Efficacy of the Personality Research Form as a Discriminator of Vocational Preference Inventory Categories

Holland (1966) posited that career choice results from a combination of (a) personality expression in the world of work and (b) identification with stereotypes of a particular occupation. Earlier, Poe (1957) theorized that the level of need satisfaction or frustration experienced by a child results in the development of a personality orientation which influences later career choice. Based upon the theoretical position that personality needs are related to career choices, the authors investigated whether personality needs as measured by the Personality Research Form (PRE) discriminate between the six categories of career orientation as measured by the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI). One hundred fifty-seven volunteers from various undergraduate courses served as participants for the study. They completed Form E of the PRF, as well as the VPI. A stepwise discriminant analysis was used to analyze the data. All 22 steps of the analysis revealed significant F statistics (p = .05). Also, a classification matrix was performed at each step, with the authors concluding that Step 4 produced the highest percentage of correct classifications with the fewest variables. This step resulted in 47.8% of the participants being correctly classified based upon the PRF variables social recognition, desirability, cognitive structure, and understanding