INCREASING VOCATIONAL INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIORS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS by Ronald E. Redmond ~ Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 19 72 ~ ( 1 APPROVAL SHEET Title of Thesis: Increasing Vocational Information Seeking Behaviors of High School Students Name of Candidate: Ronald E. Doctor of 1972 Byrne Associate Professor Counseling and Personnel Services Date Approved: I h ~ 0 ' 7 ""- ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: Increasing Vocational Information Seeking Behaviors of High School Students Ronald E. Redmond, Doctor of Philosophy Disser t a t ion directed by: Professor Richard Hill Byrne Purpose This study was an outgrowth of previous research which investigated reinforcement techniques used to increase the frequency of vocational in- formation seeking behaviors (VISB). Based on the Larramore (1971) finding that subjects (Ss) intended but did not always carry out the suggested voca- tional information seeking behaviors (VISB), it became apparent that addi- tional research was required to increase the actual performance of certain career seeking behaviors. This research was designed to evaluate the rein- forcing effects of the Self-Directed Search (SDS, Holland, 1970) and con- tingency contracts on the frequency of VISB performed by high s chool Ss. It was as sumed that the administration of the Self-Directed Search (SDS) followed by a contingency contract would increase the performance of a greater number of VISB than the administration of the SDS alone . Procedure The experiment required: (1) Administration of a pretest which measured the current VISB of all 360 high school Ss. (2) Administration of treatment one (SDS and Vocational Guidance Questionnaire, VGQ I) to one group of 120 experimental Ss, and the administration of treatment two (SDS, VGQ I, and contingency contracts), to another group of 120 experimental Ss and, (3) Administration of a posttest which measured the number of VISB actually performed by the 360 high school Ss included in the experiment. The criterion measures were: intended and actual VISB, the number of occu- pations listed, and the Ss' reported amount of certainty with career plans. Findi ngs Evaluat i on of the reinforcing qual i ties of the Self-Directed Search (SDS, Holland, 1970) r equired a comparison between the pretest and first postt est mean scores of vocational information seeking behaviors (VISB). An analysis of the data indicated that 240 experimental Subjects (Ss) exposed t o tre a tment one, (SDS and Vocational Guidance Questionnaire, VGQ I), scored significantly higher on the first posttest of intended VISB s cores. It was concluded that treatment one, (SDS & VGQ I) apparently reinforced the Ss to intend to perform a greater number of VISB. In order to evaluate the reinforcing qualities of contingency contracts, a comparison was made between treatment two (SDS, VGQ I and contingency con- tract ) and treatment one (SDS & VGQ I) involving the criterion measures of VISB actually performed, the number of occupations listed, and the Ss' re- ported amount of certainty with career plans. An analysis of the data indi- cated that there was no significant difference at the .01 level between the two treatments. It was concluded that the use of contingency contracts did not add measureably to the SDS in increasing the experimental Ss' scores on the cri te r i on measures . A comparison made between the adjusted mean scores of the 240 experi- mental Ss with the 120 control Ss indicated that both treatment one (SDS & VGQ I) and treatment two (SDS, VGQ I & contingency contract) influenced significantly higher mean scores on two criterion measures than did the control procedures. Experimental Ss performed more VISB and listed more occupations than the control Ss. On the third criterion measure of Ss' re- ported amount of certainty with career plans there was no significant dif- ference. Related findings also indicated significant interactions occurred between treatment, sex, and type of student on the criterion dimensions of VISB and occupations listing. College bound populations generally scored higher than the work oriented Ss. College bound males, in particular, scored the highest while work oriented males generally scored the lowest. College bound females exposed to treatment two (SDS , VGQ I, & contingency contracts) generally scored the highest of the female Ss. In was concluded that the use of the Self-Directed Search (SDS) in educational-vocational career planning influenced the intent and performance of vocational information seeking behaviors (VISB) and the listing of occupa- tions for consideration. The SDS apparently failed to increase the Ss' re- ported amount of certainty with career plans. It was also found that the technique of contingency contracting did not add measureably to the criterion measure scores. Both experimental treatments, however, appeared to influence significantly higher criterion measure scores than the use of control proced- ures. Suggestions were made for futher study in the area of contingency contracting and extended use of the Self-Directed Search in other settings and with other populations. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks are due to my major advisor, Dr. Richard Hill Byrne, whose insights and guidance proved to be invaluable during the course of this research. The remainder of the research committee is also acknowledged for their helpful contributions: Dr. Kenneth Hoyt, Dr. James Raths, and Dr. David Rhoads. Appreciation is extended to Dr. John L. Holland, for reviewing the r esearch proposal and to Dr . Thelma Baldwin for sharing the findings of her study . The efforts of other people who assisted me greatly in various stages of the project are also appreciated, namely : Dr. Nancy Davis, Dr. Anthony DiCesare, Miss Martha Kaslow, and Mr. Basil Hamilton. Computer time for this research project was made available through the facilities of the University of Maryland Computer Science Center, and this help is gratefully acknowledged . Without the assistance of the Montgomery County Public School System, this investigation would not have been possible. In gathering research articles, Librarians, Miss Laura Justin and Mrs . Karen Dowling were extremely helpful. I also appreciate the cooperation of the teachers, counselors and the princiP3-l.s, Dr. Fred Dunn, and Mr. Charles McCormick, the county research directors, Dr. Samuel Goodman, his assistant Dr. Calvin Blatt, and Mr . Gerald Nelson, counselor s pecialist, for facilitating the arrangements. I am es- pecially grateful to the eleventh grade students of Wheaton and Robert E. Peary High School for their help. To my parents, in-laws, brothers and sister, and the members of the Teams goes a special word of thanks for their interest and encouragement . Particular thanks are due to my sister-in-law Peg, and to Helen, Jean, and the Director of Terp Services, Dr Anna Nemesh for their help in editing, typing,and proofreading this dissertation. Finally, to my wife Carol, and our four sons: Brian, Matthew, Martin, and Thomas for their sacrifice during the writing of this dissertation and throughout my entire graduate studies, I wish to express my deepest love and appreciation. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES . ix LIST OF FIGURES. xi I. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 1 A. Introduction . . 1 B. Justification and Need for Study 1 C. Systematic Procedures of Career Exploration and Choice 4 D. Definition of Terms. 5 E. Research Question .. 7 F. Criterion Variables. 8 G. Related Research Questions 9 H. Research Limitations . 10 I. Summary ... . 11 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 13 A. Introduction .. 13 B. Part I: Students' Vocational Orientation. 16 1. Employment Bound 16 2. College Bound 20 C. Part II: Information Seeking 23 1. Information Seeking Behaviors 23 2. Reinforcement 24 3. Modeling ... 26 iv 4. Characteristics of Models 28 5. Simulation. 30 6. Contingency Management .? 31 7. Contingency Contracting 32 8. Summary .. 36 D. Part III: Holland's Vocational Choice Theory. 37 1. Background of Theory. 37 2. Research on Holland's Theory. 38 3. Personality Cha racteristics and Vocational Choice 40 4. Practical Application of Holland's Theory 41 5. Vocational Preference Inventory ..... 43 6. Reliability of Vocational Preference Inventory. 44 7. Validity of Vocational Preference ...... . 45 8. Other Applications of the Vocational Preference Inventory ..... 48 9. Self-Directed Search. 49 10. Relationship of the Review of Literature to the Present Study ...... . 53 III. DESIGN OF THE INVESTIGATION AND THE EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES 55 A. Problem . 55 B. Research Hypotheses 55 C. Sample and Population 56 D. Randomization Procedures. 57 E. Experimental Design 58 F. Dependent Variables 58 G. Instrumentation .. 59 V 1. Student Interest Questionnaire ... 59 2. Vocational Guidance Questionnaire I. 62 3. Vocational Guidance Questionnaire II 64 4. Self-Directed Search for Educational and Vocational Planning ..... 64 5. Contingency Contract 66 6. Reports of Vocational Information Seeking. 67 H. Data Collection Procedures .... . . 67 I. Test Administrator and Test Assistants 71 J. Experimental Testing Room 71 K. Administration of Contingency Contracts. 71 L. Control Procedures ..... 72 M. Procedures for Administering the Vocational Guidance Questionnaire II . 72 N. Data Analysis. 73 IV. ANALYSIS OF DATA 74 A. Introduction 74 B. Findings . 75 1. Central Findings for Hypothesis One. 75 2. Central Findings for Hypothesis Two. 76 3. Related Findings for Hypothesis Two. 79 4. Central Findings for Hypothesis Three. 84 5. Related Findings for Hypothesis Three. 86 6. Central Findings for Hypothesis Four 89 7. Related Findings for Hypothesis Four 91 C. Summary . ..... . 94 vi V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 96 A. Summary . 96 B. Subjects (Ss) 96 c. Conclusions . 97 1. Hypothesis for Research Question One. 97 2. Hypothesis for Research Question Two. 98 3. Related Findings for the Second Research Question 98 4. Hypothesis for Research Question Three. 99 5. Related Findings for the Third Research Question. 99 6. Hypothesis for Research Question Four . 100 7. Related Findings for the Fourth Research Question 100 D. Summary .. 101 E. Discussion. 101 F. Vocational Information Seeking Actually Performed 103 G. Self-Report Data. 104 H. Interactions ... 106 I. Occupations Listing Behaviors 107 J. The Amount of Certainty with Career Plans 108 K. Recommendations .... 109 L. Self-Directed Search and Vocational Guidance Questionnaire 111 M. Future Research 112 N. Values of the Study 112 APPENDIX A. PILOT STUDY OF REINFORCEMENT MENU. 114 APPENDIX B. STUDENT INTEREST QUESTIONNAIRE .. 116 APPENDIX C. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE QUESTIONNAIRE I. 122 vii APPENDIX D. VOCATIONAL GUDIANCE QUESTIONNAIRE II. 128 APPENDIX E. THE SELF-DIRECTED SEARCH .... . 134 APPENDIX F. CONTRACT FOR INFORMATION SEEKING. 148 APPENDIX G. REPORTS OF VOCATIONAL INFORMATION SEEKING 150 APPENDIX H. MEMORANDUM OF EXPLANATION. 157 APPENDIX I. STANDARDIZED INSTRUCTIONS I 159 APPENDIX J. STANDARDIZED INSTRUCTIONS II. 160 APPENDIX K. STUDENT NOTIFICATION LETTER. 162 APPENDIX L. ANALYSIS OF GUIDANCE SERVICES 164 APPENDIX M. ANOVA SUMMARY TABLES. 166 BIBLIOGRAPHY 179 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Graphic Representation of Basic Statistical Design ... 60 2 . Factors Included in the Statistical Design Utilized for Analysis of Current Information Seeking Behaviors, Intent to Seek Information, Actual Information Seeking Behaviors Performed, and the Number of Occupations Listed and the Reported Amount of Certainty with Career Plans . . . . . . 61 3. Pilot Study's Reliability Test of the Pretest Instrument: Student Interest Questionnaire (SIQ) Scores on the Dimension of Reported Information Seeking Behaviors, the Number of Occupations Listed, and the Reported Amount of Certainly with Career Plans, Using Test-Retest Reliability Procedures. 63 4. Measuring Instruments, Methods of Administration, Method of Scoring, and Criterion Variables Measured. . . . . . . . 68 6. Analysis of Scores on the Dimension of Intended Information Seeking Behaviors for Ss Exposed to Treatment One When Pre- test Scores are Used a s Covariate. . . . . ? . ? . . . . . . 76 8. Analysis of Scores on the Information Seeking Dimension for Ss in Treatment One and Two When Pretest and First Posttest Scores are Used as Covariates . . . . . ? . . . . . . . . . . . 78 9. Analysis of Scores on the Information Seeking Dimensions for Ss in Treatment One, Two, and Controls When Pretest Scores are Used as Covariates. . . . . ? . . . . . . . . . . . ? ? ? ? . . ? . 80 11. Analysis of Scores on the Occupations Listing Dimension for Ss in Treatments One and Two When Pretest and First Posttest Scores are Used as Covariates ....?.?.....??....... 86 12. Analysis of Scores on the Occupations Listing Dimension for Ss in Treatments One, Two, and Controls When Pretest Scores are Used as Covariates. . . . . . . . . . . . ? ? . . . 87 14. Analysis of Scores on the Amount of Certainty with Career Plans for Ss in Treatments One and Two When Pretest an . d First Posttest Scores are Used as Covariates .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 15. Analysis of Scores on the Amount of Certainty with Career Plans for Ss in Treatments One, Two, and Controls When Pretest Scores are Used as Covariates ...?..... ....?.?..... 93 ix 16. Experimental Guidance Program Reports of Vocational Information Seeking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 4A. Sources of Variation Included in the Statistical Design Utilized for Analysis of Intended, and Actual Information Seeking Behav- iors, Occupational Listing, Certainty of Career Plans. . . . . 166 SA. Box Test: Two Dimensional Repeated Measures Design Repetition on the Intended Information Seeking Behavior Scores Only . . . 168 6A. Anova Summary Table Three Dimension Repeated Measures Design Repetition on the Intended Information Seeking Dimension Scores Only . . . . . . . . . ? ? . ? ? . . . . . . ? . . . . 169 7A. Homogeneity of Regression Test for Hypothesis Two. 170 8A. Anova Summary Table for Hypothesis Two on the Information Seek- ing Behavior Dimensions for Subjects in Treatments One or Two When Pretest and First Posttest Scores are Used as Covariates .. 171 9A. Anova Summary Table for Hypothesis Two on the Information Seek- ing Dimension for Subjects in Treatments One, Two, and Controls When Pretest and First Posttest Scores are Used as Covariates. 172 lOA. Homogeneity of Regression Test for Hypothesis Three. . . . . 173 llA. Anova Summary Table for Hypothesis Three on the Occupations Listing Scores for Subjects in Treatments One and Two When Pretest and First Post test are Used as Covariates. ? ? . . . . 17 4 12A. Anova Summary Table for Hypothesis Three on the Occupation Listing Scores for Subjects in Treatments One, Two, and Controls When Pretest Scores are Used as Covariates . . . ? . . . . 175 13A. Homogeneity of Regression Test for Hypothesis Four 176 14A. Anova Summary Table for Hypothesis Four on the Amount of Certain- ty with Career Plans for Subjects in Treatments One, Two, and Controls When Pretest Scores are Used as Covariates ....... 177 lSA. Anova Summary Table for Hypothesis Four on the Amount of Certain- ty with Career Plans for Subjects in Treatments One and Two When Pretest and First Posttest Scores are Used as Covariates ?... 178 X LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Treatment, Sex, and Type of Student (ABC) Interaction for Students Exposed to Treatment One, Administration of The Self-Directed Search. . . . . . . . . ..... 81 2. Treatment, Sex, and Type of Student (ABC) Interaction for Students Exposed to Treatment Two, Administration of SDS and Negotiation of a Contingency Contract for the Performance of Information Seeking Behaviors ... 82 3. Treatment, Sex, and Type of Student (ABC) Interaction for Students Exposed to Treatment Three, Controls .... 82 4. Sex and Type of Student (BC) Interaction for Students Exposed to Treatment One, Administration of the SDS, Treatment Two, Administration of the SDS and Negotiation of a Contingency Contract, and Treatment Three, Control Procedures for the Performance of Information Seeking Behaviors 84 5. Treatment Interaction (A) for Subjects Exposed to Treatment One, Administration of the SDS. . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 6. Treatment (A) for Subjects Exposed to Treatment Two, Administration of the SDS, followed by the Negotiation of a Contingency Contract for the Performance of Information Seeking Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 7. Treatment (A) for Ss Exposed to Treatment Three, Control Procedures .. 