Overview

Purpose: To assess an individual's personal/vocational interests or perceived ability strengths and weaknesses.

For: All those aged 15 and over, including those with low levels of ability or literacy and those with cognitive/personality difficulties

Length: Untimed (usually 10 to 45 minutes).

Format: Interactive card sort.

Materials: Professional manual, occupations listing, set of cards, answer sheet, profile sheet.

This new and much improved edition of the widely used Congruence Card Sort represents a major revision of the original version. As a result of ongoing research new items were developed and included in the card sort. The manual has been rewritten to include additional interpretive and technical data and a set of additional ways in which the cards can be used to assess interests and to promote self-awareness. Also revised was the occupations listing to include a much broader range of occupations corresponding to different interest codes.

Eight broad interest categories are assessed:

- Technological
- Nature
- Scientific
- Culture
- Entertainment
- Helping
- Persuasive
- Organising

The CIS consists of 64 activity cards. The client has to sort each activity card into one of five levels of attractiveness. At this point the cards can be used for a variety of exercises to enhance self awareness and to help both test administrator and the client to understand more about why the cards were sorted in this way.

The CIS cards can also be sorted according to the client's perceived abilities either separately or along with an interest sort.

The CIS has a wide range of uses and is very useful with clients with low levels of ability or literacy. It has also been found to be helpful in following up a previous interest assessment with a different interest inventory, to stimulate client's vocational thinking, to check results and to explore interests of clients who indicate a few or very idiosyncratic preferences.

The CIS represents a close fusion of assessment and counselling in the one process. Consequently it is less threatening than some other tests, especially for anxious clients. In addition it allows the client to be involved collaboratively in the data gathering, scoring and interpretation of the results.