The Norwegian Jackson Vocational Interest Survey: Translation, cultural adaptation and preliminary psychometric evaluation

Abstract

The ipsative American vocational interest inventory Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (the JVIS) was translated to Norwegian and tested in the sample of 484 Norwegian students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Seventeen bipolar components appeared in the subsequent principal component analyses. Those components constituted 19 meaningful scales, which were generally similar to the American equivalents. All scales seemed to have good face validity and high ordinal reliabilities, αalpha > .70. Additional analyses focused on the concurrent validity of the Norwegian version of the test in the six student groups: Social Science, Medical Science, the Humanities, Natural Science and Mathematics, Engineering and Technology, and Teacher Education. Only the JVIS scales that reflected vocational interests within the six fields of study were selected for those analyses. Firstly, one-way ANOVAs were used to test mean differences in vocational interests, measured by the selected JVIS scales, across the six student groups. For that matter, the post hoc paired comparisons revealed that the majority of the JVIS mean scores were significantly highest for the expected student groups. Secondly, the relationship between vocational interests and student satisfaction measures (i.e. Academic Satisfaction and Social Satisfaction) was explored using correlational analyses. The results revealed significantly positive correlations only between few of the selected JVIS scales and Academic Satisfaction. The relationship between Social Satisfaction and the JVIS vocational interest scales was significantly positive in one case, and significantly negative in two cases. The final t-test analyses focused on sex differences in vocational interests. The results indicated the existence of sex disparities reflecting, to a certain extent, traditional male and female preferences with the effect sizes from small to moderate. Several limitations of the study, the biggest of which was the forced-choice format of the JVIS, were discussed. Furthermore a number of recommendations for further research and career counselling were presented, based on the discussed theory, empirical studies, and the results of the current research.