89 xi CHAPTER I Statement of the Problem Introduction Occupational information has long been considered to be essential for the vocational choice pr ocess. Bordin (1946) and Byrne (1958), for example, maintained that the lack of vocational information and occupational inexperience have combined to restrict the number and kind of careers avail- able to high school students. Swift and surprising changes occurring in the world of work (Moran, 1961) and within the individual himself (Erickson, 1959) have made relevant and accurate occupational information even more vital today. Realizing the importance of occupation information for good decision making, this study investigated two methods of increasing vocation information seeking behaviors required to gain a knowledge of careers and the alternatives available. Justification and Need for Study In discussing the advantages of occupational information for secondary school students, Paulsen (1960) demonstrated that vocational information both enriched the individual ' s general experience and also increased the motivation and influence of educational and vocational planning. Peters (1963) also found that meaningful career information actively involved the student in oc- cupational exploration and provided the individual with insights into avail- able careers. Yet, despite the importance of occupational information, it 2 bas become. ey;i,dent that the s hoo -s have consi st entJ.y a,nd ont?nuously ne glecte d t he student' s career fo rmat ion and explo~ation ac~iv i t ies ( Po l l , Nation's Schoo ls, April, 1971). Choice of an educat i ona l-vocational car eer has become a crucial and challenging e:xperi ence fac i ng t oday' s youth. Modern scient i fic developments such as automation, cybernation, and technology have exerted a direct impact on the development of careers and indirectly affected the i ndivi dual ' s vo ca- tional planning and career de ci sion (Van Hoose and Pie t ro f e sa , 1970). New and emerging indus tries and profe s s ions have s pr ung up and multipl i ed t he number and kinds of job s and careers avai l able. In addition, rapid socio- economic changes have also con t ribute d to the car eer i ndeci sions of s econd- ary school students. Concurrent with the external shif t and emphasis i n the career world, the high school student has likewise experienced the i nternal stress and strain of his own personal growth and development. Unstable vocat ional interests and undeveloped skills and tal ent s have contributed to the indi- vidual's career indecision. Faced with the revolutionary challenges of the career world, and confronted with the evolutionary uncertainties of his own l i f e , the s tudent has been f or ced to encounter the risk and ins ecurity of making a career choice wit hout adequate prepara tion and planni ng (Holland, 1966). Recent research investigat ions, however, have provided new direc t ion and help in improving the career exploration process. Krumboltz and others, (1967, 1968),have demonstrated the effectiveness of several behavioral tech- niques for increasing the frequency of informat i on seeking behaviors involved 3 in exploring careers. According to Crites (1969), the vocational informa- tion seeking behaviors produced the "choice supply", a knowledge of careers and alternatives available. He maintained that the presence of career al- ternatives was the necessary condition for the occurrence of a vocational choice, Larraroore (1970), on the other hand, found in his study of the methods of presenting occupational information on certain career seeking behaviors, that ninth grade students intended to explore careers, but as a group, they failed to carry out the suggested vocational information seeking behaviors. Based on the findings of the last study, it has become clear that additional research is required to discover procedures which will increase student's information seeking behaviors since s uch are necessary in gaining a "choice supply" for a possible career commitment. Summarizing the need and justification for the study, it was found that relevant occupational information and active student involvement in career planning have been identified as key factors in the vocational choice process. Despite the importance of occupational information, it was also found that the schools have not solved the task of disseminating and imple- menting career exploration practices and specifically have not increased information seeking behaviors. In the present day of rapid socioeconomic and personal changes, high school students, now more than ever before, require assistance and structure in carrying out career planning behaviors. Additional research is required to establish new and more efficient proced- ures for increasing career exploration behaviors. Attending to the use of behavioral principles and specifically, th e use of reinforcement procedures, the present study was designed to evaluate two methods of increasing 4 vocational information seeking behaviors of high school students. Systematic Procedures of Career Exploration and Choice For over half a century different persons have postulated hypotheses and theories relating to occupational choice which accounted for vocational decisions. While some of these theoretical approaches have not attended in great detail to systematic procedures in career exploration, the concern of this study, others have. Parson (1908), on the one hand simply matched the man with the job; Kuder (1968) and Strong (1959) measured interest; Ginzberg (1951) , Super (1953), and Tiedman and O'Hara (1963) advocated a developmental approach; while, on the other hand, others like Edwards (1964) and Gelatt (1962) fashioned a more ~pecific decision-making model. With so many changes having occurred among the youth and careers of today, Magoon (1968) developed a problem-solving model to provide the student with a knowledgeable choice of occupations and the alternatives. Many of the approaches, however, assumed without necessarily specifying the precise behaviors which assured the stu- dent's deep involvement and active participation in the career exploration process. Krumboltz and others (1968) observed that any system of vocational investigation which failed to account for the student's information seeking behaviors might prove to be intellectually satisfying, but in reality, such an approach had little or severely l i mited "pr actical application. One proponent of systematic procedures, in particular, has recognized the importance of accurate occupational information and active student involve- ment in career exploration. Holland has recently developed the "Self-Directed Search for Educational and Vocational Planning" (SDS, Holland, 1970) . Accord- i ng to Holland (1971) the instrument actively engaged the student's interes t. 5 Subjects taking the SDS knew what was being assessed. They experienced immediate feedback on the inventory's results because they scored, profiled, and interpreted their own scores. The study selected the SDS as one of the treatments designed to increase vocational information seeking of high school students. Definition of Terms The following terms have been used throughout the study and required further clarification: Work Oriented Student. While in one sense all students could be considered work oriented, employment bound or job seekers, this particular term was chosen in place of the negatively laden term: non-college bound. In this study, work oriented described those students who planned to seek employment immediately after high school or pursue technical vocational training at public or private schools. College Bound Student . This label described students who planned to attend college full time for four years or more after high school graduation. Information Seeking Behaviors With their extensive research on vocation exploration, Krumboltz and others (1964, 1967, and 1968) have used information seeking behaviors as the criterion to measure the attainment of the behavioral goals of vocational counseling. Mayer (1968 ) provided the explanation of infor- mation seeking behaviors as follows: Those behaviors or acts which the student performs in order to gain relevant information, ideas, or experiences regarding his conceptual framework relating to decision making, or in exploration concerning educational and vocational plans, e.g . , reading phamphlets, about school or vocations, discussing financial costs of college with parents, talking to peers about the possibility of attending college, etc., (Mayer, 1968, p. 6). 6 The results of current resear ch has effectively demonstrated that the attain- ment of these practical behavio~s measureably reduced the distance between the client's goals and pe rforma1ce (Krumboltz and Schroeder, 1965, and Krumboltz and Thoresen, 1964). Reinforcement Theory The theory of operant behavior grew out of empirical studies on how behaviors are acquired and naintained, such studies dealing with the behaviors of men and animals as they acted on and interacted with the en- vironment (Ferster and Perrott, 1968). Empirical studies of human behavior emphasized manipulable, or at lEast observable environments as the indepen- dent variables or causes of behcviors. The most important environmental events for determining behaviorE are the consequences of acts, and the simplest kind of consequences was the event known as a reward. The functional relationship between operant behaviors and its consequences on the environ- ment has been described in reinforcement terms as follows: "When some behav- ior is followed by the occurrence of a reward, or more technically a rein- forcer, that behavior is more likely to take place again under similar cir- cumstances." (Michaels, 1968 , p. 71). This simple explanation of reinforce- ment was probably the most important single principle of behavior. It des- cribed the procedure by which the frequency of an operant performance was increased. Contingency Contracting The theory of operant con,iition has been refined and applied in several settings . Studies of th~ relationship between behavior and its consequences has delineated a whole new area in the field of behavioral 7 psychology tenned contingency management. Using reinforcers, contingency management attempted to regulate the relationship between a behavior and its consequence. As a direct outgrowth of Skinner's (1954, 1958) application of operant condition principles to human behavior, contingency management, in turn, has also been refined. By negotiating a contract which focused on the agreed reinforcer to increase the frequency of a desired behavior, Homme (1969) developed a procedure referred to as contingency contracting. He has demonstrated that the principles and rules of positive contracts could be used for the management of relationships between teachers and the children they instructed. The reinforcement techniques of contingency contracting appeared to have several other possible uses in educational settings. Research Question In attempting to resolve some of the issues surrounding the problems and procedures of increasing vocational information seeking activ i ties, the use of the Self-Directed Search and use of reinforcers bound into contingency contracts became the subject of this research investigation. Information was lacking about the reinforcing qualities of both the Self-Directed Search and reinforcers which are part of contingency contracts. Additional i nforma- tion was also required to find the number, kind, and effectiveness of con- tingencies necessary to increase the student's active i nvolvement in career seeking performances. In the final analysis, testing a systematic procedure for vocational exploration activities which emphasized self-direction and problem solving was one aspect of the problem; arranging the contingencies for increased information seeking behaviors was another. The main thrust, then, of the research investigation was centered on the reinforcing qualities 8 of both the Self-Directed Search and contingency contracts in increasing vocat i onal information seeking behaviors of high school students. Formally sta t ed, the research question addressed by the present study read as f ollows: What is the effe ct of using the Self-Directed Search and contin- gency contracts in increasing the vocational information seeking b ehaviors of work oriented and ~ollege bound female and male eleventh grade students? The expected outcome of the research study was that the subjects who com- pl e ted the Self-Directed Search and negotiated a contingency contr act would engage in an increased number of vocational inf or mation seeking behaviors. The e f f ectiveness of the Self-Directed Search and contingency contract as independent variables, were evaluated on t he effort of these two methods on f our dependent variables: 1. Intent to explore occupations and major educational fields, 2. Frequency of information seeking behaviors actually performed, 3. Number of occupations listed, and, 4. Amount of reported certainty with career plans Criterion Variables For the purpose of the study, external performances which were observ- able and quantifiable were selected as the criteria of behavioral change. Krumboltz and others (1967) have established information seeking as a rational and defensible criterion. The behaviors chosen as criterion variables included: 1. Mailing requests for vocational and educational materials 2. Reading educational-vocational materials 3. Talking with others about future vocational-educational plans 4. Viewing audiovisual educational-vocational materials 5. Listening to others explain career and entrance requirements 6. Planning to visit places of employment or schools 7. Visiting places of employment or schools 9 8. Attending vocational-educational exhibitions or conferences 9. Arranging to take vocational, interest or educational inventories 10. Taking vocational, interest, or educational tests, and, 11. Comple ting written job or school applications or career surrunaries Other c r iteria included several commonly used ones for a s sessing the vo cational exploration procedures . For high school students, increasing the numb er of occup at i onal alternatives has generally been considered an important aspect of vocational decision process (Clark, Gelatt, & Levin, 1965). Becoming more certain about educational-vocational plans has been central to Super's concept of choice crystallization. These criteria were selected to measure the influence of the two methods selected for increasing vocational information s eeking behaviors , namely: (1) The administration of the Self-Directed Search; and, (2) The administration of the Self-Directed Search followed by the negotia- t i on of a contingency contract for the performance of vocational information seeking behaviors. Research Questions The following research ques t ions were selected to be investigated by the study: 1. Does the administration of treat men t one (SDS and VGQ I) influence the experimental Subjects (Ss) to intend to perform an increased number of vocational information seeking behaviors (VISB)? 2. Does the administration of t rea tmen t two (SDS, VGQ I, and the negotiation of a contingency contract) influence the experimental Subjects (Ss) to perform a greater number of vocational information seeking behaviors (VISB) than the admin- istration of only treatment one (SDS, VGQ I)? 10 3. Does the administration of treatment two (SDS, VGQ I, and the negotiation of a contingency contract) influence the experimental Sub jects (Ss) to list more occupations for cons i deration than t he administrat i on of only trea tment one (SDS, VGQ I)? 4. Does the administration of trea tment two (SDS, VGQ I, and the negotiation of a contingency contract) influence the experimental Subjects (Ss) to report more certainty with career plans than the Subjects (Ss) who are administered onlv treatment one (SDS, VGQ I)? Research Limitations Failure to test the effectiveness of contingency contracts alone in increasing the information seeking behaviors was a serious omission i n the design of the study. While Homme (1967) had demonstrated the effectiveness of contingency contracts in the classroom setting, no research was found which tested the use of contingency contracts in increasing vocational information seeking behaviors. The local school authorities' refusal to allow the use of the rein- forcement menu developed in the pilot study (Appendix A) also limited the testing of contingency contracts in increasing information seeking behaviors. Any reinforcements permitting release time or earning of free time was rejected outright. The structured school environment limited the range and scope of reinforcement available to the students. 11 Another serious limitation concerned the students' self report data of VISE. While the original hope was to verify the actual number of all VISE performed by each student, the difficulty of designing and carrying out a study using a large enough N to observe the treatment effects on the criterion variables, prevented the experiment or from attaining this objective. Therefore the basis for testing the increase in VISE was the student's self report data. Further, the restriction of self report data limited the verification process to only written VISE. While students may have performed many different types of VISE, the only verifiable increase measured by this study was written VISE. Summary With the revolutionary developments taking place in the world of work and the evolutionary changes occurring within the lives of the high school students, a study was needed to investigate specifically the means of effect- ing and increasing vocational information seeking behaviors. In particular, research was required to investigate the effectiveness of the Self-Directed Search and reinforcers which were part of contingency contracts in helping students increase vocational information seeking behaviors. While other systematic procedures for exploring careers have been developed, most vocational investigations were found wanting or inadequate. All too often the current approaches to career seeking have failed to specify the precise vocational information seeking behaviors required. Relevant and meaningful information was also found missing. In undertaking this present empirical study, it was hypothesized that the use of the Self- Directed Search and contingency contracts which employed reinforcers would help the students increase their vocational information seeking behavior s . 1 2 The novelty of this approach to career ex ploration was considered to be worthy of i ndepth research. Chapter II has been arranged to provide a summary of significant research connected with shaping and increasing vocational information seeki ng behaviors required for the vocational choice process of high school students. CHAPTER II Review of Literature This Chap ter is a r eview of the current research relevant to the areas of the vocational choice process covered by the research study. The formulations of theorists, research findings, and tentative conclu- sions were cons i dered a starting point for the present study. Introduction Seeking i nformation about a constantly changing world of work has been both a frustrating and incomprehensible task for today's high school student. In an article by Piel (1961) a whole new concept of the future of work was expounded. In describing the subve rsion of the social insti- tution of work, he maintined that the virtues of hard work and profit were rooted in the concept of scarcity and failed to be relevant to the economics or sociology of abundance. Increased output and more produc- tive goods were bound to be accompanied by less work and decreased pay- rolls. In the future, according to Piel, there will be a smaller work force for production, but more time for activities highly rewarding to the individuals involved. Along these same lines, Rosen (1971) and Wolfbein (1968) analyzed the 1960 census' vital statistics of the real work world and presented implica tions for counseling, training, and employment of today's high school student. Above all, the last writers 14 stressed the importance of continuing career education in and out of school. The need and rationale for vocational i n f ormation in the career exploration process has been explained by such writers as: Gelatt (1962); Hollis and Hollis (1969); Hoppock (1967); Hoyt (1968); Krumboltz (1966); O'Hara (1968); Norris, Zeran, & Hatch (1966). Still, Dutt and others (1968); Krumboltz and Schroede r (1965); and Magoon (1964), believed that students were making important life choices on the basis of inaccurate or at best inadequate career information . Lee and others (1971), called attention to the "dysfunctional" vocational knowledge and attitudes of senior girls in several American high schools and s uggested that similar conditions probably existed in many other secondary schools. McDaniels (1968) reported that young people were capable of making vocational deci- sions but were poorly prepared in decision making skills. There was general agreement on the value of extensive, effective, and systematic approaches to career seeking and planning in the following areas: elemen- tary schools (Borrow, 1966; Cote, 1970); middle school (Osipow, 19 70, Stanton, 1970); junior high school (Budke, 1971, Yunker, 1967); high school (Boocock and Coleman, 1966, and Hamilton and Webster, 1971); and post high school (Whitfield, 1969). Much time and money have already been spent impar ting occupational information to high school students. Cooley and Hummel (1969); the Novem- ber issue of the Personnel and Guidance Journal (1970); and Ryan (1969) reviewed the various computer systems for disseminating career data. Less expensive "Do-it-yourself" approaches have been developed by 1 5 Hamilton and Webster (1971); Johnson (1970); Laramore (1971); and Martin (1967). Additional studies by Smith (1971); Sturges and other (1969); explored different methods of providing vocational information to second- ary school students. The vocational information publishing industry has become so active that Biggers (1971) recommended that less time be devoted to the novel ways of packaging career data and more effort be given to help students learn how to use career information. Occupational information, then, has taken on such importance that Crum (1971) and Marland (1971) have both suggested that the new term "Career Education" included more than older label of vocational education. With so many changes taking place in the meaning and world of work, a new emphasis has been placed on the importance of career explora- tion for high school students. The explosion of educational and voca- tional career information and the many innovative systems used to present career data cause several questions to surface. The questions centered on these concerns: 1. Current status of work-oriented and college-bound students, the users of the occupational information. 