scores of students belonging to Urban and Rural areas on five main domains
of NEO PI-R There are significant mean differences between scores of students of
urban and rural areas on Extraversion domain The mean scores of urban students are
higher than rural students This showed that students from urban areas are high on
Extraversion domains due to better exposure as compared to rural areas students
153
Overall there are non-significant mean differences between scores of students
belonging to urban and rural areas on other domains of NEO PI-R
Table 28
Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of 9th and 10th class students on five
main domains of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
Scale Class Total No
of cases
M SD t
Neuroticism 9
th 328 13824 1453
498 10
th 268 13804 1556
Extraversion 9
th 328 15022 1385
129 10
th 268 15151 1357
Openness 9
th 328 13570 977
14 10
th 268 13649 962
Agreeableness 9
th 328 16215 1439
63 10
th 268 16698 1476
Conscientiousness 9
th 328 16831 1878
96 10
th 268 17281 1879
Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory
p lt 05 df = 594
The results mentioned in Table 28 showed that there are non-significant mean
differences between the scores of 9th
and 10th
class students on main domains of NEO
PI-R except on Neuroticism domain
154
Table 29
Mean and standard deviation between three groups of students based on parents
education on the scores of five domain scales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
Domains
of personality
Father
mother
educated
(N = 150)
Father
educated
(N = 214)
Father
mother
uneducated
(N = 232)
M SD M SD M SD
Neuroticism 13922 1512 13805 1585 13754 1382
Extraversion 15391 1526 14979 1405 14971 1244
Openness 13689 919 13571 1035 13582 945
Agreeableness 16643 1378 16451 1544 16278 1397
Conscientiousness 17072 1909 17048 1860 16994 1882
Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory Father mother educated
group (both the parents have at least matriculation education) father educated group (only fathers have at least
matriculation education) father and mother uneducated group (none of the parents have matriculation)
Table 29 indicated the mean and standard deviation of three groups of students
based on parent education on the five domains of NEO PI-R The group of students
having the father mother educated has the highest mean scores on all the five main
domains of personality
155
Table 30
One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) between three groups of students based on
parents education on the scores of five domains of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
Domains Sum of
squares
df Mean
square
F
Neuroticism Between group 25805 2 12902
58
Within group 13178765 593 22223
Total 13204571 595
Extraversion Between group 194335 2 97167
512
Within group 11254588 593 18979
Total 11448924 595
Openness Between group 14148 2 7074
74
Within group 5611657 593 9463
Total 5625806 595
Agreeableness Between group 122115 2 61057
291
Within group 12427334 593 20956
Total 12549450 595
Conscientiousness Between group 6336 2 3168
08
Within group 20995752 593 35406
Total 21002088 595 Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory
p lt 01
Table 30 showed one way analysis of variance between 3 groups of students
based on parentslsquo education The results showed that there are non-significant mean
differences between the 3 groups of students based on parentslsquo education except
Extraversion domain of NEO PI-R The results showed that group of students whose
parents are educated have highest mean (M = 153 91 SD = 1526) and F (2 593) =
512 p lt 01) Overall findings revealed that parents education have non-significant
effects on the personality patterns of students
156
Table 31
Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of Lower age (14 to 16 yrs) and
Upper age (17 to 19 yrs) groups on main scales of NEO PI-R (N = 596)
Scale Group Total No
of cases
M SD t
Neuroticism Lower age 460 13816 1483
75 Upper age 136 13811 1517
Extraversion Lower age 460 15101 1406
01 Upper age 136 15007 1325
Openness Lower age 460 13611 979
01 Upper age 136 13587 953
Agreeableness Lower age 460 16481 1457
03 Upper age 136 16267 1430
Conscientiousness Lower age 460 17065 1850
166 Upper age 136 16928 1977
Note NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory
In Table 31 the result showed mean differences of two age groups on NEO PI-
R The sample was divided into two groups students of lower age group consisted of
ages (14 to 16 years) while students of upper age group consisted of ages (17 years to
19 years) There are non-significant mean differences between the two groups This
showed that age differences have no significant effects on the scores of NEO PI-R
Gender differences on scores of SDS
The mean differences on the scores of male and female students were
computed on main summary scales of SDS The results are shown below
157
Table 32
Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of Male and Female students on main
summary scales of SDS (N = 596)
Personality
Types
Gender Total No
of cases
M SD t
Realistic Male 319 2572 740
648 Female 277 2170 773
Investigative Male 319 2864 756
02 Female 277 2866 754
Artistic Male 319 2615 752
809 Female 277 3110 735
Social Male 319 2832 724
486 Female 277 3106 644
Enterprising Male 319 2863 749
46 Female 277 2835 754
Conventional Male 319 3139 756
208 Female 277 3007 794
Note SDS = Self Directed Search
p lt 05 p lt 001 df = 594
The results mentioned in Table 32 showed the mean standard deviation and t-
value of scores of male and female students on the six personality types of SDS
There are significant mean differences between the scores of male and female
students on Realistic Artistic Social and Conventional personality types Mean
scores of male is higher than scores of females on Realistic personality type This
showed that males have a preference for Realistic jobs as compared to females and
thus hypothesis no 6 is supported
There are significant mean differences on the scores of students on artistic and
social personality types The mean scores of female students are higher than scores of
male students This proved that females have a preference for Artistic and Social jobs
158
as compared to male students These findings supported the hypothesis no 7 of the
study Mean scores of males are higher than scores of females on Conventional
personality type This showed that male students have preference for Conventional
type jobs as compared to females
Table 33
Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of Science and Arts group students on
main summary scales of SDS (N = 596)
Personality
Types
Gender Total No
of cases
M SD t
Realistic Science 303 2454 789
220 Arts 293 2313 769
Investigative Science 303 3091 690
784 Arts 293 2629 749
Artistic Science 303 2799 826
140 Arts 293 2891 736
Social Science 303 2959 719
06 Arts 293 2955 681
Enterprising Science 303 2978 743
431 Arts 293 2716 737
Conventional Science 303 3137 784
192 Arts 293 3015 765
Note SDS = Self Directed Search
p lt 05 p lt 001 df = 594
The findings in Table 33 showed that there are significant mean differences
between Science and Arts students on Realistic Investigative and Enterprising
personality types The scores of science students are slightly better than arts students
159
on Realistic Investigative and Enterprising types This revealed that science students
have preference for Realistic Investigative and Enterprising personality types
Table 34
Mean Standard deviation and t-value of scores of Urban and Rural group students
on main summary scales of SDS (N = 596)
Personality
Types
Group Total No
of cases
M SD t
Realistic Urban 382 2303 811
348 Rural 214 2533 702
Investigative Urban 382 2897 766
140 Rural 214 2807 732
Artistic Urban 382 2892 779
195 Rural 214 2762 787
Social Urban 382 3001 717
195 Rural 214 2885 668
Enterprising Urban 382 2884 770
148 Rural 214 2789 712
Conventional Urban 382 3101 793
97 Rural 214 3036 747
Note SDS = Self Directed Search
p lt 001 df = 594
The results in Table 34 showed that there are non-significant mean differences
between students of urban and rural areas on personality types of SDS except
Realistic type The mean scores of rural students are slightly higher than urban area
students on Realistic personality types This showed that students from rural areas
prefer more Realistic jobs
160
Table 35
Mean standard deviation and t-value of scores of 9th and 10th class students on
main summary scales of SDS (N = 596)
Personality
Types
Group Total No
of cases
M SD t
Realistic 9
th 328 2468 734
198 10
th 268 2284 825
Investigative 9
th 328 2889 713
557 10
th 268 2835 803
Artistic 9
th 328 2892 788
03 10
th 268 2788 775
Social 9
th 328 3015 705
03 10
th 268 2891 692
Enterprising 9
th 328 2900 729
116 10
th 268 2788 773
Conventional 9
th 328 3137 758
124 10
th 268 3004 794
Note SDS = Self Directed Search
p lt 05
The results mentioned in Table 35 showed that there are non-significant mean
differences between students of 9th
class and 10th
class on personality types of SDS
except on Investigative type The mean scores of 9th
class students are slightly higher
than 10th
class students on Investigative personality types
161
Table 36
Mean and standard deviation between three groups of students based on parents
education on the scores of six personality types of SDS (N = 596)
Personality
Types
Father
mother
educated
(N = 150)
Father
educated
(N = 214)
Father
mother
uneducated
(N = 232)
M SD M SD M SD
Realistic 2236 827 2403 749 2465 768
Investigative 2905 731 2921 723 2787 792
Artistic 2988 829 2873 762 2726 757
Social 3027 704 2985 685 2891 710
Enterprising 2886 740 2899 751 2781 754
Conventional 3096 724 3111 793 3034 794
Note SDS = Self Directed Search Father mother educated group (both the parents have at least matriculation
education) father educated group (only fathers have at least matriculation education) father and mother
uneducated group (none of the parents have matriculation)
Table 36 indicated the mean and standard deviation of three groups of students
based on parentslsquo education on the five domains of NEO PI-R The group having the
father mother uneducated have the highest mean scores on Realistic (M = 2465 SD =
768) The group having the father educated have the highest mean scores on
Investigative (M = 2921 SD = 723) Enterprising (M = 2899 SD = 751) and
Conventional types (M = 3111 SD = 793) The group having the father mother
educated have the highest mean scores on Artistic (M = 2988 SD = 829) and Social
(M = 3027 SD = 704)
162
Table 37
One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) between three groups of students based on
parents education on the scores of six personality types of SDS (N = 596)
Personality
Types
Sum of
squares
df Mean square F
Realistic
Between group
48932
2
24466
405
Within group 3581898 593 6040
Total 3630830 595
Investigative
Between group
23247
2
11623
204
Within group 3364123 593 5673
Total 3387371 595
Artistic
Between group
65136
2
32568
538
Within group 3588032 593 6050
Total 3653168 595
Social
Between group
19116
2
9558
194
Within group 2908057 593 4904
Total 2927173 595
Enterprising
Between group
18301
2
9150
162
Within group 3333998 593 5622
Total 3352299 595
Conventional
Between group
7363
2
3681
61
Within group 3579824 593 6036
Total 3587187 595 Note SDS = Self Directed Search
p lt 05 p lt 01
Table 37 showed the analysis of variance between 3 groups based on parentslsquo
education of students and their effects on the six personality types The results showed
that there are significant mean differences between the 3 groups of students based on
parentslsquo education on the scores of Realistic and Artistic personality types The group
having father mother uneducated have higher mean on Realistic type as compared to
other groups The group having father mother educated have the highest mean on
163
Artistic type as compared to other groups There are non-significant mean differences
between three groups on other personality types
Discussion
Two most widely used models to measure personality and vocational interests
from dispositional domain are Five factor model and Hollandlsquos typology respectively
Costa and McCrae (1992a) designed the NEO PI-R based on Five factor model
Numerous reliability and validity studies were conducted over the years in different
countries as well as in Pakistan (Anis-ul-Haque 2003 Chishti 2002 Safdar 2002
Shaheen 2007 Taj 2003) Hence it is expected that NEO PI-R has cross cultural
efficacy and can be confidently administered on Pakistani population
Holland has proposed a comprehensive model of vocational interests based on
dispositional domains Holland has developed a comprehensive measure of vocational
interests ie Self Directed Search (SDS) SDS was translated comprehensively by
(Naheed 1988) in Pakistan and during the adaptation process few items were
changed and modified and thus the measure is left with 210 items Numerous
reliability and validity studies were conducted over the years in different countries as
well as in Pakistan (Khan et al 1990 Naheed 1988 Siddiqa 1999) Hence it is
expected that SDS has cross cultural efficacy and can be administered on Pakistani
students
The main study was conducted to determine the relationship between
personality and vocational interests The mean differences of different demographic
variables (gender ScienceArts groups urbanrural 9th
10th
classes and parentslsquo
education) on the personality and vocational interests were also explored Despite
164
researcher best efforts random sampling could not be employed properly for the
selection of schools in the study Initially it was decided that 10 schools (5 each from
urban and rural areas) would be selected randomly However finally 7 school (both
from rural and urban areas) with ample students from science and arts groups could be
located by the researcher In each school 100 students (50 science students and 50
Arts students) were randomly selected in the study Thus total of 700 students were
administered the tests After scrutinizing the data and doing away with the absentees
the final data was left with 596 students
The results of the study showed the reliabilityvalidity of NEO PI-R and SDS
Alpha reliability coefficients (see Table 12) of main domains scores and subscales of
NEO PI-R showed the internal consistency of the instrument The range of Alpha
coefficients vary from 36 (Openness) to 84 (Conscientiousness) Openness domain
has low Alpha reliability coefficient of (36) This reflected that this domain has low
internal consistency This may be due to the cultural effect The subscale of Openness
domain consisted of facet scales including Fantasy Aesthetics Feelings Actions
Ideas and Values This low internal consistency of Openness scale was also observed
in other cultures as Laidra et al (2007) showed low internal consistency of Openness
domain (42) in Estonian school students
In a context where Islam being the most widely accepted and practiced
religion the scales Values Fantasy and Actions need to be deliberated thoroughly for
their relevance in Pakistani culture (see conceptual definitions Openness facets scales
in chap III pages 89 to 90) The applicability of Openness Domain in Pakistani
students also needs to be further explored Openness is related to experience novel
things and is generally described by characteristics like imaginative curious and
165
aesthetically sensitive (Costa amp McCrae 1992a) It required education which is based
on the principle of openness and broadness coupled with economic prosperity Some
of the statement in Openness scales are of abstract nature and Pakistani understand
behavior example more easily than the abstract (see for example Mirza 1975)
Moreover in Pakistani culture which is a collectivistic culture (Hofstede
2001) a person who fantasizes and build castle in air is not encouraged or socially
approved Whereas in western culture the word fantasy have different connotations as
compared to Pakistani context Similarly facet scales Ideas and Values of openness
domains have different connotation in Pakistan as compared to western culture In
Pakistan people follow the norms of the society and tribes hence itlsquos difficult for
them to challenge these norms In certain part of the country people feel pride to stick
to their traditions and values These cultural differences have effects on the results of
facets scales of Openness domain
Low internal consistency of Openness domain also indicated that high school
