Introduction. ijcrb.webs.com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS JUNE 2012 VOL 4, NO 2

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1 DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION AN ADULT INTEREST INVENTORY IN IRANIAN (ISFAHAN) SAMPLE Authors: Sadeghi, H 5. Abedi, M 6. Abstract The purpose of the present study was to development, determines validity and reliability a first adults Interest Inventory (AII). The statistical population of this research includes Isfahanian adult that were in age 25 to 40 with diploma to bachelor degree. From this population, 500 persons were selected with stratified random sample method. In this research, Compel Interest Skills Inventory and Strong Interest Inventory were used for collecting data. Reliability of the AII was determined by chronbach's Alpha and test retest method. The internal reliability coefficient with chronbach,s Alpha method ranged from.41 to.86 general occupational themes and from 0.49 to 0.65 for the individual style scales. Also retesting reliability was 0.69 to Construct validity of the AII was determined by two ways. calculate relationship between the general occupational themes in AII by Campbell Interest and Skills Inventory Scales and SII. First, the general occupational theme in AII was significantly correlated with interest in Campbell Interest and Skills Inventory (correlation ranged from 0.66 to 0.40) and second, significantly correlated with general occupational theme in SII (correlation ranged from 0.49 to 0.75). Finally taken together, these finding provide support for the reliability and validity of the AII when used with adults in grade 25&40. The 80-item AII is a first questionnaire that capable to be used as an instrument to measure adult's interest or for research activities performed for counseling and guidance. Keywords: Reliability, Validity, AII, adults, Interest, Introduction During the twenty first century words such as career, learning concept and development have been use a lot. Predicting the variety ground for work indicates a need to development and also career development plans during life. Life career developmental learning has been used by powton and mak mahen (1999, cited in zunker 2006), to emphasize at reciprocal relation between; life learning and career development. Savickas (2005) asserts that the individual's concerns about their future career are the primary dimension of career adaptability, which raises awareness toward responsibilities, career development and facilitates prospective educational-occupational transitions. He contends that career curiosity relates to the individual's obsession with self-awareness and the requirements of occupational world, values and interests (Lent & Brown, 2005 as cited in sadeghi, 2012). In career counseling, the individual are helped to acquire self-awareness in life, compare their abilities and talent to the real world and the existing opportunities finally explore their real position. This is the reason some mention career development as the life one (kid, 2006). Career in English oxford dictionary is translated to "a way of passing life for every individual" ( savikas, 2002 as cited in zunker, 2006). Career points to a complimentary way which started by birth or even before and will continue through the whole life so savikase ( 2002, as cited in samiei,2012) believes in the "life as career" mining career is in fact life. Super (1980) contends that the career maturity depends on the accomplishment of responsibilities at every career period during which the identification of talents, abilities, values, personality traits and interests are emphasized. According to the trait-factor theory, 5, University of Isfahan -M.A. Career counseling 6 -Associate professor, university of Isfahan COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 373

2 choosing a successful career depends on the correspondence between the individual and environment. Based on development model, career development is a function occurring through whole life and its counseling requirement should be satisfied during life too (heili, Jelso &foits, 2001, sharfe, 2002 as cited in zunker, 2006). Occupational psychologists have long been employing various instruments to exactly measure individuals' characteristics. Assessing individuals' interests is one of issues that hasappealed to theorists and researchers (e. g. Holland, 1997; Strong, 1927; Tracy, 2002 as cited in Tracy, 2002). Career interests are one of the most unswerving and strongest type of individual differences and the most common means of individuals' adaptation to environment (Hogan, 1996 as cited in Tracy, 2002). Strong (1948) defines interest as internal derives towards the existence and/or the movement of an object in which there involves four characteristics, namely, attention, emotion, interest and activity (Lent & Brown, 2005). Barak (1981) contends that it is more important to appeal to interests than to personality and competence. Strong (1943) asserts that when people have enough interest and competence to do things, they will perform successfully. However, when they are competent but uninterested, they may not perform appropriately. The combination of these two variables, i. e. interest and competence, predicts their occupational success. According to Lent and Brown (1994), occupational interest refers to the patterns of likes, dislikes and indifference towards different jobs and professional activities (Lent & Brown, 2005). The history of interest's survey corresponds to the history of career counseling. In 1908, Parsons, the father of career counseling, established the Job Circle in Boston. He argued that in order for people to choose a job, they need to have an accurate understanding of their aptitudes, abilities, ambitions, resources and limitations. Although, Parsons has emphasized a wide range of source characteristics, it has typically been the domain of interests that has attracted career counselors most (Brown &Browks, 1991 as cited in Haghshenas et al, 2010). Strong interest inventory has been revised several times, the last of which was in The revised scale consists of 291 items. It differs from the 1994 version in that basic interest scales ) ssib( have been increased from 25 scales to 30 scales and group orientation scales have been differed over personality style scales ) siib(, (Strong et al, 2004 as cited in Cotter &Fouad, 2010 in sadeghi, 2012). HaghShenas (2004) translated the latest revision of the inventory into Persian and examined its validity and reliability. The length of time required to complete the inventory was the major challenge to administering Strong survey in clinical and career counseling so that students were reluctant to complete it. Tracy (2010) contends that students' fatigue during the completion of the scale increases the probability of reckless performance and the faulty demonstration of a depressed profile, which may affect the reliability of the scale; therefor SII was change to a shorter one called short form of Isfahan interest inventory that standardize among the third junior/high school and high school students (sadeghi, 2011). The norm form includes 90 article divided into sox parts with completely similar results to the basic SII. Although this form removed the mentioned form mistakes ( long and difficult questions) the statistical grope to make the SII-SH were selected from the third junior/high school and high school students in Isfahan. It's not good for measuring adult's interest. If it's vital to do so the present and norm table are not acceptable. So the basic question of the present study is to development and determines validity and reliability for adults Interest Inventory (AII). COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 374