2. Latest behavioral techniques devised to increase occupational seeking behaviors, and, 3. Results of a self-directed approach which deeply involved students in career exploration behaviors. At present, the answers to the above questions have not been written. The following review of literature has been designed to clar ify 16 the problem. Diff erent approaches to career exploration remain to be tried and evaluated. Part I of the chapter discusses the literature dealing with the work-oriented and college-bound users of vocational educational informa- tion. Part II studies the effects of different behavioral techniques on increasing information seeking behaviors, and Part III reviews the self-directed approach to career exploration as prescribed by Holland (1970). The current research findings which involved the work-oriented students will be discussed first. PART I: Students' Vocational Orientation Employment Bound The review of the literature dealing with the employment bound revealed the obvious: both programs and students have received second class treatment in public education. In a recent survey of school super- intendents, 49% of the schoolmen polled thought non college students were most unsatisfactorily served by their district's educational program, "Nation ' s Schools" (March, 1971). The typical "career" days, occupational brochures, and job descriptions for communicating occupational information, have, in one instance, been bound to be insensitive to the problem of work oriented youth (Martin, 1967) . Analyzing the effect of group guidance and industrial tours for students classified as non-college bound, Yunkers (1967) determined that the program did not significantly change the voca- tional interest patterns of these students. 17 Doctoral studies which evaluated the effects of occupational i nformation programs obtained mixed results. For example, the use of occupational information: helped ninth graders make more stable and realistic choices, (Hill, 1965); influenced college freshmen's trend toward greater vocational maturity, (Jackson, 1971); pointed to the need for some kind of educational or occupational experience to aid vocational agriculture students in their career development process, (Robertson, 1970); favored experimental high school students in their attempts at occupational entry, (Rosengarten, 1961); and, assisted high s chool seniors to align their vocational interest and choices with their interests, apt i tudes, and ab ilities, (Zenger, 1970). Other research theses concerned with occupational information concluded with these negative findings: senior students surveyed were not satisfi ed with the amount of occupational information they possessed, (Byrn, 1950); over half of the 778 vocational high school students sam- pled reported that their knowledge of occupational requirements and voca- tional qualifications came from outside the school, (Knight, 1958); in presenting occupational information the majority of Indian middle school teachers rarely used occupational materials or audio visual aids, (Neher, 1971); a short term intensified guidance unit failed to help students develop a basis for selecting occupations, (Toporowski, 1961), or achieve readiness for vocational planning, (Wilson, 1969). These recent studies pointed to the need for improved and effective information programs to meet the demands of work-oriented students. 18 A twofold challenge confronted the high school: (1) prepare youth to choose an occupation, and (2) prov ide education and training relevant to these choices, (Mondart and others, 1970). Unfortunately, as Hoyt (1970) observed, the development of vocational education has been handicapped by a biased or bigoted view whi ch he termed: "Vocational Educationism." Hoyt explained six negative attitudes which prevented public acceptance and support of vocational education. In summary, Oelke (1966) cited three reasons why the school failed to provide a realistic approach to work: (1) low status of non-professional occupations; (2) lack of communication between vocational education and society; and, (3) teachers and counselors' lack of experience or exposure to realistic occupations. "Vocational Educationism" is a very real phenomenon and the greatest need for the school today is to integrate career education into its total program. In addition to vocational education programs, employment bound stu- dents have also been overlooked. Analysis of the perceptions of the vocationally oriented high school graduates by Betz and others (1969) revealed their negative views of the school, for favoring the college bound; of counselors, for failing to assist them to reach satisfactory vocational decisions; of their parents, for their lack of help in resolv- ing their problems, and lastly, of themselves, for their own inadequate self-concepts. Hoyt (1966) tentatively concluded that while high school students made decisions to consider specialized training, they received little or no attention from their counselors. Hawthorne ' s (1970) find- ings concurred with Betz (1970); and Mondart and others (1970); that 19 the family and friends influenced car er decLsions more than school personnel. This institutional neglec t of the emp: oyment bound has helped contribute to serious nationwide consequences . Borow (1966) pictured American non-college bound youth as es tr ang cl from occupational life and developing biases against certain areas of work. The 1968 Labor Depart- ment's Manpower Report on Transition fr om Sc hool to Work (Hoyt, 1968) cited the high rate of unemployme nt esp c-? al ly for those in low income minority group familie s . According t o thi ? report, the situation devel- oped largely because of the h igh educat iona l and flexible career sights that were set while job opportunities did no t remain at as high a level. As a result, one of the Report's chief recomirendations was for increased opportunities for students, while s till i n s ?hool, to gain knowledge and experience of the environments of work. l3 ecause of the vocational imma- turity of eighth grade s tudent s , Dutt a nd others (1968) asserted that broad vocational experiences s hould b provided in the junior high school with narrowed and more sp cialized vo ca t iona l training available in high school and later years. Apart from Hoyt's (1971) work with the Speciality Oriented Stu- dents, work bound students have been a n overlooked minority. Mondart and others (1967) observed that program integrati,m and equality in educa- tional experiences appeared to be the main 011cern of the work-oriented students. The empirical s tudies and the inno?,ation approaches to voca- tional information seeking ( to be di sc uss d i 1 Parts II and III of this chapter) offer some hope t o these students . But for the present, the 20 conclusion is unavoidable it appears from the literature that many employment bound programs have been ineffective and work-oriented students have either been neglected or have failed to take advantage of the exist- ing school guidance services, (Wallace and Leonard, 1971). College Bound Much more work has been devoted to researching the college bound students than to the work-oriented population. Nationwide and longitud- inal studies: Project Talent (Flanagan and others, 1962); Cooley (1968); National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Tests Reports (NMSQT, Watley, 1971); and the American College Testing Program (ACT Research Reports, Holland and Whitney, 1968; Holland, 1968) were but a few examples of investiga- tion dealing with college bound populations. Other research has focused on occupational and educational aspirations and expectations of high school students (Astin, 1968), (Mondart and others, 1967), and (Smith and Jiloca, 1971). These studies indicated that while secondary school stu- dents concurred with their parents on educational aspirations, the three groups differed on occupational aspiration. Further, there was general agreement that these students appeared capable of making realistic and stable occupational and educational commitments, (Magruder, 1970 and Paulsen, 1967). There was also evidence to support the belief that educa- tional and occupational choices have been made by 11th grade with more choices being made in ninth grade than at any other level, (Wallace and Leonard, 1971). But for those students entering college and who remained undecided, Baird (1969) determined from his research that vocational 21 indecision did not make them any different from the other students. Whether the Women's Liberation Movement was the cause or the occasion remained unclear, but the research literature discussing voca- tional seeking of girls has increased. For example, high school junior girls were the subjects of Leten and Dodds study (1968); the post high school years were summarized by Astin and Myint (1971) and plans of career women were described by Lins (1969). From these surveys it was learned that girls planned fewer years of training and/or education than boys; were not as inclined as men to do graduate work; and were not as well informed about the probable nature and extent of their vocational partici - pation. Another study by Lee and others (1971) investigated the effects that t ype of school, size of community, and social status differences has on the career plans of girls. The data reinforced the following: (1) Girls in vocational type of schools planned earlier marriage, more full time work, and less education than those attending comprehensive schools. (2) Metropolitan girls were more knowledgeable of occupations than non- metropolitan girls; and, (3) Girls of high social status indicated more knowledge of work and less concern with the extrinsic rewards of work and planned for more education than those of a lower social status. Finally, the college bounds' dealings with school officials, espec- ially the school counselor, came under public scrutiny. In Scott's (1966) survey of college students two-thirds of the respondents stated that their high school counselor was among the persons who gave them the worst advice about going to college. Gutsch and Milner (1969) and Kerr (1962) presented research evidence to contradict this finding. In the previously cited 22 study of Wallace and Leonard (1971), it was noted as the girls' level of education and occupational choices increased, their perceptions of the availability of counseling services and occupational information also increased. Counselors using large group guidance and occupational infor- mation were effective in speeding up the vocational development of unde- cided college students, (Goodson, 1970). Within the framework of l1is study Ford (1969) noted that since college bound and counselors behaved in the same manner in making purely acturial predictions, he suggested that some counselor time might be freed from educational vocational planning with the college bound in order to spend more time with the work-oriented population. In contrast, how- ever, Willey (1971) noted that providing high school students with college guide information did not stimulate a significant reassessment of his college preferences. Research with the college bound population, then, has been more extensive and precise than those dealing with the work-oriented. Nation- wide interest in college testing programs, emphasis on career exploration for girls and public concern about college entrance requirements were but some of the pressures responsible for this type of research. Although studies on the secondary students' level of aspiration, expectation, and achievements abound, much remained to be learned about shaping and increas- ing the vocational exploration behaviors of both the college bound and work oriented students. The remainder of this chapter will examine and discuss the re- search on career exploration behaviors. In Part II of this chapter, the 23 techniques of increasing information se ki ng beh,rviors are examined; Part III is devoted to exploring the innova tive voca t i onal search system re- cently developed by Holland (1971). Part II: Info rmation Seeking Behavior s I n their r eview of r esear ch i n psy ho t he r apy, Strupp and Bergin (1969) keynoted: (1) mpiric i sm, ( 2) innova t io n , and (3) evaluation as the emerging trends in ps ychothe r a py . Thes same trends were apparent in the field of vo cational co unseling . The organi zat i on of the remaining sections of this review of lite r a ture s urroundin g the topic of educational vocational informa t i on seeking conv niently fi t these same three categories. First, the literature which dis uss cl the " mp iri :::ism" of reinforcement theory i n increasing the fr e quency and v a ri t y of information seeking be- haviors were listed. Any r esear ch r l a tin g t o r e Lnforcement, social model- ing, simulation and gaming, and contingency ?ontracting was included in this section . Part three deals with th e " i nnova t :'.. ons" of Holland (1971), his theory (1959, 1966, 1968) and th resear c h co ncerned with his voca- tional exploration instruments . It will be l ef t to the final chapters to "evaluate" the effect of using reinforceme nt t echr:iques with the "Self- Directed Search" to increase the information seeking behaviors of male and female work oriented and college bound high s hoo l students. Information Seeking Behaviors A series of doctoral disserta tions und e r the supervision of John D. Krumboltz have examine d methods of s t i mulating students to explore educational and vocationa l opportunities . On J i ne of research has inves- tiga ted the effect of r e inforcement ouns lin g a nd model reinforcement 24 counseling upon the information seeking behaviors of high school students, Hosford, (1966); (Schroeder, 1964); (Thoresen, 1964); and (Varenhorst, 1964). The dependent variable in all these studies was the same: the frequency and variety of information seeking behaviors (ISB). Information seeking behavior (ISB) was defined by Schroeder (1964), (See Ch. I, p. 4). Specific behaviors were chosen because they were able easily to be observed, measured, and counted. In discussing the direction that future counseling research should take, Krumboltz (1967) rejected gross cirterion measures of change such as grade point averages (GPA) and, instead, advocated ap- propriate outcome criteria such as information seeking behaviors (ISB) critieria tailored to the behavior changes desired by both the client and counselor involved, (Krumboltz, 1966). Reinforcement Research in psychotherapy and behavioral counseling has demonstrated that the concept of operant conditioning and reinforcement as developed by Skinner (1953, 1963), explained by Forster and Parrott (1968), employed by Krumboltz and Thoresen (1964), Michael and Meyerson (1962) and Ullman and Krasner (1965), was an effective counseling procedure for shaping and con- trolling behaviors. Operant conditioning has been employed for different purposes and settings such as: psychotic behavior, Allyon and Azrin (1965) in institutional setting; school phobia (Lazarus, Danson & Palifka, (1965); and in educational settings, (Lindsely, 1967). Ryan and Krumboltz (1964) showed that by systematically reinforcing " deliberation" and "decision" types of statements during the interview, the counselor could increase, in a very short period of time the extent 25 to which the student continued to deliberate in the interview. The group reinforced for "decision" type responses has a tendency to make decisions outside the interview in a classroom setting. The effect of reinforcement on the information seeking behaviors (ISB) of 54 high school juniors was observed by Krumboltz and Schroeder (1965). Both reinforcement and model reinforcing counseling techniques were employed. Reinforcement counseling consisted of the counselor inter- view which indicated that the student was presently seeking or intended to seek information relevant to his own educational or vocational plans. Model reinforcing counseling consisted of presenting an audio tape record- ing of a male counselor played to each student prior to reinforcing coun- seling. Findings revealed that (a) The experimentals engaged in more ISB outside the interview than the control; (b) Reinforcement counseling pro- duced significantly more external ISB than control for females but not for males; (c) Model reinforcement counseling produced significantly more ex- ternal ISB than control for males but not for females. Other studies which employed reinforcement counseling as treatment were located: Borman (1970) found that the individual rather than group counseling reinforcement treatment was more effective with "less motivated students"; Mickelson (1970) reported that the facilitative counselors (more potent reinforcers) produced a significantly greater amount of client lSB than the non-facilitative counselors without regard to sex differences; Samann (1970) concluded that within the limitation of his study, reinforce- ment counseling was found superior to persuasive advice given in engaging subjects in ISB; and, Aiken (1970) noted that the reinforced "consistent" 26 group of students (as measured by Holland's Vocat i onal Preference Inven- tory) significantly increased in ISB. Not all studies employing reinforcement techniques reported posi- tive gains. The results of Anderson's (1970) study suggested that the group counselor's cues (conceptualized as a set of questions designed to establish an expe ctation or elicit a de s i red ISB) were more effective than no cues or reinforcement alone, while reinforcement versus no reinforce- ment tre a tments failed to show significant differences on any of the depen- dent measures. In general, however, reinforcement studies provided a valid approach to increasing students' ISB (Krurnboltz, 1966). Modeling Modeling has been generally viewed within the framework of "social learning theory" as developed by Bandura and Walters (1963); Lovas (1961); Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1961). Besides overcoming behavior deficits, eliminating strongly established pa tterns of maladaptive or deviant behav- iors, modeling also aided in the development of new competencies (Bandura, 1962, 1969). Recent evidence showed that modeling was effective for trans- mitting and controlling many different t ypes of behaviors s uch as: trans- mitting aggressive behaviors through film mediated models (Mussen and Rutherford, 1961); administering self-imposed contingencies for self-re- inforcement, (Bandura and Kupers, 1964); improving study habits, (Ryan, 1966); teaching interview skills, (Del Beato, 1971); increasing adolescent vocational behaviors (La Fleur, 1970). Investigations in social modeling have stimulated research in the use of modeling procedures in counseling 2 7 (Hamilton, 1969); (Krumboltz and Schroeder, 1965); (Krumboltz and Thoresen , 1964); (Krumboltz, Varenhorst, & Thoresen, 1967); (Nelson and Krumboltz, 1970); (Thoresen, 1966); (Thoresen, Krumboltz, & Varenhorst, 1967); and, (Thoresen and Steward, 1967); and (Thoresen and others (1969). Signi ficant results for the use of social models in increasing ISB were reported by Krumboltz and Thoresen (1964) . The study represented a replication and extension of the Krumboltz and Schroeder (1965) investi- gation. The authors attempted, with success, to determine which of the two counseling techniques, reinforcement or model reinforcement counsel- ing , was more effective when applied in a dyadic or small group setting. The major findings drawn from this experiment were (a) Reinforcement coun - seling and model reinforcement counseling were both significantly more effective in promoting ISB in both individual and group settings than were two control procedures; (b) Model reinforcement was more effective than reinforcement counseling for males and; (c) Model reinforcement coun - seling was more effective for males than individual reinforcement counsel - ing. No significant differences were found for girls between reinforceme nt and model reinforcement procedures or between the type of group setting. Meyer (1968) replicated and extended to rural high school youth the behavioral counseling studies completed by Krumboltz and his associates (1964). The study demonstrated that small group counseling procedures Were as effective as dyadic interviews in promoting ISB among eleventh grade s tudents. Of interest also was the finding that females showed mor e and varied ISB than did the males. 