student may not be able to provide reliable information about their personality traits
John Caspi Robins Moffitt and Loeber (1994) mentioned coefficient alpha
reliabilities of four scales exceeded α = 7 except α = 53 for Openness scale The
finding that alpha was lowest for the Openness scale is consistent with the adult Big
Five literature showing that the Openness factor is the least homogeneous of the Big
Five domains (eg Goldberg 1990 Norman 1963) Parker and Stumpf (1998) stated
that Openness showed the smallest degree of convergence across the self report a
finding that confirms earlier observations on the model in general (Ostendorf 1990)
Given its relatively low reliability the usefulness of the Openness scale may be
established through demonstration of more validity studies
166
The inter correlation matrix between subscales and Openness domain (see
Table 16) showed that subscales Fantasy Actions are non-significantly correlated
with other subscales Subscale Values significantly negatively correlated with
Aesthetic and Feelings This showed that Fantasy Actions and Values of Openness
domain have not only low internal consistency but also affected the construct validity
of the Openness domain The results needed to be interpreted with caution for
Openness domain
Safdar (2002) used Urdu version of NEO PI-R on university students and
reported Alpha value of 59 for Openness domain and 41 for Agreeableness domain
Taj (2003) reported alpha coefficient of 37 for Agreeableness for a sample of
working and non working women Chishti (2002) reported low alpha coefficient of
Fantasy (51) Feelings (30) Actions (20) and Values (20) facets scales of
Openness domain on Urdu version of NEO PI-R
The Alpha reliability coefficients (see Table 20) of the subscales (Activities
Competencies Occupations and Self-ratings) of SDS showed high internal
consistency of the instrument The alpha coefficient of summary scales range from (α
= 71) for Social to (α = 80) for Artistic and Conventional All subscales of SDS have
high reliability coefficients Intercorrelations between the Activities Competencies
Occupations Self-ratings and Summary scales (see Table 22) showed the construct
validity of the SDS These correlations were plotted in the hexagon (see Figure 7) for
the three levels adjacent types alternate types and opposite types The relationship
between adjacent types was better than alternate types and similarly the relationship
between alternate types was better than opposite type The results proved the
relevance of Holland model on high school students
167
Relationship of personality and vocational interests
The main objective of the final study was to determine the relationship
between personality and vocational interests of the high school students To achieve
this objective few hypotheses on the relationship between personality and vocational
interest were formulated Inter-correlation (see Table 23) between the 5 main domains
of personality including its 30 facet scales and the six personality types were
calculated The results showed that substantial relationship existed between the two
models Extraversion domain is significantly positively correlated with all six
personality types except Realistic type The magnitude of relationship range from (r =
22 p lt 001) with Enterprising type and (r = 25 p lt 001) with Social type
The hypothesis No 1 was ―Extroversion will be positively correlated with the
Social and Enterprising types The results showed that Extraversion is positively
correlated with Social and Enterprising types This means that Extraversion domain
overlapped with the Enterprising interests and Social interests These findings are
supported in the literature (Costa et al 1984 De Fruyt amp Mervielde 1997 Holland et
al 1994 Tokar amp Swanson 1995 Tokar et al 1995) Previous studies also
supported the positive correlation of Extraversion with social interests (Carless 1999
Costa Fozard amp McCrae 1977 Costa et al 1984 Peraino amp Willerman 1983) and
with Enterprising interests (Carless 1999 Costa et al 1984 Peraino amp Willerman
1983 Waller et al 1995) The results also revealed that Extraversion is non-
significantly correlated with Realistic type The present finding of a non-significant
relationship between Extraversion and Realistic interests are supported by Peraino and
Willerman (1983)
168
The results also mentioned that the facet scales of Extraversion domain
generally significantly correlated with all the six personality types except
Gregariousness which is non-significantly correlated with any of the six personality
types Sullivan and Hansen (2004) found that associations between personality traits
and vocational interests can be accounted for by associations between lower-order
personality traits and interests
A study on 934 Flemish-speaking students by De Fruyt and Mervielde (1997)
analyzed their data in terms of the 30 facet scores as well as the total big five scores
The pattern of correlations showed clearly that few of the big five facets were related
to the realistic and investigative type while many were related to the social and
enterprising type
The findings in Table 23 displayed that strongest relationship is between
extraversion and artistic social and enterprising types The strongest correlations
between Extraversion and Enterprising and Social types of Hollands model have been
supported in the literature (Blake amp Sackett 1993 Bolton 1985 Costa et al 1984
Dillon amp Weissman 1987 Goh amp Leong 1993 Gottfredson et al 1993 Hogan
1986 Peraino amp Willerman 1983) However negative correlations between
Extraversion and Realistic and Investigative types have been reported in the literature
(Blake amp Sackett 1993 Bolton 1985 Costa et al 1984 Peraino amp Willerman
1983) Overall the results of the study supported the hypothesis that Extraversion is
positively correlated with Social and Enterprising interests
Openness domain is significantly correlated with all the six personality types
(see Table 23) The six facet scales of Openness are generally significantly correlated
with the six personality types However facet scales Actions and Values have non-
169
significant correlation with any of the personality types Fantasy is negatively
correlated with most of the personality types
The hypothesis 2 was ―Openness will be positively correlated with
Investigative and Artistic types The results showed that Openness is positively
significantly correlated with all the six personality types however Openness has
moderate strong correlation with Artistic type (r = 24 p lt 001) with Social type (r =
22 p lt 001) and with Investigative type (r = 13 p lt 01) It appeared that people
who express Investigative and Artistic interests also tend to be more open to new
experiences The curiosity and inquisitiveness of the Investigative type described by
Holland (1985a) as intellectual scholarly and curious represented that Investigative
interests overlap 20 to 60 with the Openness to Experience domain (Costa et al
1984 Gottfredson et al 1993 Holland et al 1994 Tokar amp Swanson 1995 Tokar
et al 1995) Artistic interests related moderately (r around 40 to 50) to the Openness
to Experience domain (Costa et al 1984 De Fruyt amp Mervielde 1997 Gottfredson et
al 1993 Holland et al 1994 Tokar amp Swanson 1995 Tokar et al 1995)
Individuals scoring high on Artistic and Enterprising interest scales are more
likely to demonstrate characteristics of those high in Openness and Extraversion
respectively Caldwell and Burger (1998) showed that high levels of Extraversion and
Openness (in addition to Agreeableness and Emotional Stability) are predictive of the
number of job offers received in a job search Tokar et al (1998) reported that
―greater extraversion is also linked to higher frequency and quality of job search
activities (p 144) as well as job satisfaction and change
The Big Six and the Big Five are indeed related to one another in important
ways applicable to counseling but not universally There are substantial linkages
found by (Larson et al 2002) and (Barrack et al 2003) between Artistic and
170
Openness Investigative and Openness Social and Extraversion and between
Enterprising and Extraversion Aesthetics (a facet of Openness to Experience) largely
accounted for the association between Artistic interests and Openness The results
showed that Openness was found to have moderately strong positive correlations with
the Investigative Realistic and Artistic vocational interests a finding consistent with
those reported by others (Carless 1999 Costa et al 1977 Costa et al 1984 Duffy amp
Crissy 1940 see also review by Tokar et al 1998 and meta-analysis by Staggs
2004) Overall the results supported the hypothesis that Openness is positively
correlated with Artistic and Enterprising types
Agreeableness domain is significantly correlated with all the personality types
except Realistic and Social types (see Table 23) The results showed that facets scales
of Trust and Tender mindedness significantly correlated with all the personality types
Facet scale Compliance has non-significant correlation with any of the six personality
types Modesty is negatively correlated with all the personality types Modesty has
different connotation in Pakistani culture as compared to western culture The most
people in Pakistani society are modest and show sympathies and personal interest
with respect to other people However the socio-economic situation in Pakistan
pressurized the individual to think of his improvement of economic condition and thus
has more concern about self at times instead of concern of others
The findings of previous research suggested that Social interests corresponded
modestly (r s around 20) with the Agreeableness domain (De Fruyt amp Mervielde
1997 Tokar amp Swanson 1995 Tokar et al 1995) The personality factor score of
aggression was also found to be negatively related to the social vocational interest
factor This finding is similar to the results reviewed by Tokar et al (1998) who
found a positive relationship between agreeableness (low aggressiveness) and Social
interests
171
The result of the present study showed that Agreeableness is significantly
correlated with Artistic types The Artistic types like ambiguous free and
unsystematic activities perceived themselves as expressive original intuitive
introspective nonconforming and value aesthetic qualities Some aspects of Social
types and Artistic types are related with each other in Pakistani culture This may be
the reason that Agreeableness is significantly correlated with Artistic interests This
overlap between Social interests and Agreeableness is the weakest of the five
correlations but is consistent across the interest measures (Ackerman amp Heggestad
1997) However this showed that the hypothesis Agreeableness will be positively
correlated with the Social typelsquo is not supported by the results
Conscientiousness domain is significantly correlated with all the six
personality types All the facet scales significantly correlated with the six personality
types except facet scale Order However Order scale is significantly correlated with
Conventional type The results showed moderate strong relationship between
Conscientiousness and Conventional type Conscientiousness has strong moderate
correlation with Conventional type (r = 27 p lt 001) Enterprising type (r = 25 p lt
001) and Investigative type (r = 21 p lt 001) The results of meta analysis
conducted by Larson et al (2002) showed that the correlation of Conventional
interests and the Conscientiousness domain was moderately positive when the SDS
was the measure used (r = 29) but dropped to only slightly positively related when
the SII was the measure used (r =13) On the opposite end of the dimension it is
shown that the Conventional type has been correlated with control (Gottfredson et al
1993) judging (Dillon amp Weissman 1987) and conscientiousness (Blake amp Sackett
1993) The findings in the present study showed that hypothesis ―Conscientiousness
will be positively related with Enterprising interests is supported by the results
172
The findings in the present study regarding the consistent overlap between
personality and vocational interests were also confirmed by the multiple regression
analysis (see Table 24) which supported that some of the personality variables have
considerably contributed in predicting the vocational interests
Tokar Fischer and Subich (1998) reported that in general consistent
relationships appear across many correlational studies They stated that the
personality factor of Extraversion was consistently linked to Enterprising and Social
vocational interests Openness was found to be moderately related to Artistic and
Investigative interests Conscientiousness was related to Conventional interests
Agreeableness was linked with Social vocational interests and Neuroticism was not
found to consistently correlate with vocational interests Similar results were reported
by Ackerman and Heggestad (1997) and by Carless (1999) In the relationship
between personality and vocational interests sizable independent variance is also
present Considering the overlap among certain relationships can improve the
knowledge of the connection between these individual differences and vocational
behavior Additional research is needed to strengthen the understanding of potential
implications for practitioners
Mean Differences on Demographical Variables
The mean differences with respect to demographical variables (gender
science-arts urban-rural 9th
- 10th
classes and parentslsquo education) on personality and
vocational interests were also explored Gender differences were explored on five
factor model and were also consistent with findings using other personality
inventories (eg Eysenck amp Eysenck 1975) The results showed (see Table 25) that
there are significant mean differences between male and female students on
173
Extraversion and Agreeableness of the NEO PI-R The mean scores of female are
higher as compared to male students In a male dominated Pakistani society it may be
the case that male will score higher on Extraversion domain However with changing
societal scenario where girls are also quite active and taking part in all aspects of life
the results showed that female are slightly better on extraversion domain which
consist of subscales like warmth gregariousness assertiveness activity excitement
and positive emotion On the other hand female scores are slightly better on
Agreeableness domain Although there are non-significant gender differences on
Neuroticism domain but the mean scores of female students are slightly better than
male students The findings are supported in the existing literature (eg Chapman et
al 2007 Costa et al 1984 Costa et al 2001) The hypothesis that ―female tend to
score higher on neuroticism extraversion agreeableness and conscientiousness as
compared to male students is supported by the results
The mean scores differences between science and arts students on five
domains of personality showed that there are significant differences on neuroticism
and agreeableness domain of five factor model (see Table 26) The scores of science
students are slightly higher on both the domains as compared to arts students The
mean differences between urban and rural areas students showed that there are
significant differences on extraversion domain while non-significant differences were
observed on other domains of personality (see Table 27) This may be due to the
reason that urban students have better opportunities in the urbanized localities and
they take part in different types of social activities While in rural areas there are
limited opportunities and students generally involved in routine activities
174
The mean differences between 9th
and 10th
class students were also explored
The results showed significant mean differences on neuroticism domains while non-
significant differences were observed on other domains of personality The mean
scores of groups of students based on educations of parents on personality were
explored The ANOVA was computed and the results showed that there are only
significant mean differences on extraversion domains (see Tables 29 to 30) The mean
scores of those students whose father and mother are educated are slightly better than
other two groups Overall the results showed that parentslsquo education have no effects
on personality of high school students The mean score differences between lower age
