What is the Career Occupational Preference System (COPS)?

Introduction

The Career Occupational Preference System (COPS), an interest inventory, presents 168 job-related items that can be grouped into fourteen job-determinant areas: science, professional; science, skilled; technology, professional; technology, skilled; consumer economics; outdoor; business, professional; business, skilled; clerical; communication; arts, professional; arts, skilled; service, professional; and service, skilled. The descriptor professional can be best characterized as referring to those job choices that require at least four years of college education and lead to a career, as opposed to those that do not.

The person completing the inventory is asked to rate the 168 job-related items, noting whether these are things they like very much, like moderately, dislike moderately, or dislike very much. The person completing the inventory uses the scale to state preferences concerning a number of different job activities.

The COPS was first developed in the late 1960s and has undergone several editions and revisions. Editions in foreign languages are available. Although the test is untimed, most individuals who take the test finish in less than one hour. The scores recorded by the COPS can be used to enter most occupational information systems. Both professionals and nonprofessionals can benefit from information received from the COPS. However, like most reference or interest systems, the COPS should be used to guide exploration and not judge respondents. Given the reading level of the inventory and the types of information solicited, it would be appropriate for the COPS to be used in junior high schools, senior high schools, community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities.

Technical Aspects

The COPS has been developed and interpreted through the statistical procedure of multiple-factor analysis. The purpose of this type of analysis is to understand which sets of variables match up or correlate best with one another. For example, are the “professional” and “skilled” items the same or different? If the cluster of items is the same, reporting and interpreting the scores would be influenced one way; however, if the cluster of items is different, the way the scores are reported and interpreted would be very different. With that in mind, it is possible to suggest that all fourteen clusters present as “different” when using this statistical procedure.

In addition to the statistical procedure of multiple-factor analysis of the variables in the cluster, it is equally important to understand whether the items themselves are relevant to the world of work. Additionally, the specific descriptions used in the clusters should match up, specifically, to the world of work. For example, descriptions of skills used in the clerical cluster should generally deal with clerical duties and specifically detail expected clerical duties. Without this type of matching, much of the usefulness of the COPS would be compromised. The 168 items used in the COPS match both the general and the specific nature of clusters. This provides further evidence that individual scores do match what might be expected during the accomplishment of the fourteen general clusters.

Of equal importance is whether the COPS can be considered statistically reliable, whether it is internally consistent (demonstrated by correlation studies), and whether it can be relied on to give the same results over time (demonstrated by time-sequential statistical correlation studies). It is difficult to place much confidence in a survey that does not hold together or that does not give the same results over time; therefore, these factors are extremely important to the usefulness of the COPS as an assessment.

The COPS does well on both counts of reliability considerations. Reports of internal consistency, parallel forms (different items for the same clusters from completely different, independent tests), and tests given after time periods ranging from one week to one year all point to the usefulness of the COPS. In fact, COPS scores do seem to point to a similarity between attained scores and choices of college major, actual job location, and actual job title.

Critique

For individuals to enter an appropriate career, they must begin to identify specific interests and examine the relative importance of those interests. Some individuals will need little guidance in making career choices, while others will need the guidance of a survey instrument such as the COPS interest inventory when beginning the process of career selection. In the decades since the introduction of the first interest inventory, millions of people have received important information to use in decision making. Caution is always expressed by the authors of these inventories that no decision should be made on the basis of the results determined by one inventory. The COPS interest inventory is only one of many inventories in use within the broad field of career and personnel testing.

Bibliography

Bauernfeind, R. H. “COPSystem Interest Inventory.” Test Critiques. Vol. 5. Austin: Pro-Ed, 1992. Print.

Brown, Steven D., and Robert W. Lent, eds. Career Development and Counseling: Putting Theory and Research to Work. Hoboken: Wiley, 2013. Print.

Capuzzi, David, and Mark D. Stauffer, eds. Career Counseling: Foundations, Perspectives, and Applications. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.

Murphy, L. L., and J. C. Conoley, eds. Tests in Print IV. Vol. 1. Lincoln: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, 1994. Print.

Quinn, Barbara. Snap, Crackle, or Stop: Change Your Career and Shape Your Own Destiny. New York: Basic, 2003. Print.

Swanson, Jane L., and Nadya A. Fouad. Career Theory and Practice: Learning through Case Studies. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010. Print.