The spherical representation of vocational interests

Terence J.G. Tracey, James Rounds

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

138 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the development, examination, and replication of a spherical structure of vocational interests. A sample of 266 undergraduate students were asked to give their preferences to a sample of 229 occupational titles. The principal components analysis conducted on the item level responses supported the presence of the prestige component in addition to the general, people/things, and data/ideas components typically associated with interest data. Twenty-four subscales were created for geometrically defined combinations of the prestige, people/things, and data/ideas components and these subscales were found to lie on the surface of the sphere. This spherical representation was then examined on independent samples of college (N = 223) and high school students (N = 370). Strong support was yielded for the structure.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3-41
Number of pages39
JournalJournal of Vocational Behavior
Volume48
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1996
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Applied Psychology
  • Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies

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