group (up to 16 years) and upper age group (17 years and above) on score of NEO PI-
R are also calculated The results showed that there are non-significant differences on
all the five personality domains This showed that age of the students has no effects
on the scores of NEO PI-R in this study (see Table 31) The use of NEO PI-R on
schools students showed that results can be replicated in adolescents reading in
schools as it is observed on adults Overall the results showed that there are no
significant effects of demographical variables on personality Hence no further
analysis has been carried out to explore the differences of demographical variables on
personality
Gender differences on vocational interest showed that there are significant
differences on Realistic Artistic Social and Conventional interests (see Table 32)
The mean scores of male students are higher as compared to female students on
Realistic and Conventional types On Social and Artistic types the mean scores of
female students are higher than male students In Pakistani culture Female have more
interests in Artistic and Social activities hence their scores are higher on both these
scales The findings are supported by the research literature (eg Betz Harmon amp
175
Borgen 1996 Betz amp Klein 1996 Costa et al 1984 Gianakos amp Subich 1988
Henry amp Bardo 1987 Murray amp Hall 2001 Smart 1989 Stonewater 1987 Varca
amp Shaffer 1982 Walsh Bingham amp Sheffey 1986 Walsh amp Huston 1988) The
results supported the hypotheses that male will score higher on Realistic interests and
female will score higher on Social and artistic interests
Mean differences of science and arts students on the scores of SDS were also
explored (see Table 33) The result showed that there are significant differences on
Realistic Investigative and Enterprising types among science and arts students The
means scores of science students were higher as compared to Arts students There
were non-significant differences on Artistic type however mean score of Arts
students were slightly higher as compared to science students In Pakistan the schools
have two groups of students one is science group and the other one is Arts group
Science students prefer occupations which are related to science subjects Hence
science students should adopt Realistic and Investigative types occupations as
compared to Arts students Whereas Arts students have keen interests in activities
related to Artistic and Social types These findings are supported by the study
conducted on Hong Kong students (Chang 1981)
The results showed that there are non-significant mean differences between
students of 9th
and 10th
classes on personality types except Investigative type The
mean scores of urban and rural areas on six personality types were also explored
There are significant mean differences between urban and rural area students on
realistic vocational interests There are significant mean differences on Realistic and
Artistic interests between groups of students based on parentslsquo education The means
176
scores of group whose parents are educated are slightly higher as compared to other
groups on Artistic vocational interests
Overall the result showed significant gender differences on personality (only
on Extraversion and Agreeableness) and vocational interests (Realistic Artistic
Social and Conventional) There were also significant differences between science
and arts students on vocational interests However urbanrural and 9th
and 10th
class
students have non-significant differences on personality and vocational interests
Parentslsquo education also has significant effects on personality (Extraversion) and
vocational interests (Realistic and Artistic) of students Overall parentslsquo education has
non-significant effects on personality and vocational interests Hence no further
analysis of demographical variables on personality has been carried out Similarly no
further analysis on urbanrural 9th
10th
classes and parentslsquo education on vocational
interests have been carried out However further analysis on gender differences and
sciencearts students on vocational interests have been carried out in the subsequent
study
177
Chapter V
PART 4 VOCATIONAL INTERESTS MEASURED BY
SDS SUMMARY CODES
This study was designed to determine the preferences of vocational interests of
the students by scoring the SDS summary codes The first three highest summary
codes (Holland 1985a) are of great significance and can be interpreted in term of
degree of consistency by employing the hexagonal model The general pattern for the
preferences for occupational types by the students was studied Differences between
male and female students as well as science and Arts students were also determined
The objectives and hypotheses of the study are mentioned below
Objectives
1 To find out the preferences of students on occupational types based on SDS
summary codes
2 To find out the preferences of male and female students on occupational types
based on SDS summary codes
3 To find out the preferences of science and arts students on occupational types
based on SDS summary codes
178
Hypotheses
1 Male students will prefer Realistic Investigative and Enterprising interests as
compared to female students
2 Female students will prefer Artistic and Social interests as compared to male
students
3 Science students will prefer occupations of Realistic and Investigative types as
compared to Arts students
4 Arts students will prefer occupations of Artistic Social and Enterprising types
as compared to Science students
5 Both Science and Arts students will prefer occupations of Conventional types
Operational Definitions of the Concepts
Summary codes The SDS measures the six personality types (Realistic
Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising and Conventional) from the subscales
Activities Competencies Occupations and Self-ratings In each subscales scores are
calculated on each six RIASEC types SDS has YesNolsquo response format In
activities subscale there are 11 items in each six RIASEC categories By adding all
the Yeslsquo scores for R type give the score for activities R Similarly scores for
activities IASEC are calculated The same scoring procedure is used for other
subscales of competencies occupations and self-ratings Summary scores are the
cumulative scores obtained by adding the scores of each subscale on six personality
types For instance the score for R types will be the cumulative scores obtained by
179
adding the R scores of subscales activities competencies occupations and self
estimates Therefore six score representing six RIASEC are obtained for each student
The first three highest scores are arranged in descending order and assigned codes
according to type which they represented Summary codes are the first three highest
codes measured by SDS The person used the summary codes (RIASEC) to locate the
suitable occupations from the occupational finder
PersonalityOccupational types The conceptual definitions of personality
types are mentioned in chapter III pages 97 to 99
Science group and Arts group The operational definitions of science and
Arts group students are mentioned above in chapter IV pages 125
Sample
The sample of the study was the same as used in chapter IV (for details see
pages 120 to 123) of the study The study was conducted on 596 high school students
There are 319 male and 277 female students Their age range is from 14 years to 19
years with a mean age of 1573 years There are 304 students belonging to Science
group and 292 students belonging to Arts group
Instruments
Demographic sheet and Self Directed Search (SDS) was used in this part of
the study (details are in chapter III for demographic sheet (see page 78) and for SDS
(see pages 93 to 99)
180
Frequencies of Highest Summary Codes of Students
The frequencies of highest summary codes achieved by students were
computed Gender differences and highest summary codes of science and arts students
have also been calculated The results are shown below
Table 38
Frequencies of highest Summary codes of students on six personality types of SDS
(N = 596)
Highest
summary
codes
SDS Summary Codes
Realistic
R
Investigati
ve
I
Artisti
c
A
Socia
l
S
Enterprisi
ng
E
Conventional
C
1st
summary
code
35 123 120 155 66 234
2nd
summary
code
58 120 124 141 151 138
3rd
summary
code
65 125 128 131 174 120
Note 1st summary code as highest summary SDS code 2nd summary code as second highest summary SDS code
3rd summary code as third highest summary SDS code
The findings in Table 38 showed the overall frequencies of highest summary
SDS codes of students Summary codes having equal scores are also included in the
scoring The results showed that C is the highest summary codes achieved by the
majority of the students followed by S and A The frequencies of 2nd
and 3rd
summary
codes depict E as the highest summary code achieved by the students followed by S
and C These results revealed that majority of the Pakistani students have preferences
for conventional vocational interests
181
Table 39
Frequencies of highest Summary codes of male (N = 319) and female (N = 277)
students on six personality types of SDS
Highest Summary
Codes
Summary Codes
Realistic
R
Investigative
I
Artistic
A
Social
S
Enterprising
E
Conventional
C
M F M F M F M F M F M F
1st summary code 31 4 66 57 31 89 57 98 40 26 152 82
2nd
summary code 46 12 66 54 41 83 65 76 85 66 82 66
3rd
summary code 50 15 61 64 63 65 78 53 93 81 44 76
Note M = Male F = Female read 1st summary code as highest summary SDS code 2nd summary code as second
highest summary SDS code 3rd summary code as third highest summary SDS code
Table 39 showed the overall summary code distribution of male and female
students on six personality types The first three highest summary codes were
computed for each student Summary codes having equal scores are also included in
the scoring The results showed the highest summary codes for both males and
females For male high school students the highest summary codes of C have the
highest frequency 152 studentslsquo highest summary code was C followed by I as 66
studentslsquo highest summary code 57 male students highest summary code was S
followed by 40 studentslsquo highest code as E and 31 students have R and A as highest
summary code Majority of the students have E and C as the 2nd
highest summary
codes for the male students E and S codes are the 3rd highest summary code
preferences for majority of the male students
Female high school studentslsquo highest summary codes of S have the highest
frequency 98 students achieved S as highest summary code followed by 89 studentslsquo
182
highest summary code of A 82 highest summary codes are C and 57 highest
summary codes are I A and S codes are the 2nd
highest summary codes achieved by
the majority of the female students followed by E and C as 2nd
highest summary
codes E and C codes are the 3rd
highest summary codes achieved by the female
students
Overall the results showed that male students have strong preferences for
Conventional interests followed by Investigative interests while females have
preferences for Social and Artistic interests Males preferred more Realistic
Investigative Enterprising and Conventional interests as compared to females
Realistic is the least preferred choice for females These findings supported the
hypothesis no 1 On the other hand female students have strong preferences for
artistic and social interest as compared to male students These findings are supportive
of hypothesis no 2
Table 40
Frequencies of highest Summary codes of Science (N = 304) and Arts (N = 292)
students on six personality types of SDS
Highest Summary
Codes
Summary Codes
Realistic
R
Investigative
I
Artistic
A
Social
S
Enterprising
E
Conventional
C
S A S A S A S A S A S A
1st summary code 16 19 92 28 52 63 50 95 38 26 112 113
2nd
summary code 30 23 72 49 39 83 63 71 81 58 78 69
3rd
summary code 37 28 53 63 60 60 80 55 81 82 49 58
Note S = Science students A = Arts students 1st summary code as highest summary SDS code 2nd summary
code as second highest summary SDS code 3rd summary code as third highest summary SDS code
183
Table 40 showed the overall summary code distribution of Science and Arts
students on six personality types The first three highest summary codes were
computed for each student Summary codes having equal scores are also included in
the scoring The results showed the highest summary codes for both Science and Arts
students For Science studentslsquo highest summary codes of C have the highest
frequency 112 studentslsquo highest summary code was C followed by I as 92 studentslsquo
highest summary code 52 Science students highest summary code was A followed by
50 studentslsquo highest code as S 38 students have E and 16 students have R as highest
summary codes E and C are the 2nd
highest summary codes for the majority of
Science students E and S codes are the 3rd
highest summary code preferences of
majority of Science students
Arts studentslsquo highest summary codes of C have the highest frequency 113
students achieved C as highest summary code followed by 95 studentslsquo highest
summary code of S 63 highest summary codes are A and 28 highest summary codes
are I A and S are the 2nd
highest summary codes achieved by the majority of Arts
students followed by C and E E and I are the 3rd
highest summary codes achieved by
the majority of Arts students Overall the results showed that Science students have
preferences for Conventional and Investigative type occupations These findings have
partially supported the hypothesis no 3 Arts studentslsquo preferences are for
Conventional Social and Artistic type occupations as compared to science students
Thus findings supported the hypothesis no 4 The results also displayed that both
Science and Arts students have preference for Conventional type occupations Hence
the results supported hypothesis no 5
184
Discussion
The highest summary codes of students were demonstrated to find out the
general trends of students In Pakistani culture which is a collectivist culture there
are many factors which are influencing the choices of the students In a diverse
culture of Pakistan where there are many educational system imparting knowledge to
the students it is very difficult to pinpoint the common factors for all students
However in government school belonging to Punjab province (the biggest populous
province of Pakistan) the general trends showed that majority of the students
preferred Conventional type occupations followed by Social types The Conventional
types tend to like activities that entail ordered manipulation of data and records
perceive themselves as conforming and orderly and value business and economic
achievement They have clerical and arithmetic abilities but often lack artistic ability
Since there are limited career opportunities in Pakistan for students of government
school there are chances that system may be producing certain types of interests and
abilities in students However the trend is slightly different when gender differences
are accounted for the present study Male students have preference for Conventional
type occupations followed by Investigative types while female have preferences for
Social and Artistic type occupations
Since Pakistan is still a male dominated society females are preferably
allowed to adopt the profession like teacher doctor and nursing etc these profession
entail social interests Male students outnumbered their female counterparts in hard
sciences (eg mathematics physics and engineering) Kirkcaldy (1988) reported
women to have significantly lower interests level than men for technical and scientific
jobs While male have low interests for design and socio-educational jobs In addition
185
women preferred less structured more creative less task-oriented and more
permissive types of jobs a description that fits well with artistically or emotionally
involving jobs (Furnham 2005) This suggested that vocational interests may be the
cause of gender differences in educational and occupational choices One cannot be
sure whether gender differences in vocational interests are influenced by culture
personality or ability factors eg whether women prefer certain jobs because they
suit their abilities their personalities or simply conform to social expectations
(Gottfredson 2005)
Gender differences in Holland personality types have been widely researched
using a variety of measurement criteria including academic majors (Gianakos amp