28 Characteristics of Models Flanders (1968) provided a review of literature dealing with "effects of antecedent characteristics " of models including the effects of such variables as: status, nurturing, sex, realism of performan ce, affec- tive relationship between model and observer, a~d effects of ant ecedent characteristics of observer's sex. The sex variable has been stu died in a series of investigations: Beach ~967); Krumboltz and Thoresen ( 1964); Thoresen, Hosford, & Krumboltz (1968); Varenhorst (1964). Bandura, R oss & Ross (1961) observed significant interaction effects which were attr ibut- able to sex of model and the learner. In other studies for exam ple, male models and male counselors were determined to be significantly m ore effec- n, tive in promoting ISB than female counselors and male models, (H amilto l969). The sex difference between model and client appeared to have made model reinforcement counseling more effective for males than for females del used in the study reported by Krumboltz and Schroeder (1965). The mo in this last study was a male who discussed only male interests and con- In addition, of the nine experimental counselors applying reinfo rce- cerns. ment counseling techniques, eight were female which fact, the au thors pos- tulated, may have accounted for the effectiveness of reinforceme nt coun- seling for females . Stugardt (1970) compared the effect of two distinct characterist ics of a social model, namely, race and age, on the ISB of male blac k eleventh odel pro- graders. Results indicated that a treatment based on a rewarded m duced more vocationally relevant behaviors than did control proc edures. Differences due to age and race of the model were not obtained. 29 Stillers (1967) studied the verbal behavior of model interviewer as determinants of students' ISB. The findings, in general, supported negative answers to the experimental questions. Students exposed to the different model interviews which used planned and not planned reinforce- ment, di d not assign significantly different ratings to the model inter- viewers nor did they perform s ignificantly different numbers of ISB. Males tended to perform more ISB when the model student was verbally re- inforced for appropriate statements whereas females tended to perform more ISB when no planned reinforcement was administered. Females performed more ISB than did the males in three of the four experimental groups. A later study by Thoresen, Krumboltz, & Varenhorst (1967) examined the effects of the sex of the counselor model on the client's ISB. Findings implied that model reinforcement procedures were on the average more effec- tive than control procedures for males but not for females. Male students responded best when males were in all other r ol es , while female students responded best when a male counselor presented an all male or an all female modeled tape. In trying to determine the effective models for counseling clients of varying competencies Hosford (1966) and Thoresen, Hosford, & Krumboltz (1970) learned that while different athletic and academic model succe s s levels caused significant differences in the frequency of ISB by the sub- jects, the experimentals did not consistently seek more information than controls. This discrepancy involved in the sex variable was explained by Burdon (1970) as follows: 30 Part of the confusion on the sex variable seems to stem from the fact that studies such as those cited above are increased in complexity by an interaction between the sex of the subjects and the behaviors being modeled, which were usually sex typed. In such studies it was difficult to determine whether differential results were actually due to the sex of the subject or some other variable which derived from sex of the subject (e.g., ability of the subject to identify with the sexual role and status of the model). . .. (1970 Review of Ed. Research, p. 439) More research, then was called for on distinctive modeling cues for par- ticular types of clients in increasing the frequency of information seek- ing behaviors. Simulation In addition to studies dealing with reinforcement counseling and model reinforcement counseling influencing ISB, a second line of experi- mental research has centered about vocational problem solving. These studies were developed at Stanford in projects directed by Krumboltz (1967, 1968) and described in doctoral dissertations by Baker (1968); Jones (1966); and Sheppard (1967). By presenting students with simulated materials, these authors attempted to focus on treatment influences upon the ISB variable. Results to date underscored the findings: (1) Problem solving career kits consistently generated more interest and more occupation seek- ing than control treatments, and (2) Subjects from lower socio-economic schools consistently gave more positive reactions than subjects from middle class schools, particularly in response to the problem solving approach, (Krumboltz, 1967). The use of "gaming," a form of simulation for increasing ISB has been advocated by Abt (1966); Boocock and Coleman (1966); Cherryholmes (1966); Dawson (1962); Kitson (1924); and Wolff (1966). After observing 31 students participating in career simulation games, Barbula and I saac (1967) attempted to assess student acquisition of vocational knowledge and atti- nal change toward vocational concepts. Although no statistical results tudi were obtained, the treatment groups had a general tendency to in crease hours of study in a hypothetical self-planning situation on the post test. According to the investigators, the obtained negative results we re due to insensitive instrumentation. th the field testing of the Life Career Game (LCG, Boocock, 1967 ); Bo McHenry (1969); Varenhorst (1969), and the continued research st udies on the occupational exploration kits of Krumboltz, Johnson (1971); Maho ney (1971), showed that simulation has had powerful motivational effects on students' ISB. After surveying the research on occupational gaming, Forsb erg (1969) SB pointed out that gaming by itself was not sufficient for increas ing I but should be part of a total program which included readings, l ectures, games, and critiques. Having reviewed the various approaches to increasing have ISB, Burdon (1970) concluded that: simulation and gaming techniq ues opened a different approach to increasing frequency of informatio n seeking behaviors of career exploration. Contingency Management Contingency management, a recent development in the field of be- havioral psychology, represented one of the large strides of pro gress made in understanding and dealing with human behavior. In essence, a contin- gency is a relationship between a behavior and its consequence. Contin- gency management, therefore, means changing behavior through the regulation of this relationship, (Berman, 1971). Much of the current resea rch in 32 contingency management is an outgrowth of Skinner's (1954, 1958) appli- cat i on of operant conditioning procedures to human behavior. Skinner (1969) explained the "contingencies of reinforcement" as follows: Behavior which acts upon the environment to produce consequences--"operant behavior"--has been experimentally analyzed in great detail. Certain kinds of consequences called reinforcers (among them the things the layman calls rewards) are made contingent upon what an organism is doing and upon the circumstances under which it is done. Changes in behavior are then observed. The contingencies rather than the reinforcers are the important thing. ( Education, Vol. 90, No. 2, p. 94). Several doctoral dissertations have employed the principles of contingency management in research settings. Gloss (1969) reported on the effects of applying the contingency management principles to the behavior of three conduct disordered children. The data confirmed the predicted change in increased task response and reduced emission of behavior deemed inappro- priate . Mont (1971) compared the effect of contingency management approach With that of a lecture approach in an int r oductory psychology course. No significant difference was obtained between the two methods of instruction. But, as more and more contingencies were studied, analyzed, and arranged, it has been possible to extend them to other more complex kinds of behavior including learning activities in educational or related settings, (April Issue of Educational Technology, 1971). Contingency Contracting Only the introduction of an agreement or contract distinguished contingency contracting from contingency management. The teacher who used contingency contracting promised rewards in return for the desired learning behavi or by the student, (Homme, 1970). Contingency contracting began with 33 Honnne in 1963. He observed what three year old children wanted to do (run, push chairs, etc.) and making that contingent upon more appropriate activities (sitting quietly) he discovered he could strengthen good be- haviors, (Martin, 1971). In his book entitled: How to Use Contingency Contracting in the Classroom, Homme (1970) presented his systematic use of reinforcement principles in shaping and increasing the frequency of learning behaviors. The basis of Homme's approach was the principle of reinforcement: "Behavior is strengthened or weakened depending upon its consequences." (Homme, 1970, p. 2). One example would be in a classroom setting: "If you complete these five math problems, ... then you may watch TV for five minutes." As Becker (1970) observed: "The general pro- cedure is deceptively simple; arrange the conditions so that the child gets t o do something he wants, to follow something you want him to do." (Homme, 1970, p. vii). The technique appeared to have limitless possi- bilities for the educational and vocational exploration activities of school students. Available literature on contingency contracting gave evidence that this approach was an effective method of influencing change in behavior at school and in other institutional settings, Foley and Wilson (1971); Hoffman (1971); Sharp (1971); and Towes (1969). Most of the studies re- viewed indicated that the data were obtained from children; in educational settings; or with students' deficient behaviors, Mestanas (1972); Krumboltz and Thoresen (1969). No study, however, was found which used contingency contracting to increase t he information seeking behaviors of the career exploration process. 34 Hanley (1970) reviewed the research involving the criteria of behavior analysis (Baer and others, 1968) in normal and special classroom. The last author cited the unsystematic application of operant principles, not the lack of reinforcement or knowledge of principles, as the main difficulty which prevented most teachers from effectively shaping academic behaviors. Another review of the literature by Altman and Linton (1971) grouped the articles according to the categories of the reinforcement em- ployed, namely: teacher attention, peer attention, t oken reinforcement, and vicarious reinforcement. The studies pointed out that teachers could become effective contingency managers or behavioral engineers in scien- tifically controlling classroom behaviors. Written contracts and agreements were employed by Peterson (1971) to resolve classroom morale problems between teacher and students. After six weeks of contracting the author found: i mproved classroom atmosphere, more positive feelings toward the teacher and students, and, more class Work completed. Contracts for grades have been tried in place of conventional mark- ing procedures, Taylor (1971). The last study reported that an analysis of the students' responses to a 14 item attitudinal scale showed a gener- ally favorable opinion toward the contract grading system. At Rand Junior High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois, the use of contracts has been established in the sixth grade reading program. Of the 160 sixth grade students 35% were placed on contract. Of these 77% indicated greater satis- fac tion i n working under the contract method and felt that the classroom a tmosphere was more relaxed. (Smith and Riebeck, 1971). 35 Contingency contracting procedures have also been employed devel - oping tasks behaviors in the classroom, Andrews (1970); in the a ttainment of performance criteria in a high school chemistry course, Barre tt (1971); ); in modifying the classroom behaviors of black adolescents, Sapp (1970 and, increasing study behaviors and decreasing disruptive and no n-study behaviors, Wodarski (1970). While the sample size of these stud ies were l small, the behavior dealt with in these investigations were of s ocia importance and in most cases essential to the educational goals of the participants, Hanley (1971). Besides the precise principles of contingency contracting, other behavior modification procedures employing different types of re inforce- ment techniques have also been used successfully in and out of t he class- room setting to change and modify behavior. O'Leary and Drabman (1971); St etter (1971); and, Towes (1969), all used tokens to increase a ttentive behaviors; Ayllon and Azrin (1968) used tokens to help institutio nalized Patients in self-care; Almen and Joseph (1968) issued coupons fo r atten- dance and achievement in class; Homme (1969), and Addison and Ho me (1966) have demonstrated the value of utilizing reinforcing events menu s to establish control of academic and other social behaviors; and M ecklenburger and Wilson (1971) set aside a reinforcing events (RE) room which included such items as games, toys, comic books and the like, in a word, things that kids liked, and increased academic performance. The use of contingency contracting has been expanded from the in - dividual classroom setting to cover an entire school district. Performance contracting for human services such as counseling and rehabilita tion has 36 been su ggested by Ehrle (1970). Mechlenburger and Wilson (1971) reported contracting programs in Gary, Indiana; Cherry Creek, Colorado; and Grand Rap i ds, Michigan. Performance contracting for an entire school district was f irst implemented in Texarkana's 1969 Drop Out Prevention Program, (Blaschke, 1971). While the results of the first year program have been both encouraging and discouraging, the drop-out rate of the target popu- lations (students who needed help in English and mathemetics) decreased f rom 20 to 2%. Yet, much controversy still surrounds this issue of per- f ormance contracting, (Hottleman , 1970). After evaluating the mixed results of the first year of performance contracting, Blaschke (1971) concluded that the actual existence of performance contracting and turnkey operations was progress. Summary_ In summary, then, the review of literature dealing with increasing information seeking behaviors revolved around the "empiricism" of the re- i nforcement principles as developed by Skinner (1953) and applied by Michaelson and Meyer (1962) and others. Krumboltz and Thoresen (1969) have tested reinf or cement procedures in individual and group settings, involv- i ng reinforcement, modeling, and simulation techniques. Homme (1969), in turn, applied behavior principles in promoting contingency contracting in educational settings to modify and change behavior. The majority of the articles reviewed demonstrated the effectiveness and power of the reinforce- ment approach. Applications and evaluation of these techniques in other areas remains to be accomplished. -- 37 There are many different theoretical approaches to explaining the process of vocational exploration and selection . While the different evelopment theories overlap, one theorist has r ecently devised an career d instrument which may significantly contribute t o the organization and ors. This next section motivation of students' information seeking beh avi cal reviews the literature dealing with Holland's t heoretical and practi ,, . innovations." Hopefully, Holland's approach w ill add to the understanding f the process of career exploration and selectio n. and prediction o PART III: Holland's Vocational Choice Theory ~ackground of Theory l Holland (1959, 1966, 1968) has developed a theo ry of vocationa hich states that people develop life styles (pe rsonality types) choice w and try to implement them when they choose a vo cation. He postulated six of six types-- different types. Most people can be categorize d as one Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Co nventional, and Enterprising. e is a model against which the real person can be Each theoretical typ compared. Holland (1966) defined a type as: ?? ? "the product of a edity and a variety of characteristic interaction between a particular her Cultural and personal forces, including peers, parents, and other signifi- ocial class, cultural and physical environment. " These oc- cant adults, s erve as a psychological threshold for occupatio nal cupational stereotypes s and career planning, Banducci (1970), Osipow (1 968), Ulrich, Hechlik & Roeber (1966). 