Administering
the CISS®
The
Campbell™ Interest and Skill Survey®
(CISS®),
a Campbell Development Survey from Pearson Assessments, measures self-reported
vocational interests and skills. Similar to traditional interest inventories,
the CISS interest scales reflect an individual's attraction for specific
occupational areas.
However,
the CISS
instrument goes beyond traditional inventories by adding parallel skill
scales that provide estimates of an individual's confidence in his or
her ability to perform various occupational activities. Together, the
two types of scales provide more comprehensive, richer data than interest
scores alone.
The
CISS®
instrument focuses on careers that require post-secondary education and
is most appropriate for use with individuals who are college bound or
college educated.
The CISS instrument is used by counselors, psychologists, and human resource professionals in mental health, business, and educational settings. It can be useful in:
- Exploring
new avenues in career development. With the CISS instrument, students
and adults learn how their likes, dislikes, and self-reported skills
compare to those of individuals who are happily and successfully employed
in a variety of occupations.
- Pinpointing areas of academic
study that can build skills and, as a result, increase career options.
- Helping
individuals seeking personal counseling to find occupations or vocations
that help meet their psychological needs.
- Assisting
employees who have been displaced by organizational restructuring and
are faced with a job transition.
- The CISS instrument uses
contemporary items.
- The items reflect
a respect for individuals of different gender, race, religion, and national
origin.
- The occupational
orientations are labeled with readily understood action words, such
as Influencing and Creating.
Qualification
Level
Administer To
Completion Time
Scales
25 basic scales
60 occupational scales
Norm
Groups
About the Author
Dr. David
Campbell is the H. Smith Richardson Senior Fellow at the Center for Creative
Leadership (CCL). A nonprofit educational institution founded in 1970,
CCL develops models of effective managerial practice and applies them
as guides for assessment and development. Dr. Campbell was formerly a
professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota. He has served
as a visiting professor at the University of Utah and Duke University.
He has been an honorary research fellow at the University of London and
a distinguished visiting professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
A recipient
of the E. K. Strong, Jr., Gold Medal for excellence in psychological testing
research, Dr. Campbell is also co-author of the well-known Strong-Campbell
Interest Inventory. He is currently involved in training and research
programs in creativity and leadership. Dr. Campbell has published extensively
in professional journals and has written three popular books:
- If You Don't Know Where You're Going, You'll Probably
End Up Somewhere Else
- Take the Road to Creativity and Get Off Your Dead End
- If I'm in Charge Here, Why Is Everybody Laughing?
The CISS assessment includes interest and skill
scores for seven Orientation Scales, 25 Basic Scales, and 60 Occupational
Scales. The CISS assessment introduces Dr. Campbell's new model for occupational
orientations. These orientations generally correspond to the familiar
RIASEC themes and represent the major subsets of the work world: Influencing, Organizing, Helping, Creating, aNalyzing, Producing, and Adventuring.
Influencing:
Leadership, Law/Politics, Public Speaking, Sales,
Advertising/Marketing
Organizing:
Supervision, Financial Services, Office Practices
Helping:
Adult Development, Counseling, Child Development,
Religious Activities, Medical Practice
Creating:
Art/Design, Performing Arts, Writing, International
Activities, Fashion, Culinary Arts
aNalyzing:
Mathematics, Science
Producing:
Mechanical Crafts, Woodworking, Farming/Forestry,
Plants/Gardens, Animal Care
Adventuring:
Athletics/Physical Fitness, Military/Law Enforcement,
Risks/Adventure
The CISS
Orientation, Basic Interest and Skill, and Occupational scales were standardized
using a reference sample of 5,225 employed men and women representing
a wide array of occupations.
Individual
Profile Report (Product Number 51456XAG)
The CISS results are presented both numerically and graphically and include
narrative comments to facilitate easy interpretation by the respondent.
In particular, the report recommends vocations that the respondent should
pursue (high interest and high skill), avoid (low interest, low skill), explore (high skill, low interest) and develop (low skill, high interest). Also, a worksheet is available
to facilitate action planning, and a two-page file summary is included
for use by the career counselor.
Interest
and Skill Profile
Common
Questions and Answers
What is the value of the skills component of
the CISS assessment?