Subich 1988) occupational choices (Smart 1989) and leisure activities (Varca amp
Shaffer 1982) as well as scores on vocational self-efficacy questionnaires (Betz et
al 1996 Betz amp Klein 1996) and interest inventories (Costa et al 1984 Henry amp
Bardo 1987 Stonewater 1987 Walsh et al 1986 Walsh amp Huston 1988)
In general researchers have found greater manifestations of Realistic
Investigative and Enterprising traits among men than among women In contrast
Social and Artistic qualities have generally been found to be more prevalent among
women (Betz et al 1996 Betz amp Klein 1996 Costa et al 1984 Gianakos amp Subich
1988 Henry amp Bardo 1987 Smart 1989 Stonewater 1987 Varca amp Shaffer 1982
Walsh et al 1986 Walsh amp Huston 1988) Results have been mixed in regard to the
Conventional personality type with some researchers finding stronger propensities in
men (Betz et al 1996 Betz amp Klein 1996 Gianakos amp Subich 1988) and others in
women (Costa et al 1984 Stonewater 1987) A detailed study need to be conducted
to look into the reason of preferring Conventional interests in male students in the
present study Overall the results partially supported the hypothesis that male prefer
186
Realistic Investigative and Enterprising interests while female prefer Social and
Artistic interests
In Pakistan two main types of subjects are being taught at high school level in
government schools The science group consists of science subjects while in Arts
group the subjects are from humanities group After passing the middle classes the
students were allotted science and arts group to carry on study in 9th
class The criteria
of allotting science and arts groups to students differ from school to school Some of
the schools allot science group to those students who scored better in middle class
examination and arts group to those who have less mark In some school the allotment
depends on the number of seats and capacity in the class Still some schools have
limited faculty to teach science or arts subject therefore the allotment is according to
their convenience However it was observed that in some school the student interest
and his preferences for the choice is taken as the criterion for allotment Overall there
is no set criterion of allotment of science and Arts subjects to the students of high
schools
The result showed (see Table 40) that the summary codes choices of Science
and Arts group students also differ from each other The science and Arts group
students have Conventional as the most preferred summary code The second highest
score of science students is of Investigative type This showed that science students
have some preferences for Investigative type occupations which entail scientific
abilities The Investigative type likes investigative jobs and has mathematical and
scientific ability The students of Arts group have Social and Artistic type preferences
This also showed that Arts students have some preferences for Social and Artistic
type occupations The summary scores of 2nd
summary code and 3rd
summary code
showed the scattered pattern for the science students Overall science students have a
187
well defined vocational pattern to some extent in accordance with the Holland
typology The Arts students study arts or humanities subject in their curriculum The
first summary code score of Arts students showed that 113 students highest code is
Conventional followed by 95 students have Social and 63 students have Artistic
codes as their highest scores The results showed that Arts students also have well
defined summary code scores to some extent according to Holland typology
The findings partially supported the hypothesis that Science students preferred
Realistic and Investigative types as compared to Arts group The findings also
partially supported the hypothesis that Arts students preferred Artistic Social and
Enterprising types as compared to science students The results also supported the
hypothesis that both science and arts students preferred Conventional types and is
supported by the existing literature (Leung amp Hua 2005 Staggs et al 2007) The
findings of the study about Science and Arts students are also supported by the
research conducted in Hong Kong by Chang (1981) and supplemented the existing
body of literature about differences between gender and science and Arts students
However the findings also drew attention to the ever changing nature of phenomena
and suggested ongoing research pertaining to this important topic
Vocational interests are associated with behaviors that reflect an individuals
choice to engage in tasks and activities they like Congruency is the primary concept
in which realistic personality in a realistic environment would prove to be highly
consistent to fulfill the interests and skills of the person The relation between the
vocational aspirations and vocational interests is very significant Hence there is a
requirement to investigate the level of congruence between vocational interests and
vocational aspirations of students
188
Chapter VI
Part 5 VOCATIONAL ASPIRATIONS OF THE STUDENTS
This part of the research was designed to explore in detail the vocational
aspirations of the students Vocational aspirations are measured as part of SDS and
are considered as the validity check on the SDS summary codes In Pakistan there is
no concept of employing career counselors in the school The students are left on the
mercy of different moderators which influence them to choose certain occupations as
their future choices The job opportunities available in the market where students
have easy access and are open to all students on merit and job security are some of
the main reasons of selecting particular occupations as future choices Therefore the
present study explored in detail the vocational aspirations of the students Majority of
the students mentioned doctor army teacher lawyer and engineer as their vocational
aspirations The gender differences were also studied in this part of the research The
degree of agreement between vocational aspirations and vocational interests of the
students were also determined The objectives of the study are
Objectives
1 To compare gender differences on vocational aspirations of the students
2 To find out the differences on personality and vocational interests with respect
to vocational aspirations
3 To determine the degree of agreement between vocational aspirations and
vocational interests of the students
189
Hypotheses
1 Female students are likely to aspire more Social Artistic and Conventional
codes as compared to male students
2 Male students are likely to aspire more Investigative Realistic and
Enterprising codes as compared to female students
3 Doctor as a vocational aspiration of students is likely to have high degree of
agreement with their Investigative SDS summary code
4 Army as a vocational aspiration of students is likely to have high degree of
agreement with their Realistic SDS summary code
5 Teacher as a vocational aspiration of students is likely to have high degree of
agreement with their Social SDS summary code
6 Lawyer as a vocational aspiration of students is likely to have high degree of
agreement with their Enterprising SDS summary code
7 Engineer as a vocational aspiration of students is likely to have high degree of
agreement with their Realistic and Investigative SDS summary codes
OperationalConceptual Definitions
Vocational aspirations Vocational aspirations of the students are the
prospective vocational choices of the student which they intended to adopt in future
Vocational aspirations and matching occupational codes According to Hollandlsquos
(1997) coding system as RIASEC using the Dictionary of Holland Occupational
Codes (Gottfredson amp Holland 1996) the profession Doctor should have the
Investigative (I) as highest occupational code the profession Army should have the
Realistic (R) as highest occupational code the profession Teacher should have the
190
Social (S) as highest occupational code the profession Lawyer should have the
Enterprising (E) as highest occupational code and the profession Engineer should
have the Realistic (R) and Investigative (I) as highest occupational code
Degree of agreement The relationship between the code of the current
vocational aspiration and the SDS summary code represent degree of agreement
When the first letter code of the current aspiration and the SDS are the same the
likelihood of a person maintaining that aspiration is very high A simpler index of
agreement between any two codes can also be obtained by employing the hexagonal
model The scoring procedure entailed comparing the first letter codes for the current
vocational aspiration and the highest summary SDS codes The higher the score the
closer the agreement Detailed scoring procedure is attached at Appendix Alsquo
Personality The conceptual definitions of personality and main domains of
personality are mentioned above in chapter III pages 85 to 93
Vocational interests The conceptual definitions of vocational interests
including personality types are mentioned above in chapter III pages 97 to 99
Summary codes The operational definition of summary codes is mentioned
above in chapter V pages 178 to 179
Instruments
Following instruments were used in the study
4 NEO PI-R
5 SDS
6 Demographic Sheet
7 Future Possibilities Questionnaire
(See details about instruments in chap III pages 78 to 99)
191
Sample
The sample of the study consisted of 482 students selected from the main
sample of the study (see chapter IV pages 120 to 123) The sample has been taken
randomly within the school The sample was selected based on the five most preferred
vocational aspirations of the students (doctor army teacher lawyer and engineer)
There are 4 boys and 3 girlslsquo schools 2 boy schools and 2 girl schools were selected
from urban areas of Rawalpindi while 2 boys and 1 girl school were selected from
rural area of Rawalpindi There are 243 male students and 239 female students 271
are in 9th
class and 211 in 10th
class students 254 are Science students and 228 are
Arts students Urban students are 321 and rural students are 161 Their age range is
from 14 years to 19 years with a mean age of 1566 years The average fatherslsquo
income is Rs 7669- approximately
Procedure
(Details are given in chapter IV pages 123 to 124)
Results
In this study gender differences on vocational aspirations of the students were
computed Highest summary codes of students based on vocational aspirations were
determined The degree of agreement between vocational aspiration and SDS
summary codes were also explored The results are shown below
192
Table 41
Vocational aspirations of students (N = 482)
Vocational aspirations
Gender
Doctor Army Teacher lawyer Engineer
Male students
(N = 243)
75 124 7 10 27
Female students
(N = 239)
118 15 51 45 10
Total 193 139 58 55 37
The finding in Table 41 showed the frequencies of vocational aspirations of
both male and female students Doctor seems to be favorite career for both boys and
girls Male preferred Army predominantly while very few female opted for this
choice Teaching is the profession which the girls liked most Very few boys opted for
the teaching profession Lawyer as a profession is the favorite for the female as
compared to the male Engineering is more liked by boys as compared to girls The
results showed gender differences between the vocational aspirations of the students
Table 42
The frequencies of highest summary codes of male (N = 243) and female (N = 239)
students on six personality types measured by SDS
Gender
SDS Summary Codes
Realistic
R
Investigative
I
Artistic
A
Social
S
Enterprising
E
Conventional
C
Male students 21 50 24 43 32 114
Female students 4 49 63 83 20 60
Note SDS = Self Directed Search
The findings in Table 42 indicated the gender differences between male and
female students on the highest summary codes on six personality types Summary
codes having equal scores are also included in the scoring Highest summary codes of
193
243 male students who aspired about different vocations were calculated on six
personality types The results showed that male students have preference for
Conventional type followed by Investigative and Social types Highest summary
codes of 239 female students were computed on six personality types The results
showed that female students have preference for Social code followed by Artistic and
Conventional codes Overall the results proved that male students aspired more
Realistic Enterprising and Conventional codes as compared to female students
While female students aspired more Social Artistic codes as compared to male
students The results supported hypotheses no 1 and 2
Table 43
Mean and standard deviation between five groups based on vocational aspirations of
students on their scores on five domains of NEO PI-R (N = 482)
Domains of
personality
Vocational Aspirations
Doctor
(N = 193)
Army
(N = 139)
Teacher
(N = 58)
Lawyer
(N = 55)
Engineer
(N = 37)
M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD
Neuroticism 13815 1392 13565 1667 13905 1426 14131 11 1426 13946 1248
Extraversion 15057 1400 15084 1269 14879 1353 15534 11 1410 15008 1343
Openness 13693 987 13507 930 13455 888 13736 11 1033 13435 968
Agreeable-
ness
16484 1543 16485 1412 16490 1404 16536 11 1407 16832 1180
Conscientiou
sness
17034 1792 17296 1978 16740 1489 17278 11 1619 17251 2072
Note M = means scores SD = standard deviation NEO PI-R = Revised Neuroticism Openness Extraversion
Personality Inventory
Table 43 indicated the mean and standard deviation of five groups of students
on the five domain of NEO PI-R The group having the vocational aspiration of
194
lawyers have the highest mean scores on Neuroticism (M = 14131) followed by
engineers (M = 13946) and teachers (M = 13904) The group of students whose
vocational aspirations are lawyer have the highest mean on Extraversion (M =
15534) and Openness (M = 13736) The group of students having the vocational
aspiration of engineer have the highest mean scores (M = 16832) on Agreeableness
The group of students having the vocational aspiration of Army have the highest
mean scores (M = 17296) on Conscientiousness
Repeated measure ANOVA
Repeated measure ANOVA is a technique used to test the quality of means
The repeated measures test is more powerful because it separates between-subject
variability from within-subject variability
Table 44
Repeated Measure Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for five groups based on vocational
aspirations of students on their scores on five main domains of personality (N = 482)
Effects MS df F Greenhouse-Geisser
Personality 46927511 4 23910 p lt 001
Personality x
Vocational Aspirations
212801 16 1084 p lt 371
Personality x Gender 371554 4 1893 p lt 137
Personality x
Vocational Aspirations x
Gender
124512 16 634 p lt 792
Error 196270 1888
p lt 001 Male = 243 Female = 239 Personality means five main domains of personality (neuroticism
extraversion openness agreeableness and conscientiousness) Vocational aspirations means five groups of
students based on five vocational aspiration (Doctor Army Teacher Lawyer and Engineer)
Mauchly‟s Test W = 40 χ 2 (9) = 42794 p lt 001 Wilks‟ Lambda = 096 F (4 16) =0 97 p gt 05
195
In order to test sphericity Mauchlylsquos Test was inspected which tests for the
equivalence of the hypothesized and the observed variancecovariance patterns The
test was highly significant W = 40 χ 2 (9) = 42794 p lt 001 suggesting that the
assumption of sphericity had been violated A one-way within subjects (or repeated
measures) ANOVA was conducted to compare the effect of five group based on
vocational aspirations on five main domains of personality However results in Table
44 suggested that only personality has significant differences within subjects however
there is no significant effects of personality vocational aspirations and gender There
is no significant effect of the vocational aspirations Wilkslsquo Lambda = 96 F (4 16) =
97 p gt 05 These results suggested that vocational aspirations really do not have an
effect on five domains of personality
Table 45
Frequencies of SDS Summary codes of students whose vocational aspiration is
Doctor (N = 193)
Summary codes
Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
1stsummary code 5 48 24 47 15 54
2nd
summary code 7 38 32 40 30 46
3rd
summary code 13 25 35 33 58 29
Note SDS = Self Directed Search 1st summary code as highest summary SDS code 2nd summary code as second