38 To implement their life styles, people choose a vocation which agrees with their personality type. Consequen tly, vocations are also o the environment which is dominated by a given type classified according t of personality--Realistic, Investigative, Artis tic, Social, Conventional ' r ... ", they or Enterprising. When "Birds of a feather floc k togethe ent which reflected the types that are present. Holland created an environm used identical terms, then, to assess interactio ns of both personality and environments. r to make vocational choices "congruent" with th e personal- In orde ity style which allows for freedom of expressio n and creative response in ople must seek and to some degree be attracted and to the surroundings, pe by the environment. To seek out one's type and environment requires both time and effort. Holland (1966) maintains that the person's search for environment is carried on in many ways and at s everal levels of conscious- ess of career exploration, ness, and over a long period of time. The proc in particular, the information seeking behavior s necessary before a person choice of environment, is the main focus of th is can reasonably exercise his Paper. Holland's vocational choice theory appe ars to offer the reasonable ol, and shape the infor- and practical paramenters to help understand, c ontr mation seeking behaviors. ~rch on Holland's Theory eral areas for Holland's theory is heuristic and has suggested sev research Osipow (1968), and Lonsway (1969). Cu rrent research findings pro- ce for the use and application of Holland's the ory in a variety Vided eviden of of settings with different populations, and for diverse purposes. Some 39 ses of Holland's (1959) theory of voc ational choice the general hypothe riori and only later were they examine d and tested in were determined ap h longitudinal studies as those condu cted by Holland (1963), Holland suc ith the theory, and Nichols (1964), and Holland (1968 ). In agreement w cational preferences were generally a ssociated with self- descriptions, vo tional developmental history of coping behaviors, daydreams about voc a d (1963, 1964). successive career choices, and images of vocations Hollan e sample of high scholastic apt i tude students studied by Holland and Th into fields which were congruent Nichols (1964) tended to sort themsel ves With their personal traits, interests , aptitudes, and achievements. 1966 Holland revised his theory and proposed an empirically and In vocations and major fields. theoretically based c lassification sy stem for r versions had been reported in studi es by Astin and Holland (1961); Earlie d Holland (1959). The rationale of t he classification system was that an on of personality and if people Vocational choice was viewed as expre ssi aving similar vocation choices were c lassified together, it would be the h same as classifying similar personali ties together. Holland (1966) and exagonal model which arranged Holland and others (1969) introduced a h al aspirations according to psycholog ical relatedness. students' occupation This arrangement made Holland's class ification system more useful for ss, (Holland and others, 1970). research in the career exploration pr oce (1971) subjected the data from a sizea ble sample to Edwards and Whiteny actor and configural analysis and ver ified the relationships among f each type, Holland's personality types, clarifie d the characteristics of ssessment. Two and extended Holland's hexagonal mode l to new domains of a 40 developed by Viernstien (1971) to extend Holland 's classi- methods were ation system to all occupations in the Dictionar y of Occupational fic Titles, This development, along with the relatio n which Walls, Osipow and es and Strong Vocational Ashby (1967) observed between Holland's categori nterest Blank (SVIB, Strong, 1963), added consid erable face and construct I Validity to Holland's theory. R_ersonality Characteristics and Vocational Choic e Investigations based on Holland's theory were ex pressively exten- nce sive and the findings support Holland's theoreti cal constructs. Evide Wall and Osipow (1966), Bohn (1966), Holland and Nichols (1964), from Ashby, Lo Cascios (1965), Osipow, Ashby, and Wall (1965 ), supported Holland's ics and voca- assertion of a relationship between personality characterist choice. Each personality type tended to seek ou t occupational roles tional or environments viewed as consistent with the pe rception of self, (Holland ' ) and Skager (1966) 1963). Data from Astin (1964), Holland and Rich ards (1966 indicated that even institutional characteristic s were related to the person- ealistic and Intellectual types, possessed more ality types, especially, R stability in the history of their occupational c hoice Holland (1964). Those , to students who changed career choices often appear ed to be more dependent , and to come from more permissive homes than no n have greater potential changers (Holland and Nichols, 1964). Personali ty traits and background had ing, (Ashby, an influence on the student's approach to vocati onal decision mak sipow, 1966). Results from two studies: Davis (1965) and Holland Wa11 & O and Nichols (1964), supported Holland's conclusi on that changes in career 41 riginal choice was not appropriate to the indivi- choice occurred if the o dual's sex role. lationship of person- Other studies have demonstrated the c lear re s to vocationally relevant behaviors. Elton (1967) inves- ality variable ted the influence of personality and ability predictors in the selec- tiga ce. College freshmen who did not tion of career roles and vocational c hoi ability but en- know their future vocational choice a ppeared to have less d independence and democratic modes o f thought more than those who chose joye ns . Furthermore, the two separate engineer-agriculture--technical vocat io by Elton revealed that (A) Person- multiple discriminant analyses conduc ted factors accounted for the major part (61%) of discrimination in voca- ality and (B) A conjunct dimension of abili ty and personality tional choice, rt (49%) of discrimination in the care er role accounted for the major pa choice. ~ical Application of Holland's Th eory bounded in research applications of H olland ' s theory. The literature a example, choice of educational institu tions, Astin and Nichols (1964); For d stability of such a choice, Blasi (1971); choice of college major an ow (1971); Richards and Holland (1965 ); Walsh and Russell (1969); pre- Morr icting a students' vocational choice, Fortner (1970); Holland and Lutz d e (196 ncy and change, Elton and Ros 7); predicting male occupational cons ta 9 nd studying work (l 70); prediction of occupational le vel, Stockin (1964); a Holland's six personal orientations, Krause (1970) are Values as related to rch efforts. some of the many different purposes c onnected with resea 42 different types of male populations have been in- In like manner amework of Holland's theory. Coll ege students vestigated within the fr were: assessed by Abe, Holland, Lutz & R ichards (1965); described by study Abe and Holland (1965a, 1965b); and , involved in a longitudinal and Nichols, 1964). In another stu dy, Holland (1968) demonstrated (Holland th occupations were consistent with at adolescent stereotypes of the si x resented. Holland's theoretical formulation of the model category they rep 0) applied the theory of vocationa l choice to community college Peck (197 st ollege graduates chose and remained udents. Lucy (1971) observed that c ations consistent with their person ality types. Patterson, et al. in occup showed that occupational therapists corresponded to the Social per- (l971) Most of Holland's studies have focu sed sonality types of Holland's theory. le populations of the National Meri t Scholarship Finalists, on the ma 968). However, Parson ' s (1971) stu dy noted the relevance of the Osipow (1 th older men (age 45 to 59) presently eory for the vocational selection o f ing in the labor force and for the study of occupational mobility. Work I present Holland's system of classi- Rose and Elton (1971) concluded tha t at fying occupations appeared to apply for predicting male choices only. criticized by several. Isaacson (1 967), Holland's theory has been nd ield (1971) charged that it oversim plified the process of voca- a Hollif lexis, & Anderson (1967), suggested tional development. Others, Carkh uff, A th led to meet the criteria of a true "theory." at Holland's framework fai e findings were reported with the f ollowing research investigation: Negativ predicting aca- Holland's typology had limited pra ctical applications for ugh some support demic and college counseling behav iors, Ingram (1969); altho 43 Occupational Level hypothesis, Holland's theory was much was found for the ughes (1971); too simplistic to be validated in the ad ult employment world, H and secondary vocational patterns of 493 freshmen males were when primary ompared to Holland's hexagonal model, Fo ster (1970) saw little empirical c g theory and Holland's theory relationship between Rotter's social lear nin which seemed to exist a t a of Vocational choice, despite the simila rities theoretical level; Livent (1971) failed t o find a significant relationship nd's independent variables (congruency, c onsistency, between existing Holla and homogeneity) and Erickson's concept o f ego identity. Holland and The final criticism of Holland's theory c ame from (1969) review of vocational development theories. In general, Whitney's they concluded that Holland's (1966) revi sion was more systematic and in- were more explicit and the clusive; definitions of the major concep ts havior. theory was extended to deal with persona l development and other be ever, still contained ambiguities and man y complex and un- The theory, how necessary concepts. ~ional Preference Inventory th Re- The Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI , Holland, 1965 Six Vision) has been devised to assist in the development of a scheme for of vocational choice and per- assessing the major constructs in a theor y ification of vocation and sonality theory, and for the psychologic al class ege majors Holland (1959, 1966, 1968). T he instrument was described in Coll the manual (Holland, 1965) in this fashion: 44 The Vocational Preference Inventory (V PI) is a per- ional sonal i ty inventory composed entirely o f occupat indica- titles. A person takes the inventory by merely ting the occupation which he likes or dislikes. The he in- complex clusters of personality traits which t ventory assesses yi eld a broad range o f information about the subject's interpersonal rela tions, interests, values, self-conception, coping behav ior and identifi- cations. (VPI Manual, p. 91) nventory and theory have undergone inv estigation so that the Both the i lland, 1961, meanings attributed to the scale score had some validity (Ho 1963 , 1964, and 1965). While its primary purpose was to asses s personality the VPI has n used for several other purposes such as: (1) occupational inventory; bee sonali ty types according to (Holland, 1958); (2) an assessment of per d's theory of vocational choice (1959, 1963, 1964, and 1966); and, Hollan an instrument to increase occupationa l exploration among high school (3) he brevity and inexpensive effic- and college students, (Holland, 1965). T as an attractive feature. As Holland (1965) remarked: iency of the VPI w he VPI's most desirable use is as a br ief screening inventory for high "T 91 Manual) School and college students and employ ed adults." (p. ~liability of Vocational Prefer ence Inventory d that the present scales The latest revision of the VPI indicat e relatively homogeneous and independen t, and contained few overlapping Were 4 item scales reported reliabilities items, Holland (1965). Scores on the 1 reshmen and from (KR. -20) ranging from .83 to .89 for 6 289 male college f emales, Holland (1966). "In another i nvestigation, ? 76 to .89 for 6143 f reliabilities Clark (1961) cited an unpublished stud y by Albitz reporting 45 Manual 1965). Finally, in s tating the ranging from ,73 to .89." (p . 7, onsistence of the test internal c -retest reliabili ty coefficie nts and the manual produced evidence to support reli- items of the sixth revision, the ability scores ranging from m oderate to high. alidity of Vocational Pre f ere nce Inventory Y of the VPI's validity focuse d first on the constructs The examination ss. The development and revi s i on of the and then on its predictive us efulne construction and revision of ed with the VPI has been intimately conne ct nd revised, theory. As new constructs w ere invented, complemented a Holland's of subsequent revisions were ad ded to the VPI. As a result new scales and ons nt of theoretical constructs with the practical applicati this intertwineme ermination of the construct a nd predictive of the scales in research, th e det s Holland (1965). alidity of the VPI has been an endless and complex proces V t validity of the VPI has been tested in many dif- 1. The construc ulations such as: psychiatric and TB p ferent settings and with dive rse po inmates, employed adults, and high school and Patients, drug addicts, priso n 1962, ts, Astin (1963); Fairweather (1960); and Holland (1958, College studen ed to establish the construct research conduct l965); and Lopez (1962). In the ith several personality Validity, the VPI scales have been intercorrelated w ved the similarities between the Sixteen Point Person- scales, On st udy obser 960) and the VPI. The result ing ality Factor Questionnaire (1 6PFQ, Cattell, 1 struct validity and the meaning s i ntercorrelations provided su pport to the con Also, a factor analysis by Fo rsythe and Fair- attached to the VPI scales. structs in the VPI. Weather (1961) s upported some of the con 46 Several other correlational studies have investigated the relation of the VPI wi th other assessment instruments. The manual (VP I , Holland ' l965) provided evidence for the intercorrelations between some of the strong 's Vo cational Interest Blank (SVIB, Strong, 1963) and the Kuder Preference Re cord (KPR, 1968) scales. Wall, Osipow and Ashby (1967) ob- se rved the cannonical correla tions of the SVIB and the Edward's Personal Pref e rence Scale (EPPS Edwards, 196 ), and noted that the VPI was more an i nte rest than a personality measure. But even though the VPI items had more in common with the SVIB than the EPPS, it could not be substituted for the SVIB. In another study Navran and Kendall (1971) saw that the six cannonica l roots extracted in their study, suggested six underlying con- structs common to both the SVIB and the VPI. Finally, the joint use of the Kuder Preference Re cord (KPR) and the VPI was compared by Rezler (1967). While the results indicated that these two instruments measured different factors and could not replace one another, the data from this and the above investigations have provided construct validity for Holland's theory and his Vocational Preference Inventory. 2. The predictive validity of the VPI has also been invest i gated. In a series of vocational choice studies, Holland (1962) found for students of high ability, that the VPI was only moderately successful in predicting choices of major fields and vocations for only a one and two year interval. Prediction in achi evement such as grade point averages, extracurricular accomplishment and originality in fields of arts, literature, and science have been reported in the VPI Manual, (Holland, 1965); Holland and Astin (1962); Nicholas and Holland (1963); Winkleman (1960). Even though these 47 differences were statistically significant, the predictions were too in- efficient to be of value. Holland and Lutz (1967) and Rose and Elton (1970) compared the pre- dictive validity of a student's expressed vocational choice with the pre- dictive validity of his scores on the VPI. They concluded that asking the student about his vocational choice or asking him about his vocational in- tentions or role were almost twice as efficient as the VPI in predicting vocational choice. In a comprehensive review of the literature on voca- tional behavior and development, Crites (1968) reported correlations between expressed and inventoried interest ranging from .40 to .50. Nelson (1971) used the VPI as one of the instruments to compare the responses of indivi- duals who inconsistently reported their professed and inventoried interests. The outcome of this study was similar to Cooley's (1967) findings which pointed out" .?? stated career plans (a one item test!) predicted later careers as well or better than did an entire interest inventory." (1967, p. 1). In a review of a large sample of longitudinal studies Whitney (1969) also stated that a persons' expressed vocational choice predicted his future employment about as well as interest inventories or combinations of person- a1i? ty and H b oa llc ak ng dr o au nn dd Lc uh tza ra (1c 9t 6e 7r )i st si uc gs g. ested that interest inventories should be used with greater discrimination. The relationship of measured interest to personality and talent has also been the subject of several involved studies. The American College Testing Survey (Abe, Holland, Lutz, & Richards, 1963) attempted, with some success, to obtain a more complete account of the typical college student and of the variations from college to college. Baird's (1970) study was 48 sing the VPI, Baird identifi ed some of n outgrowth of this ACT sur vey. U a olland's theory. But since the the patterns of interest co nsistent with H at best moderately strong, the measure of voca- relationships found were or measures of goals, self- tional interest could not b e substituted f concept, or potential. erence Inventory ~er Applications of the V ocational Pref ering in scope and purpose have employed the Research studies diff g- rence Inventory (VPI, Hollan d, 1965). For example, co Vocational Prefe ional preferences and select ion, Osipow ocat nitive styles and education al-v of High and differentiating the non-in tellectual characteristics (l969); , 1965); validating Holland 's , Magoon Low scores on the ACT, (Bot t, Giblette school youth, hexagonal configuration of occupations with rural high ibing the personality profil es of counseled and non- Crabtree (1971); descr and Giblette (1967); examin ing grab, Counseled college students, Magoon, Ma orrow (1971); st nts' satisfaction with their choice of college major, M ude 965); ge grades and extracurricul ar achievements, Nichols (1 Predicting colle ple- types of vocational choice a nd helping counselors to im Predicting the ; comparing VPI high point c odes and edu- ment Holland's theory, Peck (1971) 68); determining perseveranc e in cational preferences, Osipow and Ashby (19 Southworth and Morning star (1970); classifying per- engineering students, mo- nsistency-inconsistency and ho sonality types of the dimen sions of co yzing the conflict eity and heterogeneity bases , Thomas (1971); and , anal gen s and Giblette (l96 7), are a ll evidence between freshmen roommates, William I in research investigations . of the usefulness and versa tility of the VP 49 Not all studies using the VPI reported positive results. Walker (l964) attempted to identify freshmen underachievers with this instrument. He concluded that the scores generated on its s cales could not be used to discrimi nate among overachievers, achievers, and underachievers. In another s t udy , faced with the question concerning the appropriateness of the VPI normative data, Scott (1968) was unable to draw any firm conclu- s.i ons concerning the utility of Holland's theory for practitioners of employee selection and college placement. Occasionally, as Holland ob- served (1965), the VPI seemed to produce invalid results. In any event the instrument was never designed to be used alone, but only in combina- tion with other psychological and sociological data. But despite its 1 i? m.i tations and weaknesses, the research examined, has provided support to the reliability and validity of the VPI and credence to the theory and rat i? onale underlying its construction and interpretation . .?