When making career decisions, people generally weigh several factors,
including interests and skills. Self-report skills reflect a level of
confidence in the ability to do various activities. Estimates of skill
level are typically based on experiences doing similar tasks and learning
new things. The basis for the development of the CISS assessment is the
belief that interests and skills are closely intertwined. In general,
people tend to enjoy things they do well; likewise, they tend to perform
well in areas they find interesting.
How does the new Campbell model and its seven
orientations relate to the RIASEC model?
The CISS orientations and the RIASEC themes correspond as follows:
RIASEC
Campbell
Realistic
Producing AND Adventuring
Investigative
Analyzing
Artistic
Creating
Social
Helping
Enterprising
Influencing
Conventional
Organizing
Although
many of the CISS orientations have a reasonably close resemblance to their
Holland (RIASEC) counterparts, there are some differences. Specifically,
the CISS Influencing orientation reflects leadership activities, whereas
Holland's RIASEC Enterprising theme tends to reflect sales and public
relations activities. The CISS Organizing orientation tends to reflect
management and financial service activities, whereas Holland's RIASEC
Conventional theme reflects activities related to office and clerical
work. The biggest difference is with the Holland Realistic theme. Within
the CISS assessment, this theme is represented by the Producing orientation,
which reflects mechanical, construction, and farming activities, and the
Adventuring orientation, which reflects military, police, and athletic
activities.
Can
I use the CISS assessment effectively with individuals whose work-related
experiences are limited?
Because no one has actually performed all of the activities listed in
the CISS assessment, all respondents are, in a sense, extrapolating beyond
the data. They are estimating their probable level of skill, given sufficient
training and opportunity to learn. Younger respondents are also capable
of making these estimates, provided they have a basic knowledge of the
world of work.
Respondents, regardless of age or work experience, should be encouraged to identify overall themes in their scores rather than putting undue emphasis on the point values of single scores. Underlying themes are more stable and provide a solid base for respondents to extrapolate beyond the data provided by the CISS assessment.
How should flat or deflated profiles be interpreted?
Flat
or deflated profiles often present the greatest challenge to career counselors.
The absence of clear preferences or aversions yields little information
about interest. Some initial clues for interpretation may be found in
the Procedural Checks section on page 11 of the respondent's profile,
especially in the Response Percentage Checks sections for interest and
skill items. Comparing the respondent's patterns with the average patterns
of the norming sample (Figure 3-1 in the CISS manual) will highlight any
differences.
With this
general information and some knowledge of the respondent's personality
and motivation, the tester may wish to ask the respondent about his or
her test-taking strategy:
- "When you
answered the CISS items, did you use any particular test-taking strategy?"
- "How did you
decide how to answer the questions?"
- "What were
your criteria?"
If it seems
clear that the respondent misunderstood the directions or used a distorted
or highly idiosyncratic approach, you may either readminister the survey
or use the results on a very tentative basis only.
Next, you
and the respondent can explore some of the possible reasons for the flat
profile:
- Respondents with
limited life and work experience may be unfamiliar with many occupational
activities and therefore uncertain of their interests or abilities.
Students who are beginning to explore career options may be at this
stage. If only the skill scores are low, the respondent may be encouraged
to weigh the interest data more heavily and use it as a starting point
for getting relevant occupational experience. Younger or less experienced
respondents may benefit by using other assessment tools (card sorts
or checklists), working with a counselor who can explain the concepts
as they appear.
- Respondents may
have unique patterns of interests and skills that are not adequately
covered by CISS items. The CISS assessment targets occupations requiring
a college degree; other surveys that focus on blue-collar careers are
more appropriate for some respondents.
- Some people are
not career-oriented and do not find personal fulfillment in the world
of work. If a job is seen as simply a source of income, the choice of
a specific career may be less important to the individual.
- Some people who report only mild interest or average
skills across all areas may be experiencing a lack of enthusiasm about
life in general. Emotionally, they may be feeling as "flat"
as their profiles. Personal counseling may be a higher priority than
career planning for the individual in this situation.
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CISS®
(CAMPBELL™ INTEREST AND SKILL SURVEY)
Copyright © 1988, 1992, 1993 DAVID P. CAMPBELL, PhD. All rights reserved.
"Campbell" is a trademark and "CISS" is a registered trademark of David
P. Campbell, PhD.