3 Method SPSS 16 was used to do statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviation as well as inferential statistics including factor analysis and correlation were used to analyze the data. (This study is the first research that into the first adult interest inventory (AII) was constructed) -Strong interest inventory SII was used to makes adult interest inventory AII-. The population of the study consisted of all male and female adult having diploma to bachelor degree in Isfahan city. From this population, a sample of 500 male and female were selected from the age 25 to 40, at three stages for the purposes of developing adult version of the inventory. In The first stage 300 individuals were selected to provide the primary form. Some changes were done in the main form to make harmony between the questionnaire and participants' age and working environment. As the research statistical groups are working now and have various experiences of different jobs, so subjective and working questions were omitted to stop the participants' confusion and then characteristics of the participants' at work and from others point of view were added. In the second stage, 100 persons were selected to measure to questionnaire validity. 50 participants for comparing the internal consistency of the adult version (AII) with Strong long version inventory(sii), and 50 participants for comparing the adult version(aii) with Campbell interest and skill survey). Finally in the last stage 100 participants were selected for examining the reliability of the (AII) in (50 participants in a test-retest method and 50 participants in Cronbach alpha formula). Instruments: Strong interest inventory (Donnay et al, 2005) The scale consists of 290 items which is categorized into 6 subsets. The participants are to rate their interest on a scale ranging from "strongly interested", "interested", "indifferent", "disinterested", to "strongly disinterested". Donnay et al (2005, as cited in HaghShenas, 2006) reported that the reliability of general occupational themes was between to using Cronbach alpha formula, and between to using test-retest method with two to seven weeks interval. The correlation between general occupational themes and Holland interest inventory scores was reported to be between and Also, the reliability of basic interest scales was shown to be between and using test-retest method, and between and using Cronbach alpha formula. The reliability of personal style scales was reported to be between and using testretest method with two to seven weeks interval, and between to using Cronbach alpha formula. Concurrent validity of the inventory has been examined via finding its correlation with Myers-Briggs test. The results showed that there was relationship between realism with work style and leadership. There was also correlation between artistic interests and education environments. HaghShenas (2006) conducted a study to examine the reliability and validity of Strong scales in Iran. The reliability of general occupational themes was reported to be between and using test-retest method with two weeks interval, and between and using Cronbach alpha formula. The validity of general occupational themes was examined via comparing the correlation between long version scales and short version scales, which yielded validity coefficients between0. 74 and With regard to the obtained values, the reliability and validity of Strong scales are confirmed. Campbell interest and skill survey (Campbell et al, 1992) This questionnaire consists of 320 items in which 200 items address interests and 120 items examine skills. Therefore, the profile of this scale includes two types of scores (interest scores and skills scores). Developed by Campbell et al (1992), the questionnaire consists of 7orientation scales, 29 basic interest scales and 58 occupational scales. The reliability of the questionnaire was estimated to be between and using internal consistency method, and between and using test-retest method. The validity of interest scales was calculated to be between and Kazemi (2010) standardized the questionnaire in Iran and examined its reliability and validity. He reported the validity of the questionnaire to COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 375

