The authors assessed the reliabilit...

The authors assessed the reliability and validity of the Web-based version of the Career fundamental note (L. K. Jones, 1997). Ninety-nine undergraduates complet the Web-based version of the Career key-note and the Self-Directed Search--Form R (J L Holland, 1994) in counterbalanced order and complet a secondary Career Key administration 2 weeks after completing the first exhibition administration. Test--retest reliability ranged between 75 and 84 With the exception of the Conventional scale (47) all concomitant validity coefficients were at or above 65

Many articles have been freshly published in professional journals addressing the use of the Internet by the agency of counseling professionals (see, e.g., Hohenshil, 2000; Sampson, 2000) Attention to Web-based counseling and assessment is well-founded. Web-based assessment has many advantages through the whole extent of conventional methods of assessment. Using the Web for assessment intents means that the tests can be administered to form into groupss of individuals at the same time, it saves time and riches and it reduces data hall errors (Pasveer & Ellard, 1998; Sampson, 2000) Web-based assessment also provides a medium for the creative growth of instruments that use animation and audio/video technology (Sampson, 2000) Additional advantages of Web-based assessment include the following:

* adaptation of testing situations for a large number of race with disabilities who may ne services

* positive answers from clients

* administration and scoring efficiency

* reduction in errors

* cost-effectiveness

* research opportunities (Brown 1990; Sampson, 1983 2000; Sampson & Pyle 1983)

However, Web-based assessment has many disadvantages as well. The lack of counselor--client contact, the lack of personalized follow-up and follow-through and the potential compromise of the confidentiality of client data have all been cited as disadvantages (Sampson, 2000) Oliver and Zak (1999) examined 24 no-cost career assessment Web sites and conclud that sites were easy to use still (a) provided only a moderate standing of test interpretation, (b) fit into a schema of career planning to alone a very limited degree, (c) generally did not provide information about the developer of the site, (d) provided little evidence that assessment instruments contained in succession the site were validated for self-use, (e) provided limited confidentiality hinders and (f) contained no psychometric data or information about instrument increase Furthermore, Oliver and Zak (1999) indicated that the Webmasters or the organizations that were responsible for the sites did not readily correspond to requests for this kind of information.

As similar counselors recognize that many Web sites contain assessment instruments that are untest and have not been exposeed to critical review. Counselors recognize, too, that mostly Web-based career assessment instruments lack evidence of technical adequacy. level the pencil-and-paper instruments that have adequate technical properties may have different properties when they are adapted for use forward the Internet. Affective variables of the like kind as "computer phobia" and equipment variation from the same testing situation to another can have an drift on an individual's test performance (McKee & Levinson, 1990) Computer-linked factors (eg time limits, presentation of items, typing ability) can change the nature of the assessment task likewise dramatically that the same raise will no longer be measured (Hofer & fresh 1985; Moreland, 1992). The psychometric properties of the proof including its reliability, validity, and normative information might not be comparable between the conventional trial and its computerized versio n (McKee & Levinson, 1990; Moreland, 1992) If computerized testing does not allow the examinee to skip around or know the number of items being administered as a conventional paper-and-pencil ordeal does, then this is another factor that leads to nonequivalence between the brace versions of the test (Moreland, 1992) It is important for ordeal developers to consider these regards and to provide empirical evidence of the psychometric properties of the computerized version of the instrument when adapting a pencil-and-paper assessment instrument for use forward the Internet.

The National Council upon Measurement in Education (1995), in its digest of Professional Responsibilities in Educational Measurement (Section 32) indicateed that it is the professional responsibility of anyone who rares assessment instruments to "recommend and/or pick out assessments based on publicly available documented evidence of their technical quality and utility rather than upon unsubstantiated claims or statements" (p 4) Professionals who use computerized versions of examples must demand the same technical adequacy as they do for the conventional paper-andpencil version of the experiment (McKee & Levinson, 1990).

the same popular paper-and-pencil career assessment instrument that has been adapted for use forward the Internet is the Career fundamental note (CK Jones, 1997). The 1997 paper-and-pencil version is a revision of the original instrument (Jone 1987) is shorter and more compact, and is moveed free for noncommercial use. Users (a) rate the amplitude to which 24 statements regarding activities, abilities, values, and self-perceptions describe them; (b) rate the compass to which 42 occupations interest or attract them; (c) compendium their ratings to calculate their resemblance to each of the six Holland personality archetypes (Holland, 1985); (d) review the piece of works list to determine the couple or three personality types for which they receive the highest scores; and (e) pick out the jobs that interest them. Studies of the original version of the CK(Jone 1983 1987 1989 1990 1993) demonstrated that its psychometric characteristics were comparable to other instruments of its token Internal consistency reliabilities ranged from 64 to 79 for the CK s cales. Test-retest reliabilities ranged from 66 to 92 joint and equal validity was assessed by comparing the student's first literal meaning code on the CK with the first literal sense of their majors, resulting in a 40% hit rate.