__elf-Directed Search In addition to the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI), Holland has recently developed the "Self-Directed Search for Educational and Voca- tional Planning" (SDS, Holland, 1970). Holland (1971) estimated that 50 to 60% of the student and adult population would find this first level of help suffi cient for their vocational educational career explorations. Since the SDS has just been published, few empirical studies have been located whi ch revealed its usefulness and limitations in research investi- gations. so Most of the evidence dealing with the entire SDS has been collected on incoming college freshmen at the University of Maryland. During the summer orientation program at Maryland, Sedlacek, Collins, and Kimball (l971) administered the SDS to 5109 incoming freshmen. The data have led to a series of related studies on the SDS. Collins and Sedlacek (1971) compared the summary codes of 458 extremely satisfied users of the SDS with the codes of 343 completely dissatisfied subjects. The latter group had a significantly larger proportion (20%) of students whose summary codes did not correspond to any occupation than did the satisfied group (10%). The same data also showed that the satisifed group received more Artistic and Investigative codes while the dissatisfied group obtained more Conventional scores. Based on the structure of the SDS, the writers hypothesized that these outcomes might well be explained by educational and cultural back- grounds rather than vocational interests of the users. Since the SDS summary codes depended to some extent on the compe- tencies and experience or exposure to occupations, Kimb all, Sedlacek, & Brooks (1971) raised the question whether the instrument was an appropriate one t . They hypothesized that the SDS might direct 0 use with black students. educationally and culturally deprived blacks to consider more Realistic occupations which did not require a college education. The study compared the patterns of vocational exploration choices for both black and white College freshmen and determined student satisfaction with their SDS sum- mary codes. Findings disclosed that blacks were inclined to choose Social occupations more often than whites who selected Realistic and Investiga- tive choices. No significant difference was found between blacks and 51 whites with rega rds to sati? s f ac t?i on w1" th the resul t so f t h e1? r SDS summary code s. The study's conclusion was that the SDS was equally appropriate for both blacks and whites. The level of education attained by the parents of those completing the SDS was investigated by Lewis and Sedlacek (1972). From a stratified sample of incoming college freshmen in the summer of 1970 two groups were selected for study. The "High" group contained subjects whose fathers had at least an undergraduate college degree; the "Low" was comprised of sub- jects whose fathers had less than a high school education. Analysis of the data pointed out that both "High" and "Low" groups aspired to similar oc- cupations. But the "Low" group revealed a significantly large discrepancy between their day dreams (level of aspirations) and their summary codes. When compared to the day dreams, the "Low" group obtained more Conventional and fewer Artistic summary codes and chose summary codes requiring less Schooling than did the "High" group. It appeared from this study that the sns i?s influenced by T ht eh e w s ro itc eio rse conomic level o f t h e users. menti? oned that this finding may have signi f icance f or t h ose subjects using the SD S without the aid of a counselor. Edwards and Whitney (1971) administered the SDS to a sample of 358 men and 360 women. In their attempt to verify the relationship between Bollan d' s personality types, the writers sub "J e cted the data t o f actor and configural analysis. The findings offered strong empirical support for Rolland's hexagonal mode, the occupational classification system, and the struc ture of the SDS. 52 In an attempt to provide test-retest r e liability data for the SDS , O'Connell and Sedlacek (1971) randomly selected 65 of 144 beginning psy- chology students who were willing to retake the SDS seven to ten months later. Th e second assessment showe d re l ative 1 y little change in the subJ?e Median reliability coefficients were repc o t' rts e ds ummary codes. as follows: .75 (Pearson Product Moment), .87 (Average Common Element), and .92 (Spearman Rho). Thus, the data collected at the University of Maryland showed that the SDS possessed an acceptable amount of reliability for an educational and vocational planning instrument. Finally, Zener and Schnuelle (1972) administered the SDS to 1092 secondary students in four different high schools. Two versions of the sns were employed. One group took the regular pub l ished version containing the se1 f-directed aspect; the other group too k a secon d si?m plified version whi? ch combined the VPI, day dreams, immediate scoring and a list of occupa- tions which corresponded to the subject's final three letter code summary. Results of the instrument's evaluation indicated that: (1) students taking e?i ther version of the SDS increased the number of occupations considered; th0se students using the regular published version considered more congruent occupations than those who took the non self-directed version; (2) students taking either version were more satisfied and certain about their vocational Plans. Also, while students taking the published version reported less need to see a counselor immediately, the control group indicated less sat- expressing a greater need for info is rmfa ac tt io? n about ion and certainty by specific jobs and training programs. Finally, (3) neither version had any effect b h ? s of the subJ?ects or the4; r on the information seeking e avior 53 knowledge of chosen occupation. The last finding has significance for the present study. Relationshi of the Review of Literature to the Present Stud The discrepancy that Zener and Schneulle (1972) found between the effectiveness of the SDS, on the one hand, to increase the number of oc- cupations a subject considered and, on the other hand, not to have any effect on information seeking behaviors of the students was an intriguing result. What approach could be used to increase the ISB necessary for the Voe a t?i onal choice process? The review of literature dealing with the dif- ferent types of high school students pointed out that while the work ori- ented population was neglected and overlooked in vocational educational Programs, much remained to be learned about shaping and increasing the Vocational exploration behaviors of the college bound. The research con- cerned with reinforcement principles and techniques, Krumboltz and others (l964, 1965, 1967, 1968); Michaelson and Meyer (1962); Skinner (1953, 1962); and, Ullmann and Krasner (1965); and in particular the recent research des- cribing contingency contracting Homme (1969, 1970), has attested to the effectiveness of the reinforcement procedures in influencing and shaping behaviors in the educational setting. On the other hand, evaluations of Holland's theory and his vocational exploration instruments (VPI and SDS) has provided sufficient evidence for the validity, reliability, and use- fulness of this theoretical and empirica1 approach to v oc a t?i ona 1 explora- tion. 54 proaches, reinforcement tec hniques, The combination of these tw o ap ational exploration eci ally contingency contra cting, with Holland's voc esp High school work oriented and instrument, the SDS needed to be evaluated. istance male and female eleventh g rade students require ass college bound eting their career explorat ion. The focus of the and direction in compl st av ioral contracts then, is to consider the e ffectiveness of using beh udy, h in increasing the frequen cy of infor- ~ith Holland's Self-Direct ed Searc mation seeking behaviors o f high school students. d to describing, explainin g, The remaining chapters wil l be devote iment. and analyzing the results of the exper ?CHAPTER IIL ation and the Experi mental Procedures Design of the Lnves tig Problem ~ ational ated two methods of increasing the voc This study investig ts. In particular, the uden on seeking behavior s of high school st informati g effects of the Se lf-Directed Search esearch investigated the reinforcin r ndent variables) on 70) and contingency contracting (Indepe (SDs, Holland, 19 grade t variables) of elev enth th formation seeking b ehaviors (Dependen e in four specific iented and college b ound students. The male and female wor k or information were: intended and actual vocational les dependent criterion variab ng with the amount listed alo ehaviors and the num ber of occupations seeking b of cert . with career plans. ainty Resea h ~ es were tested by th is study: Four hypothes (SDS&VGO I) exhibit ubjects (Ss) admini stered ~treatment one 1. S al information seeki ng an increase in the n umber of vocation ors they intend to p erform. behavi owed by a contin- inistered treatment two(SDS&VGQ I foll 2. Ss adm n ater number of infor matio gency contract)actu ally perform a gre nly treat- rs than those Ss who are administered o seeking behavio ment one (SDS & VGO I ). 56 3. Ss administered treatment two(SDS&VGQ I followed by a con- tingency contract)list more occupations than the Ss who are administered only treatment one(SDS&VGQ I), and, 4. Ss administered treatment two(SDS&V.GQ I followed by a con- tingency contractj report more certainty with career plans than those Ss who are administered only treatment one (SDS&VGO I). ~ample and Population The study was carried out during the 1971-72 school year in two public senior high schools located in Montgomery County, Maryland. The first school Was ch aracter1?z ed by an extensive vocati?o na1 an d e d ucati.o na1 program ,and had a number of students on a part-time work program or preparing for a trade or techn?i ca1 occupation (Wheaton High School Gui d ance De partment, Personal Com- munication). The 1969 follow-up study conducted by the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS, OEMIA, 1970) indicated that 48.1 of the first school's 1969 graduates continued their education in 1969-70 and 25.9 found employment. The same follow-up study also showed that the second senior high school was Oriented toward the college bound with 73,2 of its 1969 graduates continuing their education in 1969-70 and 24 , 4 found employment. A pretest entitled -Student Interest Questionnaire (SIQ, Appendix B) , Was d esigned and administered to the sample popu1 ati.o n b Y t h e investigator. This screening device was presented to the 1,282 eleventh grade students in Only the students who agreed to complete the the t Wo senior high schools, SlQ Were considered for the study. A total number of 1,192 agreed to par- ticipate. 57 The school with the work oriented population had an eleventh grade enrollment of 700 students. In administering the SIQ it was found that some 62 students indicated that they did not wish to participate in the study. Another 282 students were dropped from the study because they classified themselves on the SIQ as college bound students. At the school With the college bound population, 198 students indicated on the SIQ that they planned to seek employment after high school, and so, were dropped from the research investigation. In addition, the 58 absentee students who failed to complete the SIQ brought the total number of subjects at the college bound Of the 502 students enrolled, some scho 0 l not included in the study to 284. 298 college bound students were considered for the experimental program. ~mization Procedures Randomization, according to Campbell and Stanley (1963), has been con- sidered a necessary condition for the interna1 va 1 1? d i? ty o f an experiment. In order t o achieve pre-experimental equation o f t h e treatment an d control groups, Ss Were randomly assigned to treatment groups. The randomization procedures employed for both the work oriented and college bound were identical. Using a table of random numbers, 360 subjects, 180 males and 180 females were randomly se 1 ecte d an d assi?g ne d to f orm 12 groups of the same size with an N of 30, equally divided by sex and vocational or?~ entation of the student. At each school six equal sized groups were ran- domly assigned to one of the two treatments or con t ro 1 s. ?e t l"t ot a problem In the event of attrition or SubJ c morta 1 y was n ? absen teeism, a pool of ten alternates was selected f or each group. Thus, at 58 each school there were three all male and three all female groups size 30. At the first school there were six work oriented groups (three all male and three all female) and at the second school there wer e six college bound groups (three all male and three all female). The total number of students rand0mly selected and assigned was 480; however, the number of students actually employed in the study numbered 36 TO h. e sampling unit arrangement is pres ented graphically in Table I. ~er?im ental Design The statistical design was a 3 X 2 X 2 fixed factorial with Level A consisti"ng f (1) the Self-o D irt ew co t edtr e Sa et am rce hn t as: l one, and (2) the s e 1 f-Directed Search used in conjunction with a contingency contract negotiated within the selected groups. An appropriate number of controls Were also included. The second dimension (B) was a blocking dimension which separated males and females. The third and final dimension (C) was the voca- tional orientation of the student (work oriented or co 11 ege bound). ~de nt Variables The dependent (criterion) variables chosen for use were each selected inte rms of possible effects the contingency contract might be expected to have on student information seeking behaviors. Four such information behav- iors were selected for study. These behaviors and the essential means utilized in converting each to a quantitative measure were: 59 Student Information Seeking Cr i terion Measure Used late intent to explore 1. Summat ed rating scores of 1. Stimu the student's statements occupations and careers expressing intent to ex- plore occupations. (Post treatment). ase actual exploration 2. Sum mated r a t i ng s cores of 2 . Incre pations and careers the student ' s statements of occu expressing actual i nforma- tion seeking behavi ors performed. (Post mi nus pretest of information seeking statements). . i_,ar~er number of occupa- 3. Listing of occupations an d 3 ns listed (Post minus careers of interest tio pretest scores ). r- 4. Higher certitu de score 4. Increase the amount of ce u- (Post minus prete st scores). tainty with vocational-ed cational plans. and level of the Table 2 nd the na ture summarized the dependent vari ables a treatment employed. ents were designed by the inv estigator. Some All measuring instrum eveloped b es d Y Zener and Sch nuelle items were based on the questionnai r (1972). ~ Interest Questionnaire (SIQ, Appendi x B) ionnaire was employed to sepa rate students by sex This 56 item quest C), item one. Some 48 other (B) and by vocational orienta tion of students ( 1 items ated rating sc ore i? n e even different Were designed to provide a su mm information seeking behaviors . The remaining items we r e areas of current devoted to measuring these vari ables: TABLE I Graphi c Representation of Basic Statistical Design - College Bound School Work Oriented School -- Type of College Bound Student Work Oriented Male Female Treatment I Male Female 30 30 SDS Alone 30 30 - Male Female Treatment II Male Female 30 30 Behavioral 30 30 Contract - Male Female Treatment III Male Female n?l .scussion of 30 30 Counselor's 30 30 Role and Funct i ons ' 360 60 1 'A.Jj L .l!: .L .L FACTORS INCLUDED IN THE STATISTICAL DESIGN UTILIZED FOR ANALYSIS OF CURRENT INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIORS, INTENT TO SEEK INFORMATION, ACTUAL INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIORS PERFORMED, AND THE NUMBER OF OCCUPATIONS LISTED AND THE REPORTED AMOUNT OF CERTAINTY WITH CAREER PLANS Factor I TYBE OF Codes STUDENTS: COLLEGE BOUND I WORK ORIENTED NATURE AND LEVEL OF TREATMENTS I (C) - I -- -- II III I irt SDS and SDS (A) SDS Contingency NO SDS Contingency NO Treat- Alone Contracts Treatment Alone Contracts Treatment 1. A pretest, Student Interest Questionnaire, - ments (SIQ) was designed to measure: (B) Male Fem Male Fem Male Fem IM ale Fem Male Fem Male Fem Sex 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 (a) Current Information Seeking Behaviors (b) Listing of occupations, X X X X X X X X X X X X (c) Certainty with career plans, (d) Type of student, college bound or work oriented, and, (e) Interest in participating in the study. ONE WEEK -- ---- I I X X X X X X X X I 2. SDS with the Vocational Guidance Question-naire I (VGQ I) to measure intended infor- - --- -- I mation seeking behaviors. I ! X X X X I 3. Negotiation of contingency contracts for performance of information seeking behaviorE I I X X X X I 4. Group discussion to examine the role and function of the high school counselor. I Same amount of time as administration of SD~ SIX WEEKS ~ - -- X X X X X X r X X X X X X 5. Vocational Guidance Questionnaire II (VGQ II) to measure gains in: Information s eeking behaviors actually performed, occupations listed, and certainty with career plans. X X X X X X X X X X X X 6. A ten per cent review of self-reports of information seeking behaviors ~ ' 61 62 (1) Listing of occupations and careers of interest (item two). (2) Certainty with career plans (items three and four). A reliability study was conducted using two eleventh grade classes in a third Montgomery County Public Senior High School. There were approxi- mately twenty-five college bound students in the eleventh grade English class and twenty work oriented students in the general business class. These students completed the questionnaire and then a week later took the s ame questionnaire a second time. The test-re t est Pearson Product Moment Corre lation of information seeking behavior scores was reported at r = .93 for the college bound students and r = .94 for th~ work oriented students. Other correlation scores for occupational listing, certainty with career plans, presented substantial evidence for acceptable reliability scores on these items. The results are shown in Table 3. '['he SIQ instrument, then, appeared to possess sufficient reliability for the purpose of the investiga- tion. Since the questionnaire items were bas ed on the scales developed by Krumboltz and Hamilton (1969), Zener and Schnuelle (1972), they also ap- peared to have sufficient fact and construct validity to measure information seeking behaviors under investiga tion. Vocational Guidance Questionnaire I (VGQ I, Appendix C) The instrument was identical to the SIQ except it measured intended information seeking behaviors (question 5, items 1-48) rather than current ISB. After completing the SDS the subjects stated their intended informa- tion seeking on the VGQ I. The summated rating score and the other item TABLE III DENT TY TEST OF THE PRETE ST INSTRUMENT: STU OT STUDY RELIABILI EPORT ED PIL AIRE (SIQ) SCORES ON THE DIMENSION OF R REST QUESTIONN OCCUPATIONS LISTED , INTE RMATION SEEKING BEHA VIORS, THE NUMBER OF INFO NTY WITH CAREER PLAN S, USING NT OF CERTAI AND THE REPORTED AMO U RELIABILITY PROCEDU RES TEST - RETEST TH SEEKING OCCUPATI ONS LISTING CERTAINTY WI INFORMATION PLANS IORS BE HAVIORS CAREER BEHAV COLLEGE .42 92 = .10 BOUND 1306176 .93 306; 9 501. 