INTEREST

Interests are the traits of personality of an individual which are significant for satisfaction and

success in the educational and vocational fields. These traits are manifested as likes and

dislikes, preferences and indifferences.

Interests give clues regarding adjustment and personality. The knowledge and understanding

of a child’s interests are a major factor in educational and vocational guidance. Interest

basically refers to the motivating force of an individual which impels him to attend a person,

a thing, an object or an activity.

“Interests are the sum-total of likes and dislikes for a wide range of stimulus objects and

activities” (Strong). Bingham defines “an interest is a tendency to become absorbed in an

experience and to continue it”. The definition given by Murphy is “Interests are conditioned

stimuli related to goal objects and expressed as likes or dislikes of activities, objects,

characteristics or people in the environment.” Jones defined it as “a feeling or liking

associated with a reaction, either actual or imagined, to a specific thing or situation”. The

definition given by Crow and Crow is “Interest may refer to the motivating force that impels

us to attend to a person, a thing or an activity”.

Types of Interest:

Super has suggested three types of interests—Expressed Interests, Manifested Interests and

Tested Interests.

1. Expressed Interest:

It refers to interest in an object, activity, subject of study or occupation as verbally expressed

by an individual.

2. Manifested Interest:

This refers to the actual participation in an activity or occupation.

3. Tested Interest:

It refers to an individual’s interest as measured by interest inventories.

Measurement of Interests:

There are various methods of measuring interests, such as interviews, check lists, direct

observations, questionnaires and inventories. Questionnaires and inventories are the most

important methods of measuring interests.

(i) The Strong Vocational Interest Blank:

This inventory consists of 400 items and is available in two forms-—one for men and the

other for women. The items consist of occupations, amusement activities, school subjects,

personal characteristics, etc.

The inventory can be scored for 40 occupations. The blank is most useful with persons at

least 17 years old.

(ii) The Kuder Preference Record:

Kuder inventories are designed for use with children from grade 9 onwards and with adults.

They are in the forms of three Preference Records.

(iii) P.S.M. Inventory:

This inventory has been prepared by Vocational Guidance Bureau, Prantiya Shikshan

Mahavidyalaya, Jabalpur. It is a verbal inventory which can be given both to individuals and

groups in the age range of 13- 18 years.

(iv) Chatterjee’s Non-language Preference Record Form 962:

This is a nonverbal record which can be administered to groups. It measures interest in ten

interest areas—fine arts, literary, scientific, agriculture, technical, craft, outdoor, sports,

medical and household works.

(v) R.R Singh’s Interest Record Card:

This interest schedule is more effective in inducing thoughtful self-appraisal on the part of the

students; it is more informative; is convenient to use and is more economical of time and

money.

Other interest inventories that are available are :

1. Vocational Interest Inventory by N.D. Badami.

2. Occupational and a Vocational Interest Record by S.B.L. Bharadwaj.

3. Vocational and Educational Interest Record by S.P. Kulshrestha and O.P. Damale.

4. Vocational Interest Inventory by V. George Mathew.

5. Interest Inventory prepared by the Department of Educational Psychology and Foundation

of Education.

Uses of Interest Inventories:

(i) Interest inventories are needed as they enable students to have a better choice in ease of

adopting subjects, courses, occupations and recreational activities, etc.

(ii) They are very much useful for employers to select a student for a favourable occupation

in the concerned occupational set-up.

(iii) They are highly useful for the teachers and guidance workers to ascertain students’

performance in his field of interest.

(iv) They are also useful for the parents as they insist them to help their children for their

liking field.

(v) They assist the counselor, teacher and guidance worker in dealing with problems of the

children.
(vi) In comparison to other psychological devices they are economical.

Reference:

https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/statistics-2/interest-definition-types-and-measurement-

statistics/92639

Comprehensive Interest Schedule

The CIS is an objective device developed by Vohra in 1992, measuring interest in eight broad

vocational areas. Each vocational area has two sub fields (except the last two). These eight

broad areas are as following: (1) Influential - administrative and enterprising, (2) Venturous -

defense and sports, (3) Artistic - creative and performing, (4) Scientific - medical and

technical, (5) Analytical - expressive and computational, (6) Social - humanitarian and

education, (7) Nature and (8) Clerical. It provides scores on fourteen occupational interest

areas.