highest summary SDS code 3rd summary code as third highest summary SDS code
Table 45 showed the frequencies of first three SDS summary codes for
students whose prospective vocational choice is doctor The three highest SDS
summary codes for each student were computed The dominant summary code is
Conventional as 54 studentslsquo highest code followed by Investigative as 48 studentslsquo
196
highest summary code 47 students highest summary code is Social while 24 studentslsquo
highest summary code is Artistic According to Holland an Investigative type likes
Investigative jobs has mathematical and scientific ability but often lacks leadership
ability They are described as analytical curious intellectual reserved and precise
According to Holland classification the vocational choice doctor should have an
Investigative type as their first summary code However 48 students scored
Investigative type as their highest summary code This showed that those opted for
doctor has some parity with the prospective vocational choice and thus partially
supported the hypothesis no 3
Table 46
Frequencies of SDS Summary codes of students whose vocational aspiration is Army
(N = 139)
Summary codes
Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
1st summary code 7 27 14 24 20 47
2nd
summary code 12 24 15 21 31 36
3rd
summary code 19 19 10 38 32 21
Note SDS = Self Directed Search 1st summary code as highest summary SDS code 2nd summary code as second
highest summary SDS code 3rd summary code as third highest summary SDS code
Table 46 showed the frequencies of first three SDS summary codes for
students whose prospective vocational choice is Army The three highest SDS
summary codes for each student were computed The dominant summary code is
Conventional as 47 studentslsquo highest code followed by Investigative as 27 studentslsquo
first choice 24 students highest summary code is Social while 20 studentslsquo highest
summary code is Enterprising According to Holland Conventional types has clerical
and arithmetic ability They are conforming conscientious orderly persistent and
197
practical For Army the Realistic should be predominant choice while only 7 studentslsquo
highest summary score is Realistic This showed the degree of incongruence between
vocational aspiration of Army and SDS summary code Thus hypothesis no 4 is not
supported by the results
Table 47
Frequencies of SDS Summary codes of students whose prospective vocational choice
is Teacher (N = 58)
Summary codes
Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
1st summary code 0 4 16 21 3 16
2nd
summary code 4 5 14 15 9 11
3rd
summary code 3 15 11 8 11 11
Note SDS = Self Directed Search 1st summary code as highest summary SDS code 2nd summary code as second
highest summary SDS code 3rd summary code as third highest summary SDS code
The results in Table 47 displayed the overall frequencies of first three
summary codes computed from SDS for the students whose prospective vocational
choice is teacher The dominant summary code is Social as 21 studentslsquo highest code
followed by each Artistic and Conventional as 16 studentslsquo highest summary code
According to Holland classification the vocational choice of teacher should have
Social as their first summary code Social type like social jobs has social skills and
talents but often lacks mechanical and scientific ability They are described as
cooperative friendly kind persuasive tactful and warm However 21 students
attained social as their highest summary code This showed that those opted for
teachers have some degree of congruence between the vocational aspirations of
198
teacher and original summary codes Hence hypothesis no 5 is partially supported by
the results
Table 48
Frequencies of SDS Summary codes of students whose prospective vocational choice
is Lawyer (N = 55)
Summary codes
Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
1st summary code 2 5 10 24 2 11
2nd
summary code 2 15 18 9 3 8
3rd
summary code 1 8 11 4 17 15
Note SDS = Self Directed Search 1st summary code as highest summary SDS code 2nd summary code as second
highest summary SDS code 3rd summary code as third highest summary SDS code
Table 48 showed the frequencies of first three SDS summary codes for
students whose prospective vocational choice is lawyer The dominant summary code
is Social as 24 studentslsquo highest code followed by Conventional and Artistic as 11 and
10 studentslsquo highest summary code respectively 2 students highest summary code is
Enterprising According to Holland classification the vocational choice of lawyer
should have Enterprising as their first summary code The Enterprising types show
preference for activities that involve manipulation of others to achieve organizational
goals or economic gain perceive themselves as aggressive self-confident and
sociable and value political and economic achievement They liked enterprising jobs
and have leadership and speaking abilities but often lacks scientific ability However
24 students attained social as their highest summary code which is adjacent to
enterprising type This showed that those opted for lawyers have degree of
199
incongruence between the vocational aspirations and their vocational interests Thus
hypothesis no 6 is not supported by the results
Table 49
Frequencies of SDS Summary scales of students whose prospective choice is Engineer
(N = 37)
Summary codes
Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
1st summary code 4 5 9 5 3 13
2nd
summary code 2 6 3 5 11 11
3rd
summary code 7 8 2 9 7 5
Note SDS = Self Directed Search 1st summary code as highest summary SDS code 2nd summary code as second
highest summary SDS code 3rd summary code as third highest summary SDS code
The results indicated in Table 49 displayed the overall frequencies of first
three summary codes computed from SDS for students whose prospective vocational
choice is engineer The dominant summary code is Conventional as 13 studentslsquo
highest code followed by Artistic as 9 studentslsquo highest summary code 5 students
highest summary code is Investigative and the same number ie 5 studentslsquo highest
summary code is Social According to Holland classification most of the engineering
discipline has Investigative as their highest code and some have Realistic also
However 5 students attained investigative type as their highest summary code This
shows that those opted for engineering have high degree of incongruence between the
vocational aspiration of engineer and original summary codes Thus hypothesis no 7
is not supported by the results
200
Table 50
Frequencies of scores obtained from highest Summary code of students (Males and
females) based on five groups of vocational aspirations of students via hexagonal
model (N = 482)
Vocational
aspirations of
students
Highest
summary code
from
classification
booklet
Frequencies of scores obtained from highest summary
codes based on hexagonal model
1 2 3 4
M F M F M F M F
Doctor
(N = 193
I 6 6 44 53 8 28 17 31
Army
(N = 139)
R 15 3 23 4 79 7 6 1
Teacher
(N = 58)
S 0 0 4 16 3 14 0 21
Lawyer
(N = 55)
E 0 3 4 9 6 31 0 2
Engineer
(N = 37)
IR 3 0 14 1 7 7 3 2
Note M = Male F = Female I = Investigative R = Realistic S = Social E = Enterprising 4 score means that
highest summary code and Holland classification code correspond with each other 3 means that highest summary
codes and Holland classification codes are adjacent on the hexagon 2 means that the highest summary codes and
Holland classification codes are on alternate on the hexagon and 1 means that the highest summary codes and
Holland classification codes are on the opposite side on the hexagon
Table 50 showed the relationship between vocational aspirations of the
students and highest summary scale based on hexagonal model 193 students opted
doctor as their vocational aspirations and their highest summary code from
classification booklet is Investigative Highest summary code of 17 male students
matched with their highest prospective code while 8 studentslsquo score were adjacent and
44 studentslsquo score were on the alternate position on hexagon Similarly 31 female
studentslsquo highest summary code matched with their highest vocational aspirations
201
code 28 studentslsquo score are on adjacent types while 53 studentslsquo scores are on the
alternate types on hexagon These results also partially supported hypothesis no 3
139 students opted for army as their vocational aspiration their choices and
highest summary scale on SDS were compared based on hexagonal model The
results showed that only 6 male students vocational aspirations matched with their
highest summary code ie Realistic 79 studentslsquo summary scales were adjacent to
Realistic type 23 male students have alternate matching with the summary scale
while 15 students have opposite summary scale Similarly 1 female student vocational
aspiration and highest summary code matched with each other while 7 students
summary code are adjacent to their prospective choice highest code The results
obtained from hexagonal model did not support hypothesis no 4
58 students opted for teacher as their vocational aspiration and the highest
summary code for teacher is Social 7 male students were on the adjacent or alternate
type 21 female student highest summary codes matched with their highest
prospective vocational choice code 14 students summary code were on adjacent types
while 16 students were on alternate type Thus the results supported hypothesis no 5
for female students
55 students opted for lawyer as their vocational aspiration while the code for
the choice lawyer is Enterprising 6 male students highest summary codes were on
adjacent types and 4 students codes were on alternate types 2 female students highest
code matched with highest vocational aspirations code while 31 female studentslsquo
highest summary codes were on adjacent types The results also did not support
hypothesis no 6
37 students opted engineer as their vocational aspirations whereas the highest
summary code for the engineer choice is Investigative 3 male students highest
202
summary code matched with their highest prospective choice code7 students highest
summary codes were on adjacent types while 7 studentslsquo summary codes were on
alternate types 2 female students highest summary code matched with their
vocational aspiration highest code while 7 female students summary scale were on the
adjacent types on the hexagon This also not supported the hypothesis no 7 Overall
the results provided partial support for doctor and teacher vocational aspirations while
there is a state of incongruence between the vocational aspirations of army lawyer
and engineer and their SDS summary codes
Discussion
The study was designed to explore the vocational aspirations of the students
and determine their differences on personality and vocational interests Miller et al
(2004) studied the relationship of expressed occupational daydreams and scores on
the Self-Directed Search (SDS) and found results consistent with Hollands theory of
careers It has long been recognized that personal daydreams about ourselves have
relevance for career planning and are a relatively good predictor of vocational choice
(Brown amp Brooks 1991 Touchton amp Magoon 1977 Yanico 1981)
In the existing theoretical and empirical literature vocational interests and
career goalsaspirations are frequently referred to as measured versus expressed
interests (Spokane amp Decker 1999) The first referred to interests as they are assessed
with standardized interest inventories representing a central part of a personlsquos
personality (Holland 1999) The latter referred to stated vocational aspirations which
are considered an expression of a personlsquos self-concept (Super 1990)
203
Literature supported the facilitative role of the use of occupational daydreams
within the context of career counseling (Crabbs 1979 Sarnoff amp Remer 1982)
Holland et al (1994) indicated that current vocational daydreams are a moderate to
good predictor of later career behaviors The evidence for relying on a personlsquos
occupational aspirations for the prediction of occupational field are presented by
Holland and Lutz (1968) Holland and Whitney (1968) Dolliver (1969) Whitney
(1969) Holland Gottfredson amp Nafziger (1973) Holland (1985b) Holland and
Gottfredson (1975) McLaughlin and Tiedeman (1974) Touchton and magoon
(1977) OlsquoNeil and Magoon (1977) Borgen and Seling (1978) and Gottfredson and
Holland (1975) These studies indicated that the category of peoplelsquos current
vocational aspirations or the history of their aspirations is a moderate to efficient
predictor of the category of their current aspiration major field vocational plan or
current occupation over one three four and eleven-year intervals People whose
aspirations belong to the same category are more predictable than people whose
aspirations belong to different categories Holland (1968) showed that a personlsquos
history of occupational preferences and especially the most recent preferences are
good estimates of what will choose or do next The same findings are also supportive
of studies (Ansari 1981 Aziz 2001 Riaz 1995 Zaidi 1979) conducted on
occupational aspirations in Pakistani context
In the present study the five most reported or preferred career of students of
government schools were doctor army teacher advocate and engineer 482 students
opted for the five types of vocational aspirations 118 female students and 75 male
students opted doctorlsquo as their first choice Doctor is considered as the most favorite
career in Pakistan Only those students can get admission in professional medical
colleges who achieved very good marks in science subjects In Pakistan doctor is
204
considered as the best job for female students 124 male students opted Army as their
favorite choice while only 15 female opted Armylsquo as their daydream choice This
showed that male have preference to join Army In Pakistan where there are limited
job opportunities getting jobs in government department on merit is considered as
very difficult therefore armed forces provide sufficient opportunities to the youth to
join on merit Moreover due to job security armed forces are still the best option
available for male students
51 female students wanted to be teacher while only 7 male opted teacher as
their favorite career Again the profession of teacher is considered as one of the best
for females There are some moderating factors which start influencing the students
from very early age These effects needed to be studied in depth for better
understanding about the vocational aspirations of the students 45 female wanted to be
advocate in their life while only 10 male studentslsquo favorite career was advocate This
showed that female are coming out and adopting different occupations which were not
considered suitable earlier During the past few decades the government has provided
lot of job opportunities to female in different department Hence they are competing
neck to neck with their male counterparts 27 male students and 10 female students
opted engineerlsquo as their favorite career This showed that there are gender differences
between the vocational aspirations of students Therefore different career
opportunities for male and female should be planned and provided to the students by
the government
Gender differences were also calculated on the highest summary codes The
results showed that the male students aspired more Realistic Enterprising and
Conventional codes as compared to female students On the other hand female
students aspired more Artistic and Social codes as compared to male students
205
Previous researches also supported these conclusions (Betz et al 1996 Betz amp Klein
1996 Murray amp Hall 2001 Proyer amp Hausler 2007) These findings partially
supported the hypotheses no 1 and 2
The effects of prospective vocational choices of students on personality were
determined by comparing the mean differences between the five groups based on
vocational aspirations There were non-significant mean differences between
vocational aspirations of the students and personality The differences of five groups
of vocational aspirations on the vocational interests were computed by counting the
first second and third highest summary codes of each group The vocational
aspirations and the highest summary code should correspond with each other The
consistency in score may help the individual to choose the career of his choice and
has highest level of person-environment congruency or fit On the other hand