2 6628 ?WOIU( 65 .24 ORIENTED .94 204 .48 = 8843 228. 9 423. 2 9343 63 64 s reliability es depended nt Interest Ques tionnaire for it scor on the Stude and Valid1?. t y. ( VGQ II, Appendix D) ~ational G ?d I ..::..: u1. ance Questionnaire I -- all 360 nistration of the SDS and VGQ I, Six weeks after the admi as identical to the sub ? e post test ques tionnaire w Jects took the V GQ II. Th nformation seeki ng srq rating score of i ept that it prov ided a summated exc , other scores on 8) behav? ed (Question 5, i tems 1-4 1.ors ~ctuall~ pe rform (items 3 and 4). areer plans occup . th c sting (item 2), a nd certainty wi at1.onal li naire (SIQ) l'he n the Student In terest Question st ded o Que ionnaire al so depen for h s. ility and validit y of its score t e reliab Vocational Plan ning (SDS, Holland ducational and ' ~-~ted Se arch for E 1970 ) (Appendix E) rpose of increas ing in the study for the pu l'wo instruments were used d h Te first was en - ents involve . .i.nformat1.? on of the stud seeking behavior s nal Plannin& (SD S) cational and Voc atio ?__elf-Directed Se arch for Edu r a review of re - apter II fo anct Was d directly from ve the VPI (See Ch deri 970, Holland des-, APA, 1 search). residential Addr ess, Division 17 In his P cr.i.bed th e SDS as follows : l and Vocational arch for Educati ona nd The Self-Directe d Se -score?, ~ S) is a self-adm inistered, self ning (SD g tool. It_1.s ~ n~ Plan nterpreted voca tional counselin i f sc1.ent1 .f1.c self- ractical and has a high degree o expensive, p d client effectiv eness. Validity an oklets. To use t he SDS a The SDS includes two bo klet and obtains a he assessment bo o t t f . d . on fills e code to 1.n s uit- pers OU uses th three lette-r cod e. He then al classification ccupation able occupations in the o booklet. 65 The SDS is based on Holland's theory of personality types. It is expected to provide helpful vocational coun- seling service at a low cost. The SDS a ccording to Holland, (1971) has been a better diagnostic device ' than the typical computer-based vocational information system. The instru- ment hash ad both a theoretical (Holland, 1966, 1968, 1970) and empirical basis ( Sedlacek, Collins, and Kimball, 1970: and Zener and Schnuelle, 1972). Through the statistical process of factor analysis, a c omplete psy- cholo gi. cal classification of occupations has been developed by Holland and Others (1966a, 1970) and extended to other occupations (Edwards and Whitney, ' 1971). Current research provided sufficient evidence of reliability for the use and the application of the SDS in educational settings (O'Connell and Sedlacek , 1971). In general the validity of the SDS rested on Holland's theory of per- sona1i? ty and environmental models. The development of the scales and ratings employed by the SDS was begun with Holland' s (1962) ear 1 Y i? nvestigations of the th SDS used the self-rating, activities, competencies and oc-eory. The scales because these provided consistent predictions about cupational (VPI) ' Personali' ty types and their environmental orientations. In discussing the constr uct and predictive validity of these scales, Holland ( 1971) wrote: "In general, these validities are not remarkable, because only low to moderate relationships were found. At the same time, it appears unlikely that th~ SDS is any le~s predictive than similar assessment devices. The SDS is only intended to facilitate a person's occupational search. At best it can only indicate a class of oc- cupations a pers~n prefers: it cannot efficiently pre- di. ct a single choice for a person, " 66 Besides providing useful predictive validity for vocational exploration , Bolland expected the SDS to prove its worth by suggesting more occupations for the user to consider and by stimulating the individual to seek voca- tional counseling and additional information (Holland, 1971). ~Conngt? e-ncy- Contract ( Appen di. x F) After taking the SDS a second instrument was employed to effect the informati? on seeking behaviors of half of the experimental subjects. A con- t i. ngency contract was negotiated with 120 subjects, i.e . , an equal number of (30) male and (30) female work oriented subjects and the same number of college b ound (30) males and (30) female students. Eleven different informa- t.1 .on seek1?. ng activities were suggested. The experimentals first agreed on the number of ISB activities they wished to perform and then selected from This menu was first the re1. .nforcement menu the rewards they wished to earn. college bound high school developed in a pilot study with work oriented and Studen While many rewards were identified as being desir-ts (Appendix A). ab1 early dismissal, late arrival, release time, free time in e, such as: the 11?. b rary, the school authorities limited the number and kind of reinfor- cers wh1. .ch could be offered. These reinforcers were found acceptable: 1. The principal's commendation of the subject to the employer or college of the subject's choice; 2. An official entry on the student's permanent record card, notating the student's performance in the experimental guidance program; 3. A field trip to a local industry, business or school; and, 4 ? Three vocational group counseling sessions. 67 Each selection required informa tion seeking activities from one or many of the ele ven suggested categories. To earn all the rewards, the students Were required to perform twenty or more information seeking activities. Upon completion of the SDS the contract was in effect for six weeks, but could b e revised at any time with the agreement of both the student and investigator . ~ts of Vocational Information Seekin_g_ (Appendix G) Upon completion of the SDS, a six page booklet called the Report of Vocationa l I nformation Seeking (RVIS) was distribute d to all the experi- mental subjects. Use of the booklet was optional. The purpose was to pro- vl?de the high school student with some direction an d s tructure in exploring occupati. ons and careers. All experimental subjects were encouraged to com- Plete th ose sections of the booklet they found to be useful and worth while. Students were instructed to be prepared to turn in the booklet and any other evi? dence of information seeking at the end of the six week experimental Program. Table IV summarizes the instrumentation. Data ~llection Procedures At the regular monthly school faculty meeting the teachers and staffs of both schools were informed by the principals of the nature, purpose, and Ptoced ures of the research study. A memorandum of explanation (Appendix H) \-las di. stributed to each faculty member. During the period of Oc t ober 19th to th e 25th, homeroom teachers were asked to administer the initial Student Interest Questionnaire (SIQ) to all eleventh grade students. On the first day ' the homeroom period was extended from ten to twenty minutes for the The remaining three days of the admi n.i strat?i on of the pretest instrument, ,. TABLE I V Measuring Instruments , Methods of Administration, Method of Scoring , and Criterion Variables Measured Instrument Appendix Method Scoring Cri terion Student Interest Questionnaire (SIQ) A Pre-Survey Sunnnated Rat i ng Current (Likert ) Score Level of ISB: Li st i ng of Occupa- tions : Certai nty of Plans Vocational Guidance Questionnaire I (VGQ I) B Post Sunnnated Rating Intended (Likert) Score ISB , etc . Vocational Guidance Questionnaire II (VGQ II) C Pre-Post Summated Rating Gain in (six week s ) (Likert ) Score Actual Number of ISB Per- formed , etc . 68 ,. TABLE IV (Cont'd) Behavioral Contract & Post Yes , plus ISB Number of (six weeks) Selected ISB Per- formed Reports of Information F Post Tabulate Ac tual Number of Seeking (six weeks) ISB ISB Per- formed 69 70 week were left for the absentees or late a rrivals to complete the first ques tionnai_re. The survey was presented to each homeroom in a standardized fashion. Homero om teachers were instructed to introduce the questionnaire as a re- approved by the Research Department of the Montgomery County search program ools and sponso red by the University of Maryland Graduate School Public Sch of Education. The announced purpose wa s to investigate the vocational process of eleventh grade stu ents. Standardized instruc- educational cho1?ce d tions ( Appendix I) were read to all students. After the SIQ was completed the replies of interested participants Were separated by sex and vocational orientations. These students were then randoml Y assigned to t reatments or control groups. On the day of the treat- tnent 'a special bulletin was published with the names of the students chosen to rece?i ve the experimental guidance program, In addition, individual ap- po1? .ntment f orms were passed out in homeroom to not1? f Y each s tudent included in the study. The homeroom teachers were instructed to read t h e names on the special bulletin, distribute the individual appointment slips and read this notice: "It is very important that each student who received an ap- pointment slip report to the assigned location at the sche- duled time." No additional directions were given, If questions of schedule con- flict s arose, teachers were asked to encourage the students to check with the 1? .nvestigator at the assigned location and at the proper time. When the Subjects reported to the testing room, they were g reeted with standardized 71 _instructions (Appendix J). - c- _!:-_}_1::~d rr~i~i~n=-=i~s~t=-=-r~a:::t:::o~r:......:a:::n::..::d::::._.:::.T.:::.e.:::.s.-:t=----A-s_s_i_?s _ t_a_n_t_s Tes_ t The test administrator was the author and there were two assistants. der to prevent bias , both treatment groups were administered the Self- In Or Search and VGQ I at the same time. The test administra tor was un- Directed aware of which subjects were to receive which treatment. The testing a s- were two fully certified counselors employed by the local high sistan t s school , -Experimental Room In conducting the experiment the schools ' cafeteria was reserved for the group testing session. During the time of experiment, no other acti vi- e ties occurred in the area of the school . All subjects were tested in th morning in the cafeteria of the school which they attended. Administration of Contingency Contracts After administering the Self-Directed Search and the Vocational Gui- dance Questionnaire I, (VGQ I) the investigator returned the next day an d met with the experimental groups who had been randomly assigned to recei ve the contingency contract treatment. The rationale and plan of contingen cy c ontracting (Appendix E) was discussed in small group sessions with thes e students . From the entire number of 120 students selected for this trea t- ment, f our students declined to enter into a contract agreement. These subjects were dropped from the study and replaced by their alternates. The majority of students showed interest in the contract. Once they worked out the precise behaviors they intended to perform, they readily 72 Si.gned the agreement. In order to earn their reward(s) th e subjects were i.nstructed to present in six weeks ti.me the evidence of their information seeki.n g acti. v.i ties. Examples of acceptable evidence included such items as: pri.nted vocational-educational materials, job application forms, pro- grams f or career days, college catalogues, receipt of transcripts sent-for or educati? onal-vocational testing fees paid, written summaries of job in- terviews and finally, completion of "Reports of Vocational Information Seeking Booklets" (RVIS). At the end of the six weeks, all experimentals \vere promised written notification of the time and place to turn in the ev1? -dence of their information seeking activities. (Appendix K) Control p ~ One week after taking the Student Interest Questionnaire (SIQ) the rnembers of the control groups were no tified by individual appointment slips These students were first to report to t h e cafeteria at an assigned ti.m e, adm:i, ni. stered a short questionnaire (Appen di' x L) wh i' ch .i nves t'i ga t e d t h e role One full class period (55 minutes) and f unction of the school counselor. \.las spent in group discussion of the student's perception of the school This amount of time approximates the period spent administering counselor. the sns to experimental students, the Vocational Guidance uestionnaire II P:roced ures f or Administerin During the week of December 10th to the 17th, the investigator re- tu:rned to both school and adminstered the Vocational Guidance Questio nnaire The treatment groups were tested separately. l:t (VGQ II) to all 360 students. ln 0:td er to verify the self-report data of the questionnaire, a ten percent '? on than just an increase on the dimens ion of intended VlSB. 103 Vocational Information Seekin Behaviors Actuall Performed two SDS, Research question two was tested by comparing treatment ( VGQ I & Con t i ngency contracts) with treatment one (SDS & VGQ I). As the results icated, the technique of negotiating a contingency co ntract ind? ?Uh? rticular reinforcers, apparently did not add significantly t ' o its pa . tre atment one (SDS & VGQ I) in increasing the number of VI SB. explanations may be considered to explain the apparent in- Several effect ? o contingency contracts in increasing a grea ter number of iveness f inf seeking behaviors that are obtained with just the administra tion of ormation Ss who negotiated a contingency contract after the adminis- the sns & VGQ I. contact. The contract , trat1?. on 0 f the SDS received no further assistance or SDS which significantly i.n eff ect 'was negotiated under the influence of the In effect, inc reased the Ss' intended information seeking behavior sc ores. the ? information seeking scores became the criterion measure. The l.ntended time i. nterval of six weeks, however, apparently tempere d an d red uced the Prom1.? Sed number of info rmation seeking behaviors which the Ss planned to The process Perfo As a result the time interval may have been too long. rm . The final scores of infor- Of extincti? on appears to have occurred too so on , lllation seeking behaviors actually performed may indicate that high school Std reinforcement sche dule to insure continuous infor- u ents require a fixed In addition, the academic lllat l?. on seeking behaviors over a six week interval, ? b b hi'gh school and the hectic pace of extra- Pres sure generated in a su ur an ? curri cular teenage activities suggest manY incompatible behaviors which ce as? >nterfere with and extinguish the number of information seeking be-lly . ,1a?. v1.ors the s s contracted to perform. 104 e same discrepancy between intended and the information seeking th behav? ac ually performed was also observed for Ss exposed to treatment iors t While the differences between the treatments tend to one ( SDS & BGQ I). favor treatment two (SDS, VGQ I, & contingency contract) the adjusted mean scores were not significant at the. 01 1 eve1 . A second observation on the limitation of contingency contracts to Sign?f increase information see king behaviors over treatment one, 1 ic.antly (sns VGQ I), concerns the restricted number and type of the reinforcers & Perhaps a broader, more com- Permitted by the local school authorities, menu may influence the Ss to perform a signifi- Prehens1? Ve reinforcement cant1y greater number of VISB than the num ber obtained by the administration In addition, it appeared that the type of of treat ment one (SDS & VGQ I), retvard offered were not really reinforcers of VISB or at least they were 8 not Potent enough to influence the increase in the d esired behaviors. ~SeRlfe-oort- n.,,- ~ ?~ After the administration of treatment one (SDS & VGQ I) all experi- f the booklet entitled: Reports of Voca- lllenta1 Ss were distributed a copy o t. Information Seeking (RVIS, Appendix G). When the administration of 1ona1 PoS test (VGQ II) was completed all experimental Ss were asked to provide the t evid ence wh ic.h confirmed the VISB they reported to have per f ormed . The use Of the RVrs Booklet was entirely optional, Its p urpose was t o prov1. de a lllode1 for performing VISB, Table XVI shows the results, Insp h t l 2 Ss exposed to treatment one ec tion of Table XVI shows t a ? bee rkc ont rolled for and several schools containing both college bound and '1odifo? ri? ented udents could incs ot rporated in future designs. Second, more 1.Cati. ons t the reinforcement menu could be introduced to include O ' 'hedtunle a n1. .ngful and attractive re"ards- Third, different reinforcement 0th es -whi?c h vary with the sex and type of student could be evaluated. the er sug geS ed research involves extending the pret sent study to include 'lld Use of ingency contracts .,ith Ss of different age and grade level cont? also sin different environments like institutional or camp 'Withs , i-Jl? listed betlohii-1 n the past si.. x weeks if you have engaged i.n any of the acti. v.i ti. es E 'c11 eck ( ~ ) the item which best describes your performance. XAHPLE : 1n th DOUE THIS DONE ~ hav-e ! Pas t six weeks DOES THOUGHT ABOUT DONE THIS .,ou: THIS ACTIVITY ACTIVTI'Y ACTIVITY ACTTIT. ?? 