4 be between and 0.61, and the reliability of which to be between and using test-retest method, and between 0.72 and 0.82 using internal consistency method. Results This research is a first study to development of adult interest inventory in world. Strong interest inventory was used to provide drafts version of AII. To do so, 300 questionnaires were used at two stages among years old people. Preliminary version was prepared by eliminating questions with low internal validity (validity of each question or questions was calculated with the total score). Validity of less than 0.25 and 0.45 were excluded. In this step the hypothesis was to consider the selected age sample at working conditions and their mental considerations toward a specific career, so this specific sections are omitted and then some other parts including: " your characteristics in others point of view", your characteristics at work" and finally " who are you" are add to the questionnaire. The reliability of the AII version scales was estimated using both internal consistency (Alpha formula) and test-retest method with two weeks interval. In order to estimate the reliability using internal consistency, the inventory was administered in 50 participants. As shown in Table 1&2 the reliability coefficient of general occupational themes ranges from to 0. 89; and to 0.98 using test-retest method. The reliability of personal style scales ranged from to using alpha coefficient, and ranged from to using test-retest method. Overall, the results showed that general themes have high reliability coefficients while basic interest scales and personal style scales have moderate to high reliability. Table 1. General themes (internal consistency and alpha coefficient)and test-retest reliability Reliability ssib test-retest co Alpha co realistic Investigative Artistic social Enterprise Conventional Table 2. The reliability of personal style scales PSs Test-retest alpha Work style Learning environment Leadership style Group orientation Risk taking According to table 2, personal style scale has the highest internal consistency coefficient (α=0. 655) in risk taking scale and the lowest reliability coefficient is (α=0. 490) in Group orientation. The highest test-retest reliability index refers to Learning environment style scale (r=0. 770) and the lowest index refers to group orientation scale (r=0. 530). Validity: two methods were used to examine the validity of the AII (adult interest inventory). In this regard, the internal validities of general themes of the AII( adult interest inventory) were compared with two external criteria including Campbell interest and skill inventory and Strong interest inventory. COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 376

5 AII SII Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprise Conventiona l Table 3. Comparison of general themes in the AII and basic interests in SII realistic Investigative Artistic social conventiona Enterprise l Pearson cur sig Pearson cur sig Pearson cur sig Pearson cur sig Pearson cur sig Pearson cur sig As shown in Table 3, there is correlation between general themes of the AII (adult interest inventory) and the interests SII( strong interest inventory). The general theme of conventional has the highest correlation (r=0. 922) and social scale has the lowest social (r=0. 593). Table 4. Internal consistency between general themes of Campbell interest and skill inventory And the AII GOT SII conventio realistic Investigative Artistic social Enterprise GOT SII - SH nal realistic Pearson cur sig Investigative Pearson cur sig Artistic Pearson cur sig social Pearson cur sig Enterprise Pearson cur conventional sig Pearson cur sig N=50 As shown in Table 4, there is correlation between all general themes of Campbell interest and skill survey and AII. Accordingly, social interests have the highest correlation (r=0. 660) and conventional scale has the lowest correlation (0. 409). Overall, based on this validity criterion, the validity of adult general themes is confirmed. Discussion and conclusion The aim of present study was developing a first adult interest inventory and examining the reliability and validity of the AII among 25 to 40 years Isfahan adult. It deserves as a long step to help adult career planning by measuring their career. Despite the powerful tools to measure interests Still has not made an instrument that specifically measure adult interest and there are challenges in using these tools, As long questionnaires and inappropriate content while Strong interest inventory(sii) has been used in many countries, no adult version has been developed yet,. Then In this study, by using SII and Kample interest and skill survey, adult interest inventory during multiple stages was constructed. The questionnaire includes 80 articles divided to 7 parts ( 1- activities, 2- recreational activities, 3- peoples, 4- your characteristic, 5- your characteristics from others point of view, 6- your characteristic at work and finally 7- who are you.) COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 377