disparity between the prospective vocational choice and the highest summary code
may develop into incongruent situation
The findings reflected (see Table 45) the summary scale of students whose
prospective vocational choice is doctor have conventional (score of 54 students) as the
highest summary code Almost the same pattern is observed for 2nd
highest summary
code and 3rd
highest summary codes Since Conventional type is the choice of
majority of the students therefore it has the maximum score According to Holland
occupational classification (HOC) Investigative should be the highest summary code
for doctors In Pakistan there are occupations which depend on the classification of
science and arts group subjects For a doctor science subjects are compulsory Hence
investigative type has been the right choice as it entails scientific abilities This
showed the degree of agreement to some extent between the vocational aspiration of
doctor and their vocational interests
206
The highest summary code of students whose prospective vocational choice
was Army have conventional as the highest summary code of majority of the students
followed by Investigative Social and Enterprising Generally the same pattern is
observed for the 2nd
and 3rd
highest summary codes According to Holland
classification booklet the Realistic code represented the occupation of Army The
results showed the disparity between the vocational aspirations of the students and
their highest summary codes determined by SDS This indicated that their vocational
interests (activities competencies etc) did not correspond with the vocational
aspirations This incongruence need to be addressed as early as possible for the better
future of students
There are some occupations which do not depend on the classification of
science and arts subject Like occupation of army both science and arts students can
apply for enrolment in regular Army however in PAF and Navy the candidates
should have science subjects Even in Army specialized courses require science as
their major subjects The results showed index of incongruence between the
vocational aspiration and vocational interests of students whose choice is Army The
summary scales of students whose vocational aspiration was teacher showed that 21
students have social as their highest code while 16 students have Artistic as their
highest summary code Same pattern was observed for the 2nd
and 3rd
highest
summary code According to HOC booklet teachers should have Social as their
highest summary code This showed the moderate index of agreement between the
vocational aspirations of teacher and highest summary code
The summary scales of students whose prospective vocational choice was
Lawyer showed that 24 students highest summary code was Social while 10 students
highest code was Artistic According to classification booklet the ESA is the summary
207
code for a lawyer Only 2 students highest summary code was Enterprising whereas
majority of the students have S and A as their highest summary code This showed
incongruence for the highest code but showed congruence for the 2nd
and 3rd
highest
codes The summary scale of students whose prospective vocational choice was
engineer showed that Conventional was the highest summary code of 13 students
followed by Artistic of 9 students According to HOC booklet the first highest code
of engineer is Investigative while mechanical engineering has Realistic as the first
summary code The results showed that 5 studentslsquo highest summary code is
investigative This showed the incongruence between the vocational aspiration as
engineer and their vocational interests
Gender differences were computed for the five groups of students based on
vocational aspirations and their scores on vocational interests by employing
hexagonal model According to hexagon model if the first choice of a vocational
aspiration occupational code and first choice of SDS summary scale match then the
individual gets 4 marks If the vocational aspiration occupational code and SDS
summary code are adjacent to each other the individual get 3 marks If they are on
alternate position on the hexagon then it will get 2 marks and If on opposite to each
other then it will get 1 mark The frequencies of scores of five group of vocational
aspirations based on hexagon model were plotted (see Table 50)
The frequencies of scores for doctors showed that only 17 male and 31 female
studentslsquo highest summary code and occupational code match with each other The
frequencies of scores for the army group showed that only 6 male and 1 female
student highest summary code and occupational code match with each other For
teacher none of the male students and 21 female studentslsquo highest summary code and
occupational code matched with each other For lawyer none of male and 2 female
208
studentslsquo highest summary code and occupational code matched with each other For
engineer only 3 male students and 2 female studentslsquo highest summary code and
occupational code matched This showed the degree of agreement between their
prospective vocational choices and highest SDS codes
Overall the results got partial support for the hypotheses no 3 to 7 that
vocational aspirations of students is likely to have high degree of agreement between
their vocational interests There were reasonably good degree of agreement between
vocational aspirations of doctors and teachers with their vocational interests among
students There was a moderate degree of agreement between vocational aspiration of
lawyer and their vocational interests However there was a state of incongruence
between the vocational aspirations of army and engineer with their vocational
interests among students
In government high school there is no mechanism where career guidance is
provided to the students Some teachers tried to guide the students according to their
knowledge but there is no institutional support to the students in this regard The
choices of vocational interest by students generally depend on the wishes and whims
of students Students either interact with their role model or they listen about it from
their parents teachers and peer The other problem is the availability of limited job
opportunities in Pakistan therefore the students aspiration are also limited In
government schools majority of the students are not able to achieve their vocational
aspiration because there is lot of competition for limited vacancies in a particular job
More over there is no proper guidance available to students at schools or
governmental level therefore their vocational aspirations of different occupations at
times did not correspond with their interest and competencies
209
Present results of the study may be of value to those career counselors who
assist students in the process of making career choices Based on the five most
preferred vocational aspirations of the students a study was designed to seek expert
opinion about personality and vocational interests The results attained based on
studentslsquo scores were validated with the opinion of experts of selected occupations to
add cultural relevance for the concepts used in the study
210
Chapter VII
Part 6 EXPERT OPINIONS ABOUT PERSONALITY AND
VOCATIONAL INTERESTS
This part of the study was designed to enhance the cultural relevance of
concepts used in the previous part of the research It was carried out to evaluate the
results about personality and vocational interests in view of expertslsquo opinion The
study endeavored to explore the personality patterns related to different occupations
by the experts It also investigated the identification of personality types defined by
Holland RIASEC model in Pakistani context which meaningfully correspond with
their respective profession by the experts An evaluation sheet was designed (see
Appendix Flsquo) to measure the personality profile related to different occupations by
the experts and find out the relevance of personality types with respective occupations
of experts Followings are the objectives of the study
Objectives
1 To determine the psychometric properties of the evaluation sheet
2 To evaluate the personality profiles about different occupations by the
professionals
3 To find out the relevance of personality types with the different occupations
by the professionals
No formal hypotheses were formulated in this part of the research The study
has been conducted in two phases
211
Phase 1
In this part of the study 5 most preferred vocations described by the students
were selected based on the information gathered from the previous part of the study
The selected preferred vocations sample and procedure are explained below
Selection of Preferred Vocations
During the administration of future possibilities questionnaire the students
were asked to write the vocational aspirations which they are going to adopt or select
in future Frequencies of the prospective vocational choices were calculated and the
first 5 most preferred vocational aspirations mentioned by the students were selected
for the study purposes The selected preferred occupations are listed below
a Doctor
b Army
c Teacher
d Advocate
e Engineer
Sample
Five professionals from each preferred career were selected There are 25
professionals from five different occupations (doctor army teacher lawyer and
engineer) A convenient sampling technique was used Experts having at least 20
212
years of service in particular fields were selected They were taken from both genders
where possible
Procedure
Prior appointments were made by the professionals Rapport was established
and the purpose of the study was explained to them The experts were given following
instructions
ldquoAs a student of National Institute of Psychology Quaid-i-Azam University
Islamabad I am conducting a research on the topic of ldquoPersonality and
Vocational interestsrdquo You being the expert in your field are requested to
describe the personality traits which in your own personal view should be
possessed by a professional _________________ on the following 30 traits of
personality Definitions of each trait of personality are also given below You
are requested to complete the evaluation sheet by rating the personality of
professional _______________ on a seven point rating scale (1 to 7) ranging
from bdquoleast required‟ to bdquomost required‟ You are also requested to choose one
of the six personality types which meaningfully correspond with your
profession The detailed definitions of each personality types are also printed
at the end of evaluation sheet Your cooperation in this regard will be highly
appreciatedrdquo
For the respondent who has to write the attributes of the doctors the word
doctor was written in the blank space Similarly for each expert of hisher field the
name of profession of that particular field was written in the instructions A total of 25
213
professionals (from both gender) were administered evaluation sheet A demographic
sheet was also attached with the evaluation sheet
Phase II
The statistical analysis was carried out to establish reliability and validity of
evaluation sheet Further analysis was carried out to evaluate the personality profiles
deliberated by the experts Personality types mentioned by experts for each vocation
were also noted down Mean differences were also computed between the experts of
five vocations
Results
The results related to reliability and validity of evaluation sheet evaluation of
personality traits and personality types by the experts are computed in the following
tables
ReliabilityValidity of Evaluation Sheet
The Alpha reliability coefficients of five main domains scales of personality in
Evaluation sheet were computed The item-total correlation between each item and
respective main scales were also computed The results are shown below
214
Table 51
Alpha reliability coefficient of five domains of Personality of Evaluation sheet (N=25)
Scales Number of items Alpha coefficients
Neuroticism 6 66
Extraversion 6 64
Openness 6 31
Agreeableness 6 58
Conscientiousness 6 78
Table 51 showed the Alpha reliability coefficients of 5 scales of Evaluation
sheet The 5 main scales showed moderate Alpha reliability coefficients ranging from
31 (Openness) to 78 (Conscientiousness) The low alpha reliability coefficients
were due to less number of items in each scale Low internal consistency of Openness
domain was also observed on the sample of students as well (see Table 12) The
results showed moderate internal consistency of the instrument
Table 52
Item-total correlation of five domains of Evaluation sheet (N=25) Neuroticism
(Items = 6)
r Extraversion
(Items = 6)
r Openness
(Items = 6)
r Agreeable
ness
(Items = 6)
r Conscientious
ness
(Items = 6)
r
q1 76 q7 44 q13 22 q19 19 q25 78
q2 33 q8 56 q14 76 q20 61 q26 78
q3 73 q9 66 q15 47 q21 47 q27 13
q4 49 q10 75 q16 30 q22 66 q28 61
q5 64 q11 66 q17 40 q23 44 q29 88
q6 73 q12 53 q18 69 q24 63 q30 79
Note q1 to q30 represent each item of Evaluation sheet
p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001
215
The findings in Table 52 showed the item-total correlations of each subscale
of Evaluation sheet The results displayed that almost all the items significantly
positively correlated with the total of their respective subscale except q2
(Neuroticism) q13 and q16 (Openness) q19 (Agreeableness) and q27
(Conscientiousness) This shows the construct validity of each subscale of Evaluation
sheet
Table 53
Inter-correlation of main scales of Evaluation sheet (N = 25)
Scale I II III IV V
I Neuroticism (N) -
II Extraversion (E) -41 -
III Openness (O) -07 60 -
IV Agreeableness (A) -24 23 19 -
V Conscientiousness (C) -49 48 31 57 -
p lt 05 P lt 01
Table 53 showed the inter-correlation of five main domains of Evaluation
sheet The results revealed that the 5 main scales are significantly correlated with each
other except Openness (O) and Agreeableness (A) domains Neuroticism (N) domain
is negatively correlated with all other domains The same pattern of inter-correlation
of five domains was observed on the sample of students (see Table 8 and 19) This
inter correlations matrix showed the construct validity of the five domains of
Evaluation sheet
216
In this part of the study repeated measure one way analysis of variance was
computed on five groups of expert on five domains of evaluation sheet The
frequencies of experts mentioning the personality types corresponding to their careers
were also calculated The results are shown below
Table 54
Mean and standard deviation between five groups of experts based on their scores on
five domains of Evaluation sheet (N = 25)
Domains of
personality
Experts of Selected Careers
Doctor
(N = 5)
Army
(N = 5)
Teacher
(N = 5)
Lawyer
(N = 5)
Engineer
(N = 5)
M SD M SD M SD M SD M S SD
Neuroticism 980 466 1060 207 1500 367 1620 11 521 1500 158
Extraversion 3160 385 3660 56 3600 200 3220 11 327 2920 327
Openness 2860 297 2980 249 3140 219 2940 11 573 2820 549
Agreeable-
ness
3500 283 3520 217 3320 487 3140 11 321 3140 288
Conscientiou
sness
3620 402 4040 140 3580 587 3440 11 541 3460 152
Note M = Mean scores SD = Standard deviation
Table 54 indicated the mean and standard deviation of five groups of experts
of five different careers on the five domain of evaluation sheet The lawyers group has
the highest mean scores on Neuroticism followed by teacher and engineers Army
group has the highest mean on Extraversion followed by teacher Teachers group has
the highest mean scores on Openness followed by Army and lawyers group Army
217
and doctors group have the highest mean on Agreeableness domain Army group have
the highest mean on Conscientiousness followed by the doctors
Repeated measure ANOVA
Repeated measure ANOVA is used to separates between-subject variability
from within-subject variability
Table 55
Repeated Measure Analysis of variance (ANOVA) between five groups of experts
based on their scores on five domains of Evaluation sheet (N = 25)
Effects MS df F Greenhouse-Geisser
Five domains of Evaluation
sheet
208753 4 17765 p lt 001
Five domains of Evaluation
sheet x Vocations of Experts
2644 16 225 p lt 024
Error 1175 80
p lt 001 p lt 05 Male = 243 Female = 239 Five main domains of Evaluation sheet (neuroticism
extraversion openness agreeableness and conscientiousness) Five groups of experts based on five vocations
(Doctor Army Teacher Lawyer and Engineer)Mauchly‟s Test W = 37 χ 2 (9) = 1816 p lt 05
Wilks‟ Lambda = 027 F (4 16) =1 75 p gt 05
In order to test sphericity Mauchlylsquos Test was inspected which was
