Strong’s Vocational Interest Inventory: what is it and how to use it?

A test to detect vocational interests that help to decide the career path.

It is well known how many professions there are, and with it, the possibilities of developing oneself at a professional level in one field or another. There are many tools that allow to identify which occupations or professions fit better with certain profiles. One of them is Strong's Vocational Interest Inventory..

This Inventory was developed in 1927 by the psychologist Edward Kellogg Strong, although it has been revised and modified subsequently. Its objective is to guide people in the choice of their professional careers. In this article we will learn about its characteristics, structure, applications, scores and uses. In addition, we will know the theory on which this test is based.

Strong's Vocational Interest Inventory: features

The Strong Vocational Interest Blank Inventory (SVIB) is a psychological test developed by the psychologist Edward Kellogg Strong Jr. in 1927.

At first, was developed to guide military personnel leaving the army to find a job suited to their interests, motivations and personal characteristics.and personal characteristics. The Inventory has differential forms according to sex (male or female), and consists of 291 items, where the examinee must indicate his or her preference among three possible answers. As for the administration time, it takes approximately 25-35 minutes to complete.

Later Strong's Vocational Interest Inventory was revised by two other authors, David Campbell and Jo-Ida Hansen. Finally, years later it was published as the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory..

Applications

Strong's Vocational Interest Inventory is used especially in the educational field and in educational and occupational guidance, with the aim of guiding students in the career or studies that best fit their characteristics and interests.

On the other hand, the Inventory is also used in the area of research, with the aim of analyzing individual differences in people in relation to their vocational interests. In addition, it is also useful to study the character and personality of people, as well as the origin and effects of certain types of interests. All of this can be useful for personnel selection, consulting and business consulting purposes..

How is it administered?

The examinee must respond to 291 items with 3 possible answers, indicating the one that best suits his or her preferences. The test lasts between 25 and 35 minutes, and its purpose is to compare the interests of the subject with the interests of people engaged in specific occupations or professions..

What is it used for?

Strong's Vocational Interest Inventory is a psychological assessment tool that evaluates a person's interests at the vocational level. That is, it detects the work activities that might best suit a particular person. It is one of the most widely used tests to detect vocational interests, especially in North America.

It is based on the preferences of the person examined in various fields, with the aim of finding the profession or professions that best suit him or her. find the profession or professions that best fit his or her psychological and motivational profile.. Their scores indicate whether the person's vocational preferences are closer to a certain occupational group or to another.

Areas of evaluation

Strong's Vocational Interest Inventory consists of 6 areas, where the different items are grouped. These 6 areas are the following: occupations (the largest area, consisting of 107 items), thematic areas (consisting of 46 items), activities (85 items), leisure activities (28 items), people (16 items) and self characteristics (9 items).

Results

The results of Strong's Vocational Interests Inventory include 5 types of scores:

1. Interest level scores

Here the subject is scored in relation to so-called "General Occupational Themes" (GOT). These form differentiated interest categories, and characterize the subject examined in 6 different types: investigative, artistic, social, realistic, conventional and entrepreneurial..

2. Scores on basic interest scales

In this case the scores refer to 30 basic scales of interest, related to subjects or professions such as art, public speaking or science.

3. Scores on occupational scales

These scores come from 244 scales that refer to different occupations or professions. Strong's Vocational Interest Inventory relates the interests of the person being tested to the interests of people working in different occupations or professions. 122 different occupations or professions.

4. Scores on personal style scales

These scores are obtained from 5 scales that allude to personal style. This style refers to work, leadership, team orientation, learning, and risk-taking..

5. Scores on administrative scales

Finally, we found scores obtained from 3 administrative scales; their purpose is to detect possible test errors, as well as unusual profiles.

Vocational interests

But what are vocational interests, the object evaluated by Strong's inventory? On the one hand, interests are those things that motivate us, that we like or that arouse our curiosity. Vocational interests, which are even more concrete, define those areas of study (or work areas) that attract us. In other words, they are part of what we want to dedicate ourselves to, and have a lot to do with vocation.

Vocation, on the other hand, is an internal sensation that generates an inclination for one subject or another, and that guides us at the time of studying.and that guides us in deciding what we want to do in life.

Types of interests

E. K. Strong took into account these concepts to develop his Inventory. In addition, in order to elaborate Strong's Vocational Interest Inventory, the author based himself on Fyrer's (1931) distinction of the types of interests, which can be subjective or objective.

Thus, while subjective interests consist of feelings (positive or negative) in relation to objects or activities, objective interests are all those reactions, also positive or negative, to objects or activities. reactions, also positive or negative, that a person manifests in relation to different objects or behaviors..

Aptitudes and interests

But interests also have a lot to do with attitudes. Fryer was the first author who spoke of a possible relationship between a person's aptitudes (abilities to perform certain tasks) and his or her personal interests. Later, Strong himself followed this same theoretical line, conceptualizing his ideas within learning theories.

Thus, in line with the above, and among the ideas developed by Strong to develop Strong's Vocational Interest Inventory, there is also the hypothesis that the capabilities of each person make us have interests in one thing or another, i.e., they are related concepts, and one thing (ability) leads to the other (interest)..

On the other hand, according to Strong, a person's interests are actually learned motivations; that is, they would be learned behaviors, based on what we like and dislike.

Bibliographical references:

• Fernández-Ballesteros, R. (2011). Evaluación Psicológica. Concepts, methods and case studies. Ed. Pirámide. Madrid.
• Strong, E. (1951). Vocational interests 18 years after college. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
• Super, D. (1967). Psicología de los Intereses y las Vocaciones; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Editorial Kapelusz.
• Tolbert, E. (1982). Técnicas de asesoramiento en orientación profesional; Spain; Oikos-tau, s.a. - ediciones.