Bruce W. Hartman

A Study of the Predictive Validity of the Career Decision Scale in Identifying Longitudinal Patterns of Career Indecision.

Abstract Two obstacles to the differential diagnosis and treatment of career indecision are the lack of a valid diagnostic schema and an inability to consistently quantify and measure the indecision. This study represents an attempt to address both of these problems through a 4-year follow-up of high school graduates. The results suggest that the typology that emerged from the longitudinal career indecision patterns may have some potential as diagnostic categories and that the Career Decision Scale, to some extent, is able to discriminate among them.

The reliability/generalizability of the construct of career indecision

Abstract When examining the reliability of measures of career indecision an expectation has been stability of scores between test and retest. It has been suggested that perhaps the construct of career indecision was not stable and modest test-retest correlations would be an accurate reflection of an inherently unstable construct. Using generalizability theory, we found that stability (i.e., the person × occasion variance component) varied according to the difficulty in making a career decision.

The Utility of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory with Offenders

Self-report instruments can provide useful information as part of a thorough clinical assessment. However, their use in forensic settings can be problematic. The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) has recently been proposed as an effective instrument for screening and outcome measurement in anger management programs. This study evaluated the effectiveness of this instrument in a sample of both voluntary and court-ordered anger-management clients, all of whom were determined through diagnostic interviews to have significant anger problems. Contrary to findings in nonforensic samples, the STAXI Trait Anger scale identified only about half of the participants as having anger-management problems severe enough to require intervention. Supplemental analysis with two additional scales did not significantly improve sensitivity. In addition to thorough diagnostic interviewing, forensic use of the STAXI (like similar assessment methods) may require additional validity scales to detect denial or socially desirable response patterns.

The Problems of and Remedies for Nonresponse Bias in Educational Surveys

AbstractThe detrimental effects of nonresponse bias are particularly significant given the widespread use of the survey data collection method in educational surveys. The authors explore and critique the current methods for remediating nonresponse bias in educational surveys.

The Concurrent Validity of the Self Directed Search in Identifying Chronic Career Indecision Among Vocational Education Students

J. Mark Conneran is an administrator in the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical High Schools, in New Jersey and is a doctoral student in Counseling Psychology at Seton Hall University. Bruce W. Hartman is a professor in the Counseling Psychology Department, College of Education, Seton Hall University, and a licensed psychologist in private practice. Address correspondence to J. Mark Conneran, MA, Seton Hall University, 400 So. Orange Ave, 102 McQuaid Hall, So. Orange, NJ 07079.

PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF THE CAREER DECISION SCALE ADMINISTERED TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

To study the predictive validity of the Career Decision Scale adapted for high school students, the scale was administered to 205 seniors in a suburban Chicago high school in the spring of the senior year. Two years later, students were surveyed by telephone about their career decisions. Two of the three factor scores on the adapted Career Decision Scale taken during the senior year contributed to the discriminant function that resulted in 85% correct classification of students remaining either decided or undecided two years after high school graduation.

An Analysis of Gender Differences in the Factor Structure of the Career Decision Scale

The factor structure of the Career Decision Scale, but not total scores, showed gender differences in a sample of undergraduate college students. The factor structure of the CDS tended to be more stable for females than males over a six-week interval. The only item on the CDS that describes an interpersonal reason for being undecided was omitted from the factor structure for females, but not males. Reliance on total scores remains the most useful option because of the instability of the factor structure over time and across samples. In the search for variables which contribute to our understanding of career indecision, those which differentiate between the indecision experienced by males and females are still undetermined and are a useful area for further research.

Assessment of change in scores on personal control orientation and use of drugs and alcohol of adolescents who participate in a cognitively oriented pretreatment intervention.

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the effect of participation in a cognitively oriented, pretreatment intervention on the control orientation of substance-using behavior of 48 adolescents admitted to drug-free outpatient treatment. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions and to one of two counselors. A comparison of changes in control orientation between groups was made after implementation of the intervention with the treated group and after both groups had participated in six counseling sessions. A 2-way multivariate analysis of covariance showed type of treatment was significant. Follow-up analyses indicated the treated group were significantly more internal than the control group at both posttest occasions. A one-tailed chi-squared test indicated no significant association in substance use for the groups.

Survey research in higher education

Although textbooks on educational research give only scant attention to survey research methodology, its extensive use in education provides a strong rationale for improving the preparation of educational researchers in effectively applying survey methods. This study reviews methods for dealing with nonresponse bias, the primary problem presented by survey methods. It also provides an updated review of the literature of studies investigating the effectiveness of incentives to increase survey response rates. We hypothesized that a reanalysis of reviewed studies, using a linear trend test, would resolve the inconsistencies found regarding the effectiveness of incentives to increase response rates. The results of the reanalysis and guidelines for educational researchers in systematically selecting and applying incentives to increase response rates are discussed.

Multivariate Generalizability Analysis of Three Measures of Career Indecision

A persons x occasions multivariate generalizability analysis was done separately for males (n = 90) and females (n = 173) by using the Career Decision Scale (Osipow, 1980), My Vocational Situation (Holland, Draiger, and Power, 1980), and the Vocational Decision Scale (Jones, 1977). The estimated variance components for persons tended to be larger for females than for males and largest, regardless of sex, for the My Vocational Situation scale. The non-zero variance components for the occasions facet indicated that error variance attributable to total score instability across testing occasions was present for all three scales to about the same degree. The non-zero covariances for the occasions facet indicated that the occasion on which higher total scores were obtained on one scale was likely to be the same occasion on which higher scores were obtained on the other two scales. That this covarying was more apparent for males than for females suggested that males may perceive career indecision as a general concern by rating all three measures according to their judgment of that general level of indecision. On the other hand, females in comparison with males apparently viewed indecision more multidimensionally in terms of making finer discriminations between scale content, a circumstance resulting in more independence between scale responses.