significant W = 37 χ 2 (9) = 1816 p lt 05 suggesting that the assumption of
sphericity had been violated A one-way within subjects (or repeated measures)
ANOVA was conducted to compare the effect of five group of vocations on five main
domains of evaluation sheet However results in Table 55 suggested that five domains
of evaluation sheet have significant differences within subjects however there are
non-significant effects of five groups of expert on five domains of evaluation sheet
218
(Wilkslsquo Lambda = 027 F (4 16) =1 75 p gt 050 These results suggested that
different vocations do not have an effect on five domains of evaluation sheet
Table 56
Frequencies of expert opinions about personality types corresponding with their
careers (N = 25)
Career
expert
N Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional
Doctor 5 - 4 - 1 - -
Army 5 - - - - 5 -
Teacher 5 - - - 5 - -
Lawyer 5 - - - 1 4 -
Engineer 5 1 4 - - - -
The frequencies mentioned in Table 56 showed the expert opinion about the
personality types which correspond with their profession The results demonstrated
that doctors picked Investigative type which corresponds with their profession
According to Holland occupational title classification (HOC) doctors have the
investigative as their highest summary code This showed the degree of agreement
between expert opinion and Holland summary codes The experts belonging to Army
group selected Enterprising personality type which corresponds with their profession
According to HOC army occupation has the Realistic as their highest summary code
This showed disparity between expert opinion and highest summary code for army
occupation The experts from teachers group preferred Social personality type as the
most suitable type which corresponds with their profession According to HOC
219
teachers should have Social as their highest summary code This showed degree of
agreement between expert opinion of group of teacher and corresponding Holland
summary code
The lawyers group of experts picked Enterprising as their suitable type which
also corresponds with Holland summary code The engineer group selected
Investigative as the most suitable personality type which also corresponds with the
Holland summary code Overall the results showed that there is a correspondence
between expert opinion and Holland classification of occupation except the
occupation of Army which is one of the most preferred careers of students in
Pakistan
Discussion
The study was conducted on the five groups of experts which were selected on
the basis of five favorite vocational aspirations of students In total 25 experts were
selected to determine the expert opinion about personality and vocational interests in
Pakistani context The Alpha reliabilities coefficients of five domains measured by
evaluation sheet also show moderate Alpha value except Openness domain (α = 31)
This also showed that the relevance of Openness domain to the Pakistani culture need
to be deliberated with more validity studies on different samples
One way repeated measure analysis of variance was calculated for the five
groups of experts on five domains of evaluation sheets The results showed that mean
differences between the five groups of experts Lawyer have the highest mean on
220
Neuroticism (M = 1620 SD = 521) as compared to other groups Similar finding
were observed when one way repeated measure analysis of variance was conducted
on five groups of students based on vocational aspirations on five domains of NEO
PI-R (see Table 44) There were non-significant differences on five domains however
lawyer have the highest mean on Neuroticism as compared to other groups On
Extraversion domain significant mean differences were also observed on five groups
of experts The mean scores of army and teacher groups have the highest mean value
as compared to other groups
The five groups of experts were also given the conceptual definitions of six
personality types of vocational interests They were requested to choose the one
personality type out of six which correspond with your profession The result showed
that 4 doctors picked investigative type while 1 picked social type According to
Holland occupational classification (HOC) physicians have investigative as their first
summary code The results corresponded for the group of doctors
All five experts from regular Army picked enterprising as their most
corresponding personality type According to HOC Army has Realistic type as their
highest summary code This showed a disparity between the HOC classification and
expert opinion The Enterprising types show preference for activities that involve
manipulation of others to achieve organizational goals or economic gain perceive
themselves as aggressive self-confident and sociable and value political and
economic achievement The enterprising type like enterprising jobs and has leadership
and speaking abilities but often lacks scientific ability They are energetic extraverted
adventurous and domineering etc While Realistic types are predisposed to activities
221
that entail working with objects perceive themselves as having mechanical and
athletic abilities and value the tangibles They prefer activities involving the
systematic manipulation of machinery tools or animals The Realistic type like
realistic jobs and has mechanical abilities but may lack social skills They are asocial
practical conforming uninsightful uninvolved and hardheaded
For teachers all the expert rated Social type as their most suitable type The
HOC classification also reported Social as their highest summary code for teacher
For Lawyer and Engineer the expert opinion and HOC classification are almost the
same
Overall the findings of the this part of the study are supportive of the
conclusions drawn from the previous parts of present study except for the relevance of
occupation of army when compared with the Holland occupational classification The
results revealed that cultural relevance of some of the occupations mentioned in the
HOC classification need to be established in Pakistan
222
Chapter VIII
GENERAL DISCUSSION
The study was designed to find out the personality and vocational interests
among students from government high schools in Pakistan It also explored the
vocational aspirations of the students Based on the vocational aspirations of the
students five most favorite career choices were selected The differences between
Personality profiles for these careers deliberated by the experts belonging to these five
selected vocations were also investigated The personality types corresponding to
different careers in the opinion of experts of selected career were also determined
The differences with respect to demographic variables (gender sciencearts
urbanrural 9th
10th
class and parentslsquo education) on personality and vocational
interests were also explored
In Pakistan there are different types of schools Some of the schools are from
public sector and other belongs to private sector In private sector there are different
categories of schools Some of the schools systems are well established and their
branches are situated all over Pakistan Whereas some private schools are established
with different names and are present in every nook and corner of the urbanized
localities of Pakistan In government schools again there are different categories
Some of the schools are public schools some are cadet colleges and some are under
the administrative control of provinces The government schools are present in urban
223
areas as well as in rural areas of Pakistan In rural areas of Pakistan there are very
few private schools available for students whereas the bulk of the students belonging
to rural areas are bound to study in government schools The government schools
have nominal fee structure as compared to private schools Moreover people from low
socio-economic status can only afford to send their children in government schools
The government schools in a province generally have a common syllabus In
Punjab these schools are also called as Urdu medium schools In Pakistan about 70
of the population lives in rural areas Therefore these schools cater for the students
belonging to large segment of society The results of focus groups and interviews
showed that there are no school psychologistslsquo or career counselorslsquo posted to these
schools After passing middle standard examinations the students are to choose
between two main categories of science subjects and Arts subjects (humanities
group) The science and arts groups of students have not only different subjects to
study but there are many careers which depend on these categories Hence the present
study focused students in their schools years to understand the dynamics of
personality and vocational interests
Two most widely used models to measure personality and vocational interests
are FFM and Hollandlsquos typology respectively Costa and McCrae (1992a) developed
the measure NEO PI-R based on five factor model Holland has proposed a
comprehensive model of vocational interests which is another expression of
personality Holland (1994) has developed a comprehensive measure of vocational
interests ie Self Directed Search (SDS) Vocational aspirations of the participants
are also explored which is considered as the part of SDS Keeping in view the sample
224
characteristics it was decided that Urdu translated version of NEO PI-R and SDS
would be used to measure personality and vocational interests The sample of the
study consisted of students from Urdu medium government schools from Rawalpindi
Urdu being the national language is being taught and spoken customarily in these
schools On the other hand in English medium schools the focus is more in written as
well as spoken English Urdu is being neglected in these categories of schools
During interviews and focus groups from principal and teachers of Urdu
medium government schools (see chapter II for details) it was revealed that Urdu as a
language can be easily read and comprehended by the students of Urdu medium
schools The test contents of Urdu version of NEO PI-R and SDS were discussed in
detail with the experts and even with the principal of schools It was decided that
comprehensive Urdu translated versions are available and can be used to determine
the relevance of these two widely used model of personality and vocational interests
on the high school students
The relationship between personality and vocational interests of the high
school students proved that substantial relationship existed between the two models
(for details see chapter IV pages 144 to 150) Extraversion is significantly correlated
with Social and Enterprising interests Openness domain is significantly correlated
with all the six personality types (see Table 23) The findings are supported by the
other studies like Nauta (2004) and Rottinghaus Lindley Green amp Borgen (2002)
Hartman and Betz (2007) also found that Conscientiousness is related to Investigative
Social Enterprising and Conventional confidence Neuroticism is negatively related
225
to all but artistic interests and Extraversion related to Artistic Social and
Enterprising domains
Agreeableness domain is significantly correlated with all the personality types
except Realistic and Social types Conscientiousness domain is significantly
positively correlated with all the six personality types The results showed moderate
strong relationship between Conscientiousness and Conventional type (see Table 23)
The meta-analytic results of Larson et al (2002) study were especially helpful in
identifying modest but positive relationships between the big dimensions of interests
and personality Thus three correlations range from 22 to 28 investigative is
correlated with openness correlated conventional is correlated with
conscientiousness and enterprising is correlated with conscientiousness The
implications of these meta-analytic results suggested new conceptualizations of
understanding of both personality and interest
Personality and vocational interests are strongly related starting with the early
study by Costa et al (1984) and to the most recent studies (Barrett 2009 Barrick et
al 2003 Bullock amp Reardon 2008 Ehrhart amp Makransky 2007 Hartman amp Betz
2007 Harris et al 2006 Larson et al 2002 Logue et al 2007 Staggs et al 2007
Zhang 2008)
Gottfredson (1999) suggested that future genetic analysis will help to identify
the common causal factors between interests and personality Costa et al (1995) have
introduced a vocational-like measure intended to mimic the Big Five labeled the
NEO Job Profiler a tool that quantify the match between the person and a specific
226
position Therefore the integration of personality and vocational interest will provide a
more holistic and accurate picture of the person
Thus the conclusion from two meta-analyses (Barrick et al 2003 Larson et
al 2002) is that there is modest relationship between personality and vocational
interest types and in some cases the correlations are very nominal The same is the
case with the present study One of the limitations was that the openness dimension
showed low reliability coefficient among the study participants However the
meaningful significant and consistent results regarding the relation of openness to
interests supported the measurelsquos validity within this sample However the facet
scales Fantasy Actions and Values of Openness domain need to be deliberated
thoroughly for their relevance in Pakistani culture
The existing theoretical reviews provided the information for counseling
applications in the areas of vocational and educational outcomes For instance the
extraversion and enterprising overlap can provide information which can be helpful
for the vocational counselor (Staggs et al 2007) The client who is extraverted and
has enterprising interests is likely to be successful at jobs which are related to
extraverted and enterprising characteristics as compared to the individual who does
not possess extraverted and enterprising personality disposition This information is
useful for general direction but more specific input is required for more complex
career counseling Many psychologists have moved forward from this general
information toward more precise and complex Personality-Interest convergence
(Blake amp Sackett 1999 Waller et al 1995)
227
It has been observed in the literature review that Conscientiousness and
Emotional Stability are consistently related to job performance (Barrick et al 2001
Hurtz amp Donovan 2000 Salgado 1997) Judge and Ilies (2002) were of the opinion
that conscientiousness and emotional stability are related to motivation coupled with
performance orientation These two traits are also related with goal setting and self-
efficacy Conscientiousness is coupled with limited problem in work behaviors and is
associated with suitable behaviors in the job in hand (Barrick et al 2001 Salgado
1997) Conscientiousness individual are generally easily fit into the jobs which
require conventional interests They generally prefer organizational cultures that are
outcome and detail oriented (Hofstee et al 1992 Judge amp Cable 1997)
Agreeableness traits are associated with motivation only when cooperative
demands and teamwork are required in the jobs Agreeableness was non-significantly
correlated with Hollandlsquos social interests and other interpersonal variables (Betz amp
Borgen 2010) This finding has been supported in the present research as there is
non-significant relationship between agreeableness personality domain and Hollandlsquos
social interests
On the other hand Extraversion traits are related to motivation only when
competitive environment and systematic advancement in the job are required Those
individuals will be more motivated who are in a state of congruence with the job
When personality and interests are related to the job then higher job performance can
be achieved Extraversion has characteristics like assertiveness and ambitious and are
generally found fit with jobs that are enterprising as well as social types (Hofstee et
al 1992 Tokar amp Swanson 1995)
228
Many researches and meta-analyses of the relationships of the Big Five to job
performance have consistently supported the strength of Conscientiousness as a
positive predictor of job performance across performance criteria in occupations
(Barrick amp Mount 1991 Barrick et al 2001 Dunn Mount Barrick amp Ones 1995
Tokar et al 1998) Extraversion has often been shown to be a strong predictor for
