Revised Professional Manual for the Occupational Search Inventory – Form 3 (OSI-3)
Jan 15, 2006
The Occupational Search Inventory – Form 3 is an inventory measure of individuals’ vocational interests. First published in 1993 from its predecessor the OSI – 1, like all of us as it has aged it has required ongoing growth, development and updating. A revision of the OSI-3 was undertaken in 2001 resulting in extensive changes to the inventory the most important of which was the inclusion of the Leisure Interests domain and some major revisions to the Occupations Listing. Since that time an additional Alphabetised Occupations Listing has been developed and published as well.
Recently Dr Robert Pryor undertook a revision of the OSI-3 Manual. Users of the OSI-3 indicated that they would like more information about how to use and interpret the profile scores that the inventory yields. In addition from a technical perspective it was felt that there was a need to do more research on the Leisure Interests domain to validate its inclusion from the earlier revision. These two areas constitute the twin themes of this revision of the Manual.
Additional information has been included in this Manual about the strategies for interpretation especially patterns of scores. As well four extra case studies have been added to illustrate profile interpretation. An appendix to the manual outlines some of my most recent thinking on issues associated with vocational testing. Also included is a summary Interpretive Guide which can be copied and given to test takers. At the technical level additional data on the OSI-3 have been collected allowing analysis of the internal characteristics of the scales and domains. In particular the effect of the inclusion of the Leisure Interests domain was investigated.
It is recommended that all current users of the OSI-3 should update by purchasing the revised manual which will enhance their understanding and use of the inventory.
