A: For details about each form of the OSI refer to the Catalogue section of this website.
The Occupational Search Inventory - form 1 was constructed in 1990 as an omnibus measure of vocational interests. It measured eight interest categories across six interest domains. The item content was derived from the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations.

Feedback from users indicated that for less educated and less skilled clients the length and reading level of the OSI-1 were too demanding. In response CONGRUENCE constructed the OSI-2 based on the eight interest categoirs of the OSI-1 but having four rather than six interest domains and emphasising personal as well as work abilities. In addition the length of each item was shortened and the wording simplified. The focus of the occupations in both the questionnaire itself and the accompanying Occupations Listing was on occupations which required no or less demanding levels of training for entry.

The OSI-3 was a more direct derivation from the OSI-1. From statistical analysis of data from the OSI-1 it was found that the inventory could be shortened without any loss of discriminative power by reducing the number of interest domains from six to three. However the research revealed the likely usefulness of a Work Environment domain. This was developed and incorporated into the OSI-3 along with the three other domains (Work Activities, Occupations and Work Skills). Other technical changes were made including improvements to wording and reducing of the number of items by about 20% on the retained interest domains. In the most recent revision of the OSI-3 a further domain has been added - Leisure Activities, to provide a more comprehensive sampling of individuals' interests.


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Q: If the OSI-2 and the OSI-3 are later developments of the OSI-1 why does CONGRUENCE still publish the OSI-1?

A: The short answer to this is because our customers still want to use it despite having the other forms of the inventory available. When asked why they still use the OSI-1 in preference to the other forms, OSI-1 users typically indicate that they find the qualitative information that can be gleaned from interest domains such as Thinking Style and Personal Description to be very helpful in understanding how their clients and/or students view themselves in relation to career choice and work in general.

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Q: If the majority of the people I see come from limited educational backgrounds, have difficulties reading in English and are not likely to aspire to other than lower skilled jobs, what is the best interest measure to use with them?

A: The Occupational Search Inventory - Form 2 was specifically constructed to cater for such individuals with simplified items, shortened length of the test and a focus on trade-level occupations and below in both the questionnaire itself and the Occupations Listing.

Our experience is that the OSI-2 can be used with those from non English speaking backgrounds through interpreters with satisfactory results (if you have a competent interpreter!!).

If you want more immediate control and supervision opportunities than the Congruence Interest Sort may be preferable since it allows greater flexibility and opportunities to change the nature and difficulty of the assessment task and to intervene in the testing process.

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Q: What is the difference between the Congruence Personality Scale - Form 1 and the Congruence Personality Scale - Form 2?

A: In the history of personality assessment over the last 75 years or so two principal traditions have emerged usually designated the lexical and the questionnaire perspectives.

The lexical perspective seeks to understand personality by working on the assumption that language reflects observation of reality and therefore it can be understood as a reflection of reality. Thus if there are names for traits that is because people have found such words useful in accounting for an individual difference in personality. The CPS-1 is an assessment of the famous Big Five personality dimensions using adjectives derived from descriptions of these dimensions as revealed in the current personality research and theory literature. The items are adjectives or short descriptive phrases to which the respondents indicate the frequency of each's applicability to themselves.

The questionnaire perspective seeks to assess personality through the interaction of situation and behaviour. Various behaviours in general or in a specific context are viewed as reflecting personality traits and can therefore be considered as indications of the intensity and influence of such traits on the individual's personality. As a result the CPS-2 is a behaviour - oriented set of items assessing the same Big Five personality dimensions as for the CPS-1. Test takers have to indicate how often the statement describes them.

In deciding between the CPS-1 and the CPS-2 the above differences in test demand characteristics need to be taken into account. In addition experience shows that the CPS-1 requires at average levels of literacy and preferably higher than average since some test takers do not understand of some of the adjectives such as "analytical" or "philosophical". The authors believe that the CPS-2 is usually better for school students unless they are high ability pupils. There is not a great deal of difference in the testing time for both forms however, the CPS-1 usually takes longer to score.

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Q: What is the difference between the Occupations Listings for the OSI-2 and OSI-3?

A: The OSI-2 has two different Occupations Listings, one comprehensive version and one condensed version whereas the OSI-3 has two identical copmprehensive versions. One version goes to the test taker and one is kept by the practitioner. As the OSI-2 has good applications for individuals with limited literacy, or who are likely to consider occupations not requiring much education, the practitioner gives the condensed Occupations Listing to these individuals as it is a more appropriate listing for the individuals identified interests. The OSI-3 has good applications for individuals across a wider range of abilities, who are interested in occupations requiring more skilled labour, so the comprehensive version is an appropriate listing for their abilities.

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