| This study was designed to explore individual differences based on vocational interest (measured by Holland's Self-Directed Search, 1994) that led to enrollment in professional Ph.D., Psy.D., or Masters level training programs in counseling and/or psychology. The hypothesis that students choose degree programs based upon individual differences in vocational personality was not supported. This was due, in part, to the finding that the large majority of students in all three degree programs were of social vocational personalities as measured by the high score of the Self-Directed Search. The hypothesis that students choose program emphasis (research or therapeutic) based on vocational personality was also not supported. This too may be due to the large percentage of social vocational personalities in all three training settings. The study found that doctoral students (Ph.D. and Psy.D.) were more aware than Masters students of their programs' research emphasis before entering the degree, however, the doctoral students were only moderately aware of the program emphasis. This investigation also found that 27% of the variance in degree choice could be accounted for by the students' intention to use research in their future professional work. This analysis also found that doctoral students are significantly more aware of their programs' training model when compared to Masters students. However, this result may be flawed due to the timing of the data collection and therefore should be interpreted very cautiously. The history of the Boulder model (scientist-practitioner), Vail model (practitioner-scholar), local clinical scientist model, and Masters training model (practitioner) is summarized. The study also explored Holland's vocational personality categories and analyzed the investigative and social personalities as they are found in these degree programs. Finally, the study recommends the employment of Gelso's suggestions (1979; Gelso & Lent, 2000) for improving Ph.D. training environments in order to encourage students to value research in their future professional work. |