those jobs involving social interaction such as management and sales (Barrick amp
Mount 1991 Tokar et al 1998) Openness and Extraversion were found to predict
success in job training programs (Barrick amp Mount 1991) Mount et al (1998) found
that Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability (the inverse of Neuroticism) were
related to performance in jobs involving working with others whether those are
colleagues customers or patients In the prediction of overall job satisfaction
Neuroticism (negatively) Conscientiousness and Extraversion were the strongest
predictors across occupations (Judge amp Ilies 2002) A meta-analysis by Judge
Thoresen Bono and Patton (2001) concluded that people tend to be high performers
when they like their jobs They would be more satisfied with the job performance
There is ongoing debate that Big Five are predictive of vocational interests or
facet traits also add to the prediction (Paunonen 1998 Paunonen amp Jackson 2000
Schneider Hough amp Dunnette 1996) Addition of facet traits of personality along
with five big traits support Sullivan and Hansenlsquos (2004) finding that Aesthetics facet
is associated with the Artistic interests Similar findings were reported by Waller et al
(1995) who found that Assertiveness was related to the enterprising interests In the
present study the relationship between facets traits and vocational interests provided
insight into the study for more precise prediction of future careers
229
Costa et al (2001) suggested that gender differences on personality replicated
across cultures both on college and adult samples Women are generally found higher
in neuroticism agreeableness warmth and openness to feelings whereas men were
higher in assertiveness and openness to ideas (McCrae et al 2002a)
Openness to Experience in Pakistani Context
It was found that among the five widely examined personality factors of the
FFM Openness to Experience is the most controversial (McCrae amp John 1992)
McCrae and Costa (1997) acknowledged that ―the concept of Openness appears to be
unusually difficult to grasp (p 826) The relatively weak psychometric properties of
the Openness factor in non-Western cultures was another area of concern as compared
to the other four domains of the FFM (Cheung et al 2008) Individuals high on
openness to experience generally found best fit when the jobs are related to artistic
and social types Previous researches have also found that such individuals are
attracted to environment in organization that are innovative creative and detail
oriented (Hofstee et al 1992 Judge amp Cable 1997) However openness has been
replicated across cultures along with other four personality factors of FFM (McCrae
amp Costa 1997 McCrae amp John 1992)
During the process of translation of NEO PI-R the items of openness domain
were difficult to translate into Urdu (Chishti 2002) Each item was analyzed
extensively and some items were rephrased and modified according to the Pakistani
culture During the process of Urdu translation efforts were made to translate the
feeling connotation of the statement rather than literal meanings of the original words
230
The alpha reliability of openness domain of Urdu version were 57 74 17 13 67
15 and English version were 47 57 21 12 43 and 22 for six facet scales
fantasy Aesthetics feelings actions ideas and values respectively After dropping 8
items for the final analysis the openness facets has Urdu version alpha reliability are
51 72 30 20 72 and 20 for respective facets which is still not at the desirable
level
Five factors have been found similar to that of the American norms in cross-
cultural comparisons in 36 cultures (McCrae amp Allik 2002 McCrae Costa Del-
Pilar Rolland amp Parker 1998) However normative structure was not replicated in
Malaysia Nigeria and Zimbabwe These discrepancies have been pointed out by
McCrae and Terracciano (2005) and reason is probably the low internal consistency
of the Openness factor
McCrae Costa and Yik (1996) reported the alpha coefficient of the Values
facet was only 32 in Hong Kong university students The alpha coefficient of the
Openness factor was 53 in Chinese university students (Cheung et al 2001) The
facet scales Actions and Values have alpha coefficients of 10 and 29 which show
low internal consistency of Openness domain in Chinese culture Yang et al (1999)
also reported low internal consistency of facets scale of openness ranging from 28 to
73
In other Asian cultures Openness factor have been found problematic in many
studies Katigbak Church and Guanzon-Lapena (2002) found the low alpha
coefficients for Values (22) and Feelings (44) facet scales for Filipino students
Lodhi Deo and Belhekar (2002) noted the alphas coefficients of Actions (43) and
231
Values (10) were fairly low among Indian postgraduate students Mastor Jin and
Cooper (2000) found low alpha coefficients for Actions (28) and Values (48) for
Malay students in Malaysia
In contrast openness factor have much higher alpha reliability coefficients in
Europe determined by many studies ranging from 81 to 90 (Allik Laidra Realo amp
Pullmann 2004 Aluja Garcia amp Garcia 2003 Berings et al 2004) McCrae (2002)
suggested less individual differences on Openness to Experience in traditional
cultures due to limited life options Pakistan being the developing country and having
collectivistic culture the low internal consistency of openness scale could be due to
the reasons as explained by McCrae (2002)
There may be several reasons for the weak psychometric properties of the
Openness factor in Pakistani samples One of the reasons of low internal consistencies
may be due to sampling error as suggested by McCrae et al (1996) However Caruso
(2000) in a meta-analysis found that the low internal consistency of Openness in some
studies is not caused by sampling error The other reason may be due to the problems
in distortion of concepts in the Urdu translation like in Chinese translation of NEO PI-
R (Leung Cheung Zhang Song amp Xie 1997)
In discussing the low reliability (32) of the Values facet in their study
McCrae et al (1996) suggested the concept of ―characteristic adaptation the culture-
specific manifestation of a universal underlying trait If this is the reason then it is
essential to adopt an indigenous approach The construct of openness need to be
operationalize in local context The adaptation of the manifestation of the construct
also needs to be taken up in accordance to cultural context Emic and etic approaches
232
could also be consciously initiated to see the relevance of Openness construct in
indigenously derived instruments The facets scales of Fantasy and Values of
openness domain did not emerge in the cultural concept of openness in China
(Cheung et al 2008) so this may be the case when exploring openness factor in
Pakistani context
Vocational Interests
In Pakistan having a collectivist culture there are many factors which are
influencing the vocational interests of the students It is very difficult to pinpoint the
common factors for all students However in the present study the general trends
showed that majority of the students preferred Conventional type occupations
followed by Social types The Conventional types are interested in activities that
require ordered manipulation of data and records Since there are limited career
opportunities in Pakistan for students of government school there are chances that
students are inclined towards those occupations which can be easily achieved
However the trend is slightly different when gender differences are accounted for
Male students have preference for Conventional type occupations while female have
preferences for Social and Artistic type occupations
In order to prepare the youth for changeable economic conditions the concept
career development should be practiced vigorously for this period As a result of
economic social and political changes and progress in Pakistan there is a requirement
to introduce quality of career education programs in schools The focus should be on
the enhancement of career management skills of the students Efficient career training
233
programs should be implemented for the Pakistani human resource and need to be
prepared in harmony with the studentslsquo skills and development levels
In Pakistan two main types of subjects are being taught at high school level in
government schools The science group consists of science subjects while in Arts
group the subjects are from humanities group Still some schools have limited faculty
to teach science or arts subjects therefore the allotment of subjects to students is
according to their convenience Vocational aspirations of the students are of great
significance at this very junction of student life They have to decide which career
they are intended to adopt This decision making by the students have very long
lasting effects on their future careers
The results in the present study revealed that doctor is considered as the most
favorite career choice in Pakistan Only those students can get admission in
professional medical colleges who achieved very good marks in science subjects In
Pakistan doctor is considered as the best job for female students However very few
students who achieved outstanding results in academic career can get admission in
medical colleges
Another favorite career for male students is Army In Pakistan there are
limited job opportunities getting jobs in government department on merit is
considered as very difficult However Armed forces provided sufficient opportunity to
the youth to join on merit In Armed forces recruiting process continues throughout
the year Moreover due to job security armed forces are still the best option available
for male students But unfortunately the students who aspired army as vocational
aspiration have high degree of incongruence with their vocational interests The same
234
is the case with vocational aspiration of lawyer and engineer A timely intervention
can help the students for pursuing more realistic and suitable career for them
Moreover the results obtained on students were generally the same when opinions of
expert were obtained on personality and vocational interests Therefore the relevance
of Hollandlsquos themes needs further deliberations in Pakistani context
The profession of teacher is considered as one of the best for females Female
students also wanted to be advocate in their life This showed that female are coming
out and adopting different occupations which were earlier considered nontraditional
for them
There are also many factors which started influencing the students from very
early age These factors including parents siblings peer socio economic area
schools etc need to be studied in depth for better understanding about the vocational
aspirations of the students The government has provided lot of job opportunities to
female in different departments Hence they are competing with their male
counterparts in every field Since there are gender differences between the vocational
interests of students therefore different career opportunities for male and female
should be planned and provided to the students by the government
In Pakistan majority of the students of government schools are not able to
achieve their vocational aspiration because there is lot of competition for limited
vacancies in a particular job More over there is no proper guidance available to
students at schools or governmental level therefore their vocational aspirations of
different occupations at times did not correspond with their interest and competencies
235
There is a vital requirement to employ career counselor in schools for the proper
guidance of students
Congruency refers to the compatibility of the personality and the environment
Holland suggested that congruency between personality and environment in jobs lead
to occupational satisfaction stability and achievement (Holland 1973) However in
the present study there was a state of moderate congruence between vocational
aspirations of doctor and teacher and their vocational interests On the other hand
there was a state of incongruence for the vocational aspirations of Army Advocate
and Engineer and their vocational interests These findings are also food for thought
for the policy makers and to those career counselor and human resource person who
are working in these fields
Reardon and Lenz (1998) and Holland Gottfredson and Nafziger (1975)
indicated that persons with poor diagnostic signs on the Self-Directed Search were
likely candidates for more intensive interventions They suggested that these
interventions may be provided by highly trained professional Lack of congruence
between vocational aspirations and vocational summary codes low coherence among
aspirations and a high point code in the Realistic or Conventional area are the
problematic areas which require immediate attention The findings of the present
study revealed that there is an immediate requirement for timely intervention at the
high school level to guide and counsel the Pakistani youth for the future productive
workforce
The mismatch between policy and practice is similar to that of many other
countries In Pakistan there are limited published researches (Ansari 1981 Aziz
236
2001 Riaz 1995 Zaidi 1979) on occupational aspirations and expectations of
Pakistani adolescents Therefore understanding the dynamics of vocational aspirations
can play an important role in attainment of educational and career choices The
information about vocational aspirations can also provide important clues about career
development
This research attempted to address some of the gaps in the broader literature
about adolescent as it is also identified by Rojewski (2005) While it is acknowledged
that vocational interests and goals emerge in childhood (Hartung Porfeli amp
Vondracek 2005) adolescence seems to be a crucial period for the study of their
development Research showed that during adolescence interests crystallize and
stabilize and career goals and aspirations become more realistic in terms of
adaptation to personal and environmental characteristics (Larson Wei Wu Borgen
amp Bailey 2007 Low amp Rounds 2007 Walls 2000)
Cultural Perspective
The wide use of NEO PI-R in several cross cultural investigations attested its
broad based applicability and practical validity which has resultantly earned a status
of cross cultural instrument (Yung 1999) Allik and McCrae (2004) conducted
secondary analyses with FFM data from 36 cultures and found differences between
European and American cultures with Asian and African cultures It was found that
European and American cultures were higher in Extraversion and Openness to
Experience and lower in Agreeableness
237
Costa et al (2001) reported smallest gender differences in personality among
Asian and African cultures and largest gender differences were found in Europe
These studies demonstrated comparison between mean levels of personality across
cultures This is a useful approach for understanding the important links between
culture and personality (Schmitt Allik McCrae amp Benet-Martinez 2007)
Emmerik et al (2010) suggested that there is a sort of ―national character (see
Allik amp McCrae 2004 Schmitt et al 2007) that may interact with culture to shape
the manifestation of acquired needs in work settings Furthermore many studies
provided controversial and inconsistent findings on Hollandlsquos vocational structure
across different cultures (Rounds 1995 Rounds amp Tracey 1996 Ryan et al 1996)
In traditional Asian cultures an individuallsquos occupation is equally important to his
significant others
Economic development and radical changes in the society as well as in the
labor market in Pakistan for the last two decades provided both challenges and
opportunities for career counseling Unemployment has increased manifold and
graduates are no longer guaranteed a job Students have to hunt for jobs for successful
living Consequently importance of vocational guidance has recently become
critically important However vocational guidance in Pakistan is still a dream and
lacks institutional support in government schools
In the present study some of the high school students could not understand
some of the concepts used in the SDS (see Appendix Mlsquo) So there is a requirement
when career counselors apply the SDS to Pakistani clients they should be very careful
to make sure that their clients fully understand the entire concepts One of the