Heterogeneity of lower level interior design students with respect to occupational choice, personality constructs and abilities

This study analyzed a population of interior design students at the University of Nebraska to determine if diversity existed in the population in terms of vocational typologies, psychological constructs, and design-related abilities. The psychological constructs examined in the study were locus of control and self-esteem. The abilities that were measured were space perception abilities and creativity. The assumption was made that diversity identified in these areas would indicate diverse needs in terms of curriculum. To facilitate the analysis, a battery of instruments was administered to a group of 86 students. Holland\u27s Self-Directed Search was used to indicate the vocational typology of each student. The vocational typology was used to categorize the population into two groups, those who were congruent with their educational environment and those who were incongruent with their educational environment. The psychological constructs and design abilities were evaluated for each group to determine if differences existed between the congruent and incongruent groups in these areas. Correlations among the psychological constructs and design abilities were examined. Nine hypotheses were developed and tested. The chi square analysis, the analysis of variance and the Pearson product moment correlation were used to test the hypotheses. Three of the hypotheses were accepted, six were rejected. The data analysis revealed the following findings: (1) The majority of the population had vocational typologies that were incongruent with their educational environment. (2) One half of the population lacked an artistic component in their vocational typology. (3) No significant differences were found to exist between congruent typologies and incongruent typologies in either the psychological constructs or the design-related abilities. (4) Correlations existed between self-esteem and locus of control and self-esteem and creativity. The findings of this study indicate a need to investigate the vocational typologies of interior design students because of their diversity in vocational typologies. The findings provide a justification for curriculum development and can be used as impetus for expanding and diversifying offerings in the interior design curricula