The primary use of the Comprehensive Interest Schedule is for counselling high school and

college students about their career choices and it is oriented mainly towards that section of

the 112 occupational spectrum that the high school and college students usually enter.

Evidence seems to be mounting that the occupational choice is determined to a great extent in

high school. Because changes in interest scores are more likely between ages of 15 to 20

(Strong, 1943). The Comprehensive Interest Schedule should therefore be very helpful in

counselling students at this age range also. The sample used to standardize the

Comprehensive Interest Schedule averaged about 30 years of age. As interests change very

little after the age of 25 years, the Comprehensive Interest Schedule is also applicable to

adults. Moreover, changes of interests with age are relatively mild between the age of 20 to

25 years, therefore use of Comprehensive Interest Schedule is quite appropriate here also.
Since most employees in any industrial setting are over 21 years of age, this schedule can

also be used very effectively in almost all industrial settings.

Reliability

The term reliability has two closely related, but some what different cannotations in

psychological testing First it refers to the extent to which a test is internally consistent i.e.

consistency of results obtained throughout the test when administered once, known as split

half reliability. Second, reliability refers to the extent to which a measuring device yields

consistent results upon testing and retesting i.e. dependability for predictive purposes known

as test retest reliability. Because of the brevity of this scale, the question of reliability of

scores naturally is a first consideration with this purpose in mind a trial run of the present

interest schedule was made to find out the reliability of this schedule. Reliability coefficients

were computed on 550 individuals by the split half method. Using Spearman-Brown formula

correlation coefficients were first computed for corresponding rows and columns. The test-

retest reliability was also calculated for the present schedule with 225 individuals, by

calculating the 114 coefficient of correlation between two sets if scores of the same

individual on the same schedule after two weeks time.

Validity

An index of validity shows the degree to which a test measure what it purports to measure,

when compared with the criteria. The 115 construction and use of a test imply that the

instrument has been evaluated against criteria regarded as the best evidence of traits to be

measured by the test. Therefore, selection of satisfactory validation criteria and

demonstration of an appropriate degree of validity are fundamental to any psychological test.

The first essential quality of any valid test is that it should be highly reliable. The present

scale also shows very high reliability coefficients. A test that yields inconsistent results i.e.

low reliability can not correlate well with a measure of another variable in this case a

criterion.
It should be clear that validity is in fact evaluation of the extent to which a device estimates

an individual’s status at the time the test was administered. From the viewpoint of applied

psychology, every test must have high predictive validity. This is possible only when the

reliability scores of the scale are high. The present interest scale shows very high reliability

scores, and hence it can be concluded here that the Comprehensive Interest Schedule has high

predictive validity.

Aim

To determine the vocational interest of the subject using Comprehensive Interest Schedule

(CIS)

Method

a) Subject Details

i) Name: N.N

ii) Age: 21

iii) Educational Qualification: Student

iv) Gender: Female

b) Materials Required

i) CIS Manual

ii) CIS- Female Form

iii) Writing Materials

c) Procedure

The subject was seated comfortably and a rapport was established. The CIS form is given
to the subject and they are asked to fill the demographic details. The following
instructions are given to the subject : “In this schedule you are asked to express your
preferences for different occupations. These occupations are given in pairs and you are
asked to check them to indicate your preferences. This is not a test of intelligence or
special abilities. You just have to mark your responses in each box, considering both the
occupations irrespective of the income or status involved in it”.
For each pair of occupation the subject was instructed to mark as follows: Draw a circle
around 1 (Judge) if you prefer the first among pair of occupations. Draw a circle around 2
(Actor) if you prefer the second among pair of occupations. Draw circles around both 1
and 2 (Physician and Poet) if you like both the occupations. Cross out both 1 and 2
(Statistician and Dramatist) if you dislike both of them.

d) Scoring:

The Comprehensive Interest Schedule takes about 10-15 minutes of the subject’s time and
gives a profile of 14 occupational interest scores. The scoring requires no stencils or
scoring keys. The scoring is done manually and it takes only 2-3 minutes to complete this
whole procedure. The score for any of the field is obtained by counting number of circles
around one’s in the column and numbers of circles around two’s in the rows. The
maximum range of the score for each field is from 0-28. The scores for two’s (or rows)
are written in the boxes printed on the right hand side of the schedule, and scores for
one’s (or columns) are written in the boxes printed at the bottom of the schedule.