6 The reliability of scales was examined using both internal consistency (alpha formula) and test-retest method with two weeks interval. The reliability coefficient of general occupational themes ranges from 0.65to 0.89; and 0.69 to 0.98 using test-retest method. The reliability of personal style scales ranged from 0.49 to 0.65 using alpha coefficient, and ranged from 0.53 to 0.77 using test-retest method. On the whole, the results showed that general themes have high reliability coefficients while personal style scales have moderate to high reliability indices. HaghShenas (2006) examined the reliability of Strong scales using both internal consistency and test-retest method. Accordingly, the reliability coefficient of general themes was between and using internal consistency method, and between and using testretest method. The reliability coefficient of basic interest scales was between and using internal consistency method, and between and using test-retest method. The reliability coefficient of personal style scales was between and using internal consistency method, and between and using test-retest method. Therefore, general themes and personal style scales have high reliability indices while basic interest scales have moderate to high reliability coefficients. sadeghi (2011) examined the development of Strong interest inventory in Isfahanian( Iran) sample using both internal consistency and test-retest method. Result indicated the reliability by alpha formula rung from 0.50 to 0.81for general theme for basic interest scales the test retest reliability is 0.52 to 0.91 for general theme and 0.37 to 0.87 for personal scales. General themes and personal style scales have high reliability indices while basic interest scales have moderate to high. Study in Donay and colleagues' study (2005), the reliability of general themes was between and using internal consistency method, and between and using test-retest method; the reliability of basic interest scales was between and using internal consistency method, and between and using test-retest method; the reliability of personal style scales was between and using internal consistency method, and between and using test-retest method. A comparison of the reliability indices in the present study with the three above-mentioned studies shows that the reliability coefficient of general themes in the present study corresponds to that of HaghShenas and colleagues (2006) and sadeghi(2011). The reliability coefficients of general themes in the present study were similar to those in Doonay and colleagues' study (2005). The validity of the general themes of the adult version of interest was examined by both finding the correlation between the general themes of the adult interest inventory and the scales of Campbell interest and skill survey as well as Strong interest inventory( showed in table 3&4). Accordingly, correlation between general themes of the AII (adult interest inventory) and the interests of SII (strong interest inventory. The general theme of conventional has the highest correlation (r=0. 922) and social scale has the lowest social (r=0. 593) and correlation between all general themes of Campbell interest and skill survey and AII. Accordingly, social interests have the highest correlation (r=0. 660) and conventional scale has the lowest correlation (0. 409). All respective interests were highly correlated at %1 level of significance. HaghShenas (2006) reported the correlation between general themes in Strong interest inventory and in educational-occupational interest survey to range from 43% and 66%. There was the highest correlation between artistic interest in the short version of educationaloccupational interest survey and artistic scale in Strong interest inventory (r=0. 66). There was the lowest correlation coefficient between realistic scale in the short version of educational-occupational interest survey and realistic interest in Strong interest inventory (r=0. 43) (P 0. 01). COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 378

7 sadeghi (2012) reported the correlation between general themes in short version of Strong interest inventory and the scales of Campbell interest and skill survey and Strong interest inventory. Accordingly, the correlation coefficient ranged from to There was the highest correlation between artistic scale in the short version of Strong-Isfahan inventory and artistic interest in Campbell interest and skill survey (r=0. 75). There was the lowest correlation between conventional scale in Strong interest inventory and conventional interest in Campbell interest and skill survey (r=0. 43). Hanson and Campbell (Doonay, 2005 as cited in HaghShenas, 2006) reported the mean correlation coefficient between the general themes of Strong interest inventoryand the general scales of Holland occupational interest survey to be Doonay et al (2005) reported that the correlation coefficient between the general themes of Strong interest inventory and the scales of Holland occupational interest was between and With regard to comparisons between the general scales of the AII) adult version of interest inventory and Strong interest inventory as well as the comparison between Campbell interest and skill survey and HaghShenas (2006), sadeghi (2012) and Hanson and Campbell (as cited in Doonay, 2005) studies, it can be claimed that the present study has yielded moderated to high reliability indices. COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 379

8 References Akbarzadeh, M., & Abedi, M. (2009). Standardizing and examining the reliability and validity of interests in personal spherical jobs in Isfahan university students. Unpublished MA thesis, Faculty of psychology and educational sciences, Isfahan university, Iran. Barak, A. (1981). Vocational interest: A cognitive view. Journal of vocationalbehavior, 19, Cotter, E. W., & Fouad, N. A. (2010). The Relationship between Subjective Well-Being and Vocational Personality Type. Journal of Career Assessment. 19 (1) Donnay, D. A., Thompson, R. C., Morris, M. L., & Schaubhut, N. A. (2005). Manual for strong interest inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Counseling Psychology Press. Fouad, A. M., & Mohler, J. C. (2004). Cultural Validity of Holland Theory and the Strong Interest Inventory for Five Racial Ethnic Groups. Journal of career assessment, 12, 423. HaghShenas, L. (2006). Adaptation, standardization and examination of reliability and validity of Strong interest scales in high school students in Isfahan. Unpublished MA thesis, Faculty of psychology and educational sciences, Isfahan university, Iran. HaghShenas, L., Abedi, M., & Baghban, I. (2010). A rating and interpretation guide for Strong interest inventory. Isfahan: Neveshteh. Holland, J. (1997). Making Vocational Choice. The theory of Vocational Personality and Work Environment (3 RD -ED). Odessa: psychological assessment resource. Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (2005). Social cognitive career theory. Ind. Brown (Ed. ). Career choice and development (4 th Ed. PP ). Sanfroncisco:jossy-Bass. Sadeghi, H. Abedi, M. Baghban, I. Fatehizade,M. (2012) The development and Validation of the short form of Strong Interest Inventory in Iranian (Isfahan) guidance/high school students published in IJCRB February Edition 2012 IJCRB Vol.3, No.10 COPY RIGHT 2012 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 380

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