If you read “Development of the RIPA”, you get a sense of the purpose of the RIPA. The Richards Interest Profile Assessment was originally developed for use with adolescents. In particular, I was working with middle school students at Bagley Middle School where I was assistant principal. Much of the research behind the development was done during the 4 years before I went to Bagley Middle School. Having taught at Murray County High School for several years and worked as technology coordinator for the school system, I was beginning to formulate the idea for an interest inventory that could be used at any level. During the development, more than 300 simple activities were presented to a panel of experts in the field of career development. From these 120 were chosen with each being strongly associated with one of the areas of interest defined by Dr. John Holland. There were 20 activities for each of the 6 areas of interest. The individual taking the assessment simply has to decide which of two activities presented they would prefer to do. There was also the possibility that neither would be desirable. Therefore the option to select neither was included. One of the problems with uninterested middle school students is the “Christmas Tree” action that might be taken during testing. This was a problem with a few students when using the original paper version of the assessment. The answers were marked on scan cards, and there were a couple of students who just decided to turn the answer sheet into a cute design without even looking at the activities presented in the book. Hopefully the Internet version has reduced that problem. More importantly, seldom do I expect an individual to take the Internet version of the RIPA without having a desire to learn more about his/her true inner self.
Career Development researchers have concluded that an interest assessment is actually a personality test. Extending that idea I propose that the Interest Profile Report is also an occupational preference report. By understanding one’s personality it is possible to understand why one does not enjoy some things from which others get great joy. My best example is football. I love football. College football is my joy. I just love it. But I have a friend who says that when his wife starts to watch a football game, he goes out to drag a stick around his house. He has worn out 3 sticks! I have asked him if he doesn’t understand the rules. He says that he understands the rules, but it is of no interest to him. I have another friend who, after a lot of begging, agreed for he and his wife to go with us to a Georgia football game a few years ago. At halftime he turned and said he would really appreciate it if I would never invite him to another football game.
There are many factors that contribute to our personality and our interests. If you have read some of our articles, you understand that there are several theories concerning the development of personality and interests. Environment, education, social grouping, and heredity are the most studied. There are other factors. Girls like things that most boys detest. Boys enjoy being rough and playing contact sports. Most girls do not enjoy playing contact sports. They may enjoy watching these sports and may thoroughly understand the rules of the game, but have no desire to participate.
Though you can take the assessment 2 times within a year and your registration as a Client extends for 2 years, we recommend that you allow at least 6 months between assessments. Your interest profile changes slowly as you mature and as you gain more education and experience.
When you take the RIPA, you will receive your Interest Profile Report. Your report is a picture of your personality at a point in time. I call it personality because most career development researchers assert that your level of interest in each of the 6 areas of interest is a representation of your personality. You should take a close look at the numbers beside each of the six areas near the top of your report. This will give you an idea of the strength of each of your levels of interest. If these numbers are relatively close, you can be assured that your profile (3 letter code representing your level of interest in your top 3 areas of interest) can be accurately represented by rearranging the letters in any order. However, if one of the numbers is significantly more than the others, it is probably accurate to say that you should consider that to be your most prominent area.
Spend some time reading through the report. After all, this report if a representation of your personality. It may very well reveal some things about yourself that you not know.
Comments are closed