These raw scores are than transferred onto the C.I.S. profile sheet. Total raw score for
each field is calculated by adding the scores of one’s (columns) and two’s (rows). These
scores are than converted into sten scores using norms table.

e) Precautions:

-Instructions are to be clearly given to the subject

-Check for pattern responses
-Make sure that the subject does not omit anything and shows his preference clearly
for each pair of occupation
 RESULT

Table 1.1: Raw scores, total raw scores and corresponding sten scores obtained by the
individual for each interest areas.

Interest Raw Raw Total Sten

Score Score Raw
Area Score Interpretation
Score
For 1 For 2

Adm. 7 11 18 8 High

Ent. 4 10 14 4 Average

Def. 8 3 11 4 Average

Sp. 13 18 31 10 High

Cr. 16 23 39 10 High

Per. 17 11 28 10 High

Med. 6 9 15 4 Average

Tech. 15 6 21 9 High

Exp. 14 21 35 10 High

Comp. 10 4 14 4 Average

Hum. 13 10 23 10 High

Edn. 11 16 27 10 High

Nat. 10 2 12 5 Average

Cl. 6 6 12 5 Average

Name age sex adm ent def sp cr per med tech exp com hum edn nat cl
n
Table 1.2: Total raw scores and corresponding sten scores obtained by the group
members for each interest areas

Table 1.1 shows the raw scores, total raw scores and corresponding sten scores obtained
by the individual for each interest areas. The subject has obtained a total raw score of 18
and a sten score of 8 in the administrative area. For the enterprising area, the subject’s
total raw score and sten score are 14 and 4 respectively. In the area of defence, the raw
score and sten score are 11 and 4 respectively. The raw score and sten score are 31 and 10
respectively in the area of sports. In the creative area, the subject’s total raw score and
sten score are 39 and 10 respectively. The raw score and sten score are 28 and 10
respectively in the performing area. In the medical area, the raw score and sten score are
15 and 4 respectively. The total raw score and sten score are 21 and 9 respectively in the
technical area. For the expressive area, the total raw score and sten score are 35 and 10
respectively. The total raw score and sten score are 14 and 4 respectively for the
computational area. The raw score and sten score are 23 and 10 respectively in the
humanitarian area. In the area of education, the raw score and sten score are 27 and 10
respectively. In the area of nature, the raw score and sten score are 12 and 5 respectively.
The raw score and sten score are 12 and 5 respectively in the clerical area.

Table 1.2 shows the total raw scores and corresponding sten scores obtained by the group
members for each interest areas

DISCUSSION

The aim of the test was to find out the vocational interests of the subject using the
Comprehensive Interest Schedule (CIS).

Comprehensive Interest Schedule (CIS) developed by Vohra (1992) is a checklist by

which a person can systematically understand his vocational interests in eight broad
occupational areas. Vocational interests are an important aspect of personality with
implications for career decisions and educational choices as well as for goal oriented
behaviours in other domains of life.

The CIS schedule was administered on a 21 year old female. The raw scores were
calculated by adding up the scores and the sten scores were obtained from the manual.
From Table 1.1 , it is clear that the subject has high interest in administration, sports,
creative, performance, technical, expressive, humanitarian and educational fields. The
subject has average interest in enterprising, defense, medical, computational, nature, and
clerical fields.

This means the subject will do well in administrative works, sports related events,
creative events which also includes performance arts, technical, expressive humanitarian
and educational fields. The scores in artistic and social fields dominates and hence career
options that includes most of these interests will work well for the subject. However the
subject will not have the same interest that involves enterprising, defense, medical,
computational, nature and clerical related works.

CONCLUSION

It was concluded that the subject had a high interest in artistic and social fields along with
administration, sports, technical and expressive fields.