0 NOT J or 4 5 or :; 0~ APPLY BUT HAVE BEEN J1 or 2. TILES 'l'H2S .11)-.r-~, AD: TOO BUSY TINES 1. Coll . ( ) ( ) ( ) ege newspaper ( ) 1n th ha'le e Past six T.l'r> k ~OU: mc.C S ??? ~ - SENT FOR: l, ,, ( ) ( ) :1,nfo:rm . ( ) oPPort~t~o? about job ( ) ( ) tl"aini m.ties, wages, etc ng requirements ? J a- ( ) ( ) ? Infol"rn . . ) ( ) ( appl" ~ ~ion about ( ) tl".a ienni n 1. ces hip s, job on~the-~ programs, or 3 Job training. ( ) ( ) ' lnf ) ( ) ( t ec-hOmh.n ati? on about ( ) :Pl"og:ra~tl sch~ols, e.g. 4 accre? ditde~cription, ation, cost etc " I , ? ( ) ( ) ( ) tlforrna t. ( ) t~ona 1.on about educa- ( ) :t'inan1c1ia~ans,_scholarships, 5, C assistance, etc. ) ( ) ( ) 0lle ) ( ) ( lets., g~ catalogue,p8tpl:-? ( 13. .llE.An rochures ~ e t c~ 6, Bin : ( ) ( ) ( ) .' PloYrnent . Job adve _information, ( ) ( ) 7., n rt:i.sements, etc. ) ( ) ( ) escr? ) ( ) ( ~l:'ogr:tions of training ( 8, 'l' s, apprenticeships. ( ) ) ( ) echru ( ) ( t:raa.e cal, business or ( ) 9~ C Scho O1 catalog' ues. ( ( ) ( ) ) ).olJ..ege c ( ) ~ ets, b~ atalogues,pamph-( ) C) , C1J.:icl ochure s, etc. ( ) ( ) ( ) coll.e ( ) egs e and manuals for ( ) selection SIQ P. J NANE: 118 ln t h! THOUGHT ABO DU OT DONE THIS NE THIS DONE 'i'. ha"e Pas.t. .s i...x weeks DGES J OU: ACTIVITY ACTIVITY ACTIVI NOT Ti-US ACTITITY c, 1 or 2> 3 or 4 5 or 1'. scu APPLY BUT HAVE BEEN TOO BUSY TIMES TIMES TIMES :Un?G BT 'VCCATimIAL 1J. OR1,IA.TI ON , FRO 1: ( ) ( ) ? Pa~t"' ( ) ( ) f r i end;' r elatives, ( ) emn1o or future o Porte:rs about job Car Unities Or ee:rs l ) 2, 'J1'I. eacher . ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) busl? nes 'counselor ( ) , ti'v-e o, s . r epresen ta- Ofi'ic Job placerre nt or ell!p~ about ca.reer l3 OYJnent. ( ( ) ? C ) oll ( ) ?:t'ad ege students ( ) ( ) of' Uates , ~l:'iends , Parents, about 'or others 11 college careers "-I.I, C ? ( ) ( ) ounseloi- ( ) ( ) ( ) l'ep:r or college ent:resentatives about a , n ce Pl:'og:rani requirements, ?b, '1ll. . s, courses, etc. EwEJ). l s, ? ]'j_ ( ) ( ) '11 lins ( ) fj J.,iJ', 'h -lrnstr ( ) ( )i ps el?'m?~--1 s o1-1s d , ,_ escrib, ing o:i:, J? 0 o.b, s111 ent op portum. ti. es l6 available 1 F':i_ L ? ( ) ( ) 'r .v ( ) -l.l.\.S: fil mstrips . ( ) ( ) collegh ows dese:ribing ca:i:-ee:res and college b S? i:., 4.sTEb l? lED TO: ( ) ' llad:i_ ( ) ( ) S:pe ( ) ",,-~lt eP:r:sr oaO r .... ( ) ~, vapes, l 0 ll vro:rk ' discussions 8, o_ 0PPortunit ie~ '1<3.clj_ .:, ? ( ) ( ) ( ) spe a~~e P~: rogr ams, tapes ( ) ( ) on Col..J. s_ ' dl. scussions ege careers. ! I j SIQ P.40 ., NAME: !nth DONE THIS DONE T~ 119 r!. ha" e Je Past ? DONE THIS I l'O'U t six weeks DOES THOUGHT ABOUT THIS ACTIVITY A"IZTIVITY ACTIVITY ACTIVD F, NOT 5 or IKAPPLY BUT H.I\.V E BEEN ]. or 2 3 or 4 N:r'IE~lDED: TIMES TIHES TOO BUSY TII-iES 19. Co ( ) ( ) nirnun . t ( ) ( ) on jobJ . Y program ( ) :Pl.a training and cement. 20. V ( ) l1o olruk.nt ( ) C ) ee:r program for ( ) ( ) l. nstiot r . t. ra i.n.in g in an tion u hon or organi0a- cl eri'? e n? ~, ca ?l a ? nurse ts aide assi. stance , etc. r...i.., J , ( ) ( ) ob conv . ( ) ( ) sored b ent:i.ons spon- ( ) Of traay banks, boards 2'l e, etc. c;;, 11c ( ) ( ) ( ) areer D ( ) 8:Ponso ay Programs" ( ) <3 red by schools. ( ) ? l1eetin s . ( ) ( ) ( ) l:'ep:res!n:~h college ( ) d.l'eas tiv es from G, p or colleg"'s ?!~IE ~ ? 21 D TO VISIT? 4., Pl_ ? ) ( ) ( ) ( ) <5 ace of employment ( ) ( ? S't<3, C ) ( ) ( ) eJiptle el'!lr.1 ( ) ( ,,_"".1:' oym 0 ent offi< c6 e ( ) Lib ., ,aent a ,, gency,. etco ( ) ( ) :ra:ry ( ) ) Cccupat? ( Q:ir, career cent e r ( ) <7 , c J.onal file s. ( ) ou...11se1. ) ( ) ( ) 28 , C J.ng offi? ( ce. ( ) ) ( ) ( ) 0 <9 11e ) ( ge campus ( ) ( ' 1 ? ) ( ) ( ) ~ echnical ( ) ( ? 1l-,. school ( ) ?-1.Sl'I'En. -? 3o ? ) ' ( Pl_ ) ( ) 3 ace Of ( ) ( 1, Stat ernploymenttt ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 3~ e~l.oe emplo ( ) Ylnent Ytnent office, ( ) ' ?.b agency, etc. ( ) ra""',. ) ( ) ( ) 33 t:lcc ( '\.l.-p..a, ti or career center ( ) ? ~ ona1 files? ( ) ( ) ( ) 34 ? '-lnse1 ? ( ) ' Co :i..ng of fic e . ( ) ( ) ( ) 3 lle ) ge ( ) S,, i e carnp ( ) (u s. ( ) Chnj_ ( ) ( ) l ( ) ~ CaJ. scho.ol,. ( ) NA11E: ------------ SIQ Po.5 , 120 ~~ DOES THOUGHT ABOUT DONE THIS DONE THIS DONE } . t, . ce pas t , si..X weeks Nor THIS ACTIVITY ACTIVITY ACTITITY ACTIV - , .:.._ ...... \?e ;rou : ,,. ?? APPLY BUT HAVE BEEN 1 or 2 3 or 4 5 or , TOO BUSY TIMES TIHES .... F :\.DE ARRANGEHENTS TO TINES 'I '/ Uili :; e ? s vocat ional aptitude ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) t e s ts .. ) . ( Employm ( ent te (s ~s ) &-uch ( ) ) ( ) 3 7,. a s : Ci vil Service_ f':,:x:ai,iin a tion, clerical, _ o ther eruployrnent 0 scr eening devices. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ,. college entranc e ( ) ( ) 3 3 ;{.2.JTiina t i ons. ) Vo -ational ap t itude ( ) ( ) ( ( ) ( ) t, c;: !;,Sts . Emp loyrne )n t tes~s such ( ) ( ) ( ( ) ( ) ~ - c i vil Service ~ mination , clerical or other employment ~c r eening devices. ( ) ( ) l ( ) ~i .. c olle ge entra nce ( ) ( ) e:z:a mi r1a t ions. .r.. ,, -_ D1. T'.i'EN ? li ( ) 2 ? Job applications and ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) r sume of work exper- i ~nce ~ r e ferences, e tc~ summa r i es of employment ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) op p ortuni t i e s a nd job t r a ini ng progr ams. Lli. SUJTllTl.ari e s of careers and( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) a l t e rna tive occupations. u5.- Summaries of technical ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) s ch ools and thei r offer- i ngs .. h6 , SuJr.Jnarie s of colleges, ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) progr ams , costs and re- q_uiremen t s . l ~7 .. Summar ies of s cholar s hip ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) i n f ormation, loans and f i nancial a s sistance. 1:iJ,. College appl i ca tions ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) and tran s cr i g t r equests . ____ SIQ Po 6 c __ l~ANE: ______ 121 6, ~ 1e cipating in an experimental progra m which parti is ege camp ns and d to spend explo ring occupatio lclce ? t n ca heck . es you in e teer c s beside the tlms. - Weekday evenin gs. -1. D. --._ ? Du ring s chool hours. Weekends ? 13 .. .....__ ool. E. I nunedi ately after sch School holidays. c, F. ---- 1 e school. -l'nrnediately befor e next six weeks 99 ? no g th . han usual durin one)ti.on or career? (Check (v) ? :in Y-o'U int ime t e~d to spend m ore or less t ccupa ? Seek:i.n ur fut ure o g l.n.formation a bout yo ) ?c ) ( ( ) ~ ( ) Much ~:u!!:h About The More Time More Tiri.0 e 4ss 1? les s Tim Same Time I llne II '' ' L. -- --- - II PPENDIX D 8 4.NCE QUEST IONNft.lRE A 12 ATIONAL G UID. VCC _ H.R . __ ____ _ ------ ?st Nai~.e- _ _ t Name In itial Firs M-al e le ) .___ Fema - _ ( Check on e s: tions care i'ully. Dr~ CttoN following ques he provided ? t %~ease re ad answer in the space eek Your ?) one) ~ .A.tte:t" h. : (Check( h School I p lan to g Ii l ull time. - A. Work i' -- r years or more. I fou 13 ll time for in a 11 Attend co llege ifu k enployme nt e :, --- ? for two ye ars and se J - c. or college ? -- ni I Attend juty area. aJ ss, technical, o r ?'?1- eci ine I' sp s ing, e.g. b u ..___ n. al-vocational tr ain Seek techn ic trade scho ol. ---...._ E. r.r ser vice. Entex- Dlil i ta --- ---...._p,. ---Othe::r: ------------ t nowo <, 4 ering righ ?st aJ..1 of tions you a re consid the occupa I .A. . -- ---- - ---- --- - ---- l3 ? --- ---- --- ---- -- C? --- ------------ ---- n? --- i --- -- ----- -- B. ~- ----- -- : I I.f u(n~)ecid ed, write 3, t ~- ht now? ( 'ih:1 h rig ? first choi ce i.i stion four ation is yo ur in que ''tJn~ec ~ccup "VerJ Un certain" rk ldectr1 and ma f I v) one). I heck ( 4. . of ca reer? ( C I{ 0 your prese nt choice of 1-1 Ce:2-taJ.. n are y ou ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) y ( ) VerMore Certain Moderately Certain ~ Less rtain lhice:i:-ta. ln Cer tain Ce SIQ P.2 129 NAME: ------- ----- -- ted 5, Hi thi ngaged in any of the activities lis eeks if you have e o:rmnce. belown the past six w describes your perft 'check( " ) the it em which bes . DONE T: ExAr-iPI.E : THIS DONE TfilS DONE ITY ACTIVI IV THOUGHT ABOUT ACTIVTI'Y A CT or 4 5 O!" I.? lhn t he Past . OE S six weeks D THIS ACTIVITY ] or 2 3 TUlZS aile y TILES OU?. .. . . NGr UT HAVE BEEN PPLY B TIHES A TOO BUSY ) o. READ : ( ) ( ( ) l . Colle go- newspaper lti" th e ;/:st ha'-' ~ix weoks u ??? ' ~ ( ) ( ) SENT FOR: ( ) ( ) l, -I nf o:rrn . . ( ) Opp r~~~o~ about job 0 tl'ai.ni m. ties?, wag es, etc. ng requireme nts, ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) "? 1 tl.for.r nati ( ) appre~ti on ~bout ain? ceshipsJ job tr ng ( ) on...th l.e-? programs, or ( ) Job training. ( ) ( ) 3, . ln{> J..O J:" a t. tech ?. !n l. on about ( ) -rmam..c a1 og schools, e .g. Pr ) ( ) ( accreditde~criptio n, 4 ation, cost,etc. ( ) ( ) " ln.,. J..0!a"rn a t ) t~on ~ ? 0 n about educa- ( ( ) 11 i'inancialans,_scho larships, ( ) assistance etc ( ) , ? ) S ( ' C l. Ol.lec-e ( ) ets,ob catalogue ,p~ ( ) rochurea et c ~ ( ) J ? ( ) ~ - ~: ) l ( I ( ) ' ~ 10Y ? r-Vm'e: ei:-n t . i n1.. ormation, ( ) ( ) Job ad ) I 7,. t:i.sements, etc. ( I l) ( ) I ) escl'i ( ) I Drogr~tions of tra ining ( ) ( ) , T s, apprent iceships. ( 8 ( ) ) echru_ ( i, business or ( ) ( ) trade ca sch l , ( ) 00 9.. C ca talogues. ( ) ( ) l.o~ege c -( ) ( ) ~ ei..s., bro:~logues .,. pa mph ( ) .JC , C1? ures , etc ? . ( ) lti.d"'s ) C0 4 "e ge a n d manuals for ( selection 1 -- -- - : SIQ P.3 NAME 1.30 )- ... ll th ha,, e Past six week THOUGHT ABOUT DONE TI-I TS DONE THIS DONE TI . e You: ... s DOESor CTITITY ACTIVITY ACTIVITY .ACTim N THIS A c, BUT HAVE BEEN 1 or 2 3 or 4 5 or NC scuo1r.rl/ APPLY TIMES TIMES TIMES JNpORJiIAT.CI 'CATI ONAL TOO BUSY ON FROM: JJ.. f)~ ( ) ( ) ( ) ..i'ri ts,. relatives ( ) ( ) ends 1 etrit,i or future OPPo0r ter? ?bout job ca:i:, r'U ni tJ.es o.t- 9 e: s, l<. T eache:r ( ) ( ) ( ) busi nos 'counse lor ( ) ( ) , t:i:v-e ~ s l'ep:resen ta- O) . b OfJ:i Jo Placen:e nt Ot e~~o about c~r.ser . Yment. 13 ? Co].J_ ( ) ( ) ( ) ?rad~ge s tudents ( ) ( ) t),? ates n't l ends , Pare s, about 'or others ? coue ge careers. ' Co llnseJ. :t- ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 0 rebte ~o r co llege ( ) - s e nt ent:ran a~ives about ~l:' Ce :req,_u . ogtarn reme nts, .n ,SJ Courses etc ? ~Et J ? ""!En. ls, F':i.3.ins. . ) ( ) ( ) ( ) i .11. ~h filinstnps., ( ) ( 0 eln})J.oY!r ~s describing o:r j ob .ent 0PPortum tie s l6 s a"v"ailable It E':i.:trn ? ( ) ( ) ( ) 1'. 11. s~h films trips., ( ) ( ) 0 to4e~e tm describing tar rs s and er college J..;.,. e ? , :tts'll s l,? ~ ~ To: ( ) ( ) ( ) ~ cl:i.o :Pt ) Cl eake:i:-s ogr~lJ!B ,. tapes; ( ) ( l 11 1tol'k: ' discussions a, ~ O.Ppol'tuni ties l:i. ? ( ) ( ) c ( ) si:,e k Pl'ogi- ) a et ?171s, tapes ( ) ( 0 8 l1 co4 ' discussions ege careers. - ------ SIQ P.4. 131 NA11.E: !nth hav-e ?; ~ s~ t six weeks DOES THOUGHT ABOUT DONE THIS DONE THIS DONE Tff 0 Nar TfilS ACTIVITY A1ZTIVITY ACTIVITY ACTIVIT?. Ii', APPU: BUT HAVE BEEN ]. or 2- 3 or 4 5 or HO: ATTENDED: TOO BUSY THiES TIMES THIES 19. c0 l'llrnu . { ) ( ) ( ) on jo~t y ~r~gram ( ) ( ) Pla traim.ng and cement. 20 ? ? \Tolunte ( ) ( ) ( ) ~ark er program for ( ) ( ) insti~r ~raining in an tion ubon or organiaa- cler~ e.g. nurse's a i i21 c d a el assi?s tance,etc '? ( ( .. Job c ) )o nv ( ( ) s o:r )e d b entions spon- or ( ) t:r Y banks, boards < ade, etc. <, "C ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 3P PENDIX G 150 EXPERIMENTAL GUIDANCE PROGRAM REPORTS OF VOCATIONAL INFORMATION SEEKING R.R. ---- NAME::- ----------- HIGH SCHOOL: REPORT 151" OF I NFORMATION SEEIITNG VOCATIONAL -- H.R. --- - --- ----- Ini tiat. ~ st N: Firs-t Nam e ~C ante trpA'.rJ:o N lNPo ATioN OUTUNE : mI \ ~? . -------- e Of -=-=occupati . ==~ on or ca:reer? ?? 1 -? :::----==-......= ?? ? Search Summary ? U~.. ed 1. ea ith similar S elf-Direct w rpenter cOde J.ist o :f c~ ti a ~A ~ 0 ns or c areers er RIC Caorest etter ~ e.g. PJ:A ~~e~~~ ~raftsl7 Bll Rl.S F s E Mech., Eng. , RAI Type ! . Rl. J.lh:i.ch l"e ? Irr.A n cian e. Setnb1e the s um ec m. tion on mary code of ques s~ R CODES ! CODE SIMIIA 3~ t one for the ~ est? h er mentioned in question to4 ~gate t or care ~ng :fact:. o ccupation ?) 4 lly performed ? lilatllt- ? a t th at daily task s are actu e o e tvork. (Wh ------ - ~----- -- ~----- ---- ~ "------~------------- ---------- o:? What thin gs ~~ I like to d:tnt t things :t el"est a equired.,. (Wh 8 hcufct ~d Compe tencies R ble to do?) :tN'J.'E e a -- ~~------- ----- --~ ------ - c. ~-- -- College?) al Training_i 1!:ri. . . ed to study? Technic ~c~4Cll'i ou ne R:eqUired. ( What do y ? - ~---- -- 3 . . ? .(Cont? . ' 1 nuect) : 152 n. ership, spec1? al minations~ Ot hel" R . : (Work experience,. union memb exa li... eql..l.i:reme nts ~enses,, etc.) an or dirty~ heav y E. W 0 king c . . he work inside or out sidep cle - rd s?) 2 0nd1~1ons: (Is t re there health or safety hazza 02- light hat are the hou rs? A " e t c? W --- t job oppor-tuni t ies e bes Job h -r_ t 0Catj_ yment Trends.: (W here would y? ~ationally and locall b -1.- on and Emplo tion~? E employed in the occupa l.Ilg or decreasi ng?) re t ~'Wt many wor-ke rs a Is the demand 1n creas Wha i rs? he demand for wor ke ? ( ? t is the s~rting wage? The top G. W,a-o vancement: Wha or compensation c:i s and Op ities :for Ad re benefits t.lage e? "Wh Portun e chances for prom otion? Are th ?) :fol' illn at a:re old age ss.,,. accidents, unemployment.,, e _____ _. ..:,__ __ _ !I. "-------- -~_ rtant f'or soci et y?) is this occupati on impo SO'ciaJ. S. what wa;y l.gnii'icance : (I n ~ --------------- -- ~- --~----------- - ------ ---- ---- slike about thia t ~ -- or di:p~ . ---- ?d. ta s. (What do you lik e D.? . ge ? Cccional Ad van t a?g es or 1sa vanPatj_ 4~: on or career? ) REPORT . 153 OF SEEKDJG VOCATIONA L D lFORHATI ON ___ H. R. ------ -- ---- st Name Init ial ?s t P.a ,,.,.,-e - Fir Job-,. ...... "'-l'lte'M...: xotes: ,-..., ~ l -- lar interest ? Drlte - car eer c? parti cu CTJoNs: pa tion or who is engag ed about an occ u y l earn more a person in y our comrruni t To erview with ? ut most ~rrange an i nt ro abo t hat occuryat ion or caree at:i.on in vide t he esse ntial infonn n the s oace 0 bel,Jw will p ro additional n otes i The utlj_ne s. You can ad d or career Occupations Pl"ovided. mation is desired : ----------- - Ol" Ca l"eel" for whi ch infor -----.. -. dd.re ed:---- ------ a sit s s of' Pl ace vi -- ?----- ----- -- - - ---- - ----- ---- -- ______ __ - _ ??-:: Of - n- - -- _ ~-~ l"so .? . - ed; _____ _____ Pe cel"View Dat :i.n- Phone : e Of . te'M...: Tim e: -------l.n ew: 4 v.i.. THIS OCCUPAT ION T DJFOffiill. TION ABOU occupation? l. !. ~-1hat ties connected wi th this e everyday d u al"e some of t h I I _ :,Jt .:,,:?L'Y st soning ~ .A.b l"act Rea space Relati ons I _ ___ echa n.?1 '!:al Reas oning HER :. ______ ____ I ~ OT ~~n al Dext el"ity is occupation? 3? ?l U th h. equi?red for success in ll~t ped interest s are r o - Mecha nical l.ghJJ, r devel -Ar tistic ..___ ,..,, a l --vu_ _. t dool" -11usi c _Computati onal '-L.:i.tel"a .l"y _Other : Social Servic e ~ c? l.entific - ........_Pel" e - Clerical 8 Uas iv VIS II P.2 . 154 NAHE : ------------- s occupation? 4. 1-lhat . s are needed for suc cess in thi Personal and s ocial prefer en ce to ba dir ected Likes ideas ..__ Likes to uork w:i.. th h things . Likes to work w i t . l conflict s -..__ Likes to avoid persona liar Likes to be in .fami s g active in gr oups and s t able situ ation -- Likes bein- dir ect others ........._ Likes to 5, t?lk ?4qt t.'o education is r equired? ?'rQaJ. Ju~.LJr College ool ...__ Iligh Sch I '-_ Business School I ...__ Trade Sc hool I l '-- Technica l Schoo 6, l.n_ ?1na'f- .., School jects are need mos t sub .J'. t _;_es ? i?tur ? job l o.:::atio.is a .:id oppo _ - .. .., _,,.. __ __,._ ..,. ... - - - - --- _ . - ... ____ .. ______ - -- ----- ------ ---------- --~ r.up::it ion ? -= - .f ?c ,. r?c., ~ vant.:ig,_,::; .c . ! ., . _, ~i1rantag es an d disad - ------?----- _-- ------- - --- - ? . -. - ------ Standing 1-li t hin D--,,, J. . -?- ?. ?J .ru -:rk Sit-'.: "-ni 1-!ork t he Buildi' ng. OF L I NFORMATIO N SEEKING 155 VOCATIONA H.R. ____ t,-i,.-al - -- ____ --m,.- , _ 1::: ? s t Na:11m~e;- _ Firs t Name ~orlEs OJ([ ADIO PROORAMS: IMs , T.V. o r R J, "'t ~CUP ATIONA.L FI JiallJe i: --------- - Of F1U - --------:--- Oc cl lp a tj_ ---- ------- scribed~ - -- ---=~ ~----- - ons De -----I frlhat :r --- .from this Film.: --d --..___ hav-e l ea.:r ne I ------ I '- ---- - ---- '----------- ------------_-----_ - -:-f:'i-o:-V--J:~.e-I;o:c:..a io:n:;-::~.--. --=-~~---~.t~__- -_ _ -_ _-_- _-_-- - , -- ------- -- 1, i,~ia,, -"le Of T - ----- -- -- _____ __ m: -- _____rogra __ 0c cllpa t . ? V-. P ___ __ __ ____ l.ons tles c.r ibed : __ _____ r _ __ ~'hat this Progr a m::_ ___ have l earne d .from ---------- ---- ---- ----- - - _____ --- ___~- Chan nel: ___ 3 -a te o .r T ? V-. Show : ------ ---- - ' N~ -- -- 11ie o.,, : ---- --- 10 Progr am - --- ---- -- - O "- -?d ? -------- ns Descr ibe d : -------- cctipatio -_-_= -_-_-_--__-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ --__~----~---_-_-_-_-_-_ _ _ e-df-r_o_m_ t_h-.i s- _P_r_o-gr_a_m_: -n~ ~ -- -__-_ -_--_-_-_----=-= = ~ ---~-_-_-_--:-_-_-_---=== ~ - . St a tion: e 0 "' __ "- R:1d 1? __ _ 0 Progr am _ _ OF VOCATIONAL I NFORMATION SEEKING 156 H.R. --- First Name I ni t ial Last Name :ro t c s o n vocational books, pamphlet s , br ochures,and co1 1e ge ca talogu e s, e t c~ : ________ l. ~ 2?. Publ ication : ___________________ Author( s ): ....,....-------------------:-------- Publisher( s) and Dat e : ______________________ Occupa tion, Car eer, or School Described: _________________ vlha t I have learned f rom this publication: ______ -- --?--- - -- 2 ? ~ o:f Publ i cati on : ------------------------ Au t hors: Publis her( s ) and Dat e: ------------------------ Oc cu pa t i on, Ca r eer or School Described: ' -----~----------- What I have learned f rom this publication: -------------- APPENDIX H 157 ssociate Superintendent for Administration Office of the A . ?MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS Rockville, Maryland October 11, 1971 To?, Eleventh Grade Counselors, Hom eroom Teacher English Teacher From? AJossseopchi aJte. TSuapraelrlion tendent for Administration Refer ons: R onald E. Redmond, Counselor Questi Kensington Junior High School, Telephone 949-9145 Participation in a Research Study of Educational-SubJ? ~r ect: Vocational Choices of Eleventh Grade Students ed our ? Redmond, Counselor at Kensington Junior High School has re- 'ql'lute~ s~nald E cooperation in his doctoral research- Proc:tion seek ? igned to investigate ways of increasing the frequency of in- formsstusd. y is diensg? behaviors required for the educational-vocational choice n order to accomplish this study, Mr- Redmond needs, 1 ? sure of 240 eleventh grade (120 college bound and 120 work 1. At: imeenat ed) students' current information seeking behaviors. A m0 n_minute questionnaire bas been designed to gather this infor- ation. :fter administration of the treatment (Holland's Self-Directed 2. _earch Instrument, 1 hour), a measure of the students' i ntended in. forma t.io n seeking behavior- A questi. o nna.i re requ.i ri.n g tne minutes has been developed to elicit these responses, and ten minute questionnaire will be the information seeking behaviors 3. Six week s later a final admi ni? stered to measure actually performed, h'l:'oo '