Identifying circular references in Excel

I don't know about you, but every now an again, I manage to create a circular reference in Excel. Trying to get rid of one can do your head in.

We might have included the sum cell in a sum range. We might have a cell in our range that refers to another formula. We might have simply selected the wrong range, the wrong starting place or have a sneaky connection to another sheet.

However, it you can remember, when that annoying message pops up: there is an easier way, as follows:

1. Save the troublesome workbook
2. Create a copy
3. Go to the Formulas tab on the ribbon
4. Click the arrow next to Error Checking, on the dropdown, select Circular References
5. Side out to the first circular reference cell listed in slide out menu
6. Review that formula
7. If that does not remove the problem, tackle the next one on the list
8. Work through until the error stops
9. Save and close the workbook copy
10. Reopen the workbook copy and see if the error recurs
11. Make the same repair(s) to the original workbook.

Actually, I would recommend that, if there is more than one circular reference, that we tidy them all up while we are doing this.

I hope that works for you!


Sam

• Reference: Microsoft Support (2020). Remove or allow a circular reference. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/remove-or-allow-a-circular-reference-8540bd0f-6e97-4483-bcf7-1b49cd50d123

read more "Identifying circular references in Excel"

PC backups

Ah: repairs. We always need repairs. My 'new' PC fell over earlier this year, and - luckily - was repaired quickly by a friend with lots of hardware nous. The fan that came with the PC was far too small to deal with the heat. Simple: upgrade to a Swiss watch-style fan, and all is now ticketty boo.

I have always meticulously done backups, mirroring to an external HDD. However, I found a flaw in my back-up plans, when - post-repair - my friend suggested that we try dismounting the PC HDD and inserting my back up mirror. It sounded like a great idea.

Except when we tried it, it didn't work. Ah. After much to-ing and fro-ing, we discovered it was the fact that, although the PC would clone to an external HDD, it needed to be POWERED to be able to access the contents. That became a relatively easy fix: I bought a mains power plug and cable for my USB hub and now it works perfectly.

But it brings home to me the fact that not only do we need a back up, we need to rehearse how we will get that data back onto our system. We need to rehearse restoring from backup before the crisis so that we know it will work. At least now I know.

I also got a new piece of kit in the process. To back up my solid state HDD where I store my software, I am now using Seagate's DiscWizard to clone this drive. I love how QUICK it is, and how easy it is to use. The other piece of kit I use for my data files is FreeFileSync (here). This too runs quickly. My backups take less time than they used to each week: it used to be an all night process for my 4TB of data. I now run my backup procedure on a Tuesday night while watching a movie.

Whatever you do, rehearse a catastrophe. See if you can use your backups, before you need them in the wild.

And a last couple of points. Remember to store your backups off site. Not in your car: cars are more likely to be involved in an accident, get broken into, or be stolen more often than your office is! Schedule your backups regularly. Mine is in my diary. Time can slip by all too quickly, and once you realise that something horrible is going wrong, it will be too late. Even a day's work can be a flaming nuisance to have to redo, but a week's work will take a lot of weeks to recreate.

Keeping data safe takes planning. So plan :-D


Sam

read more "PC backups"

Stating the obvious

In the course of my work I provide students a lot of feedback on their writing, as they are pounding their projects into shape, ready for submission. Like that old song goes, "We have to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, and don't mess with Mister In-Between"...

I try to be very direct, clear and succinct in my feedback, but sometimes I too go around and around in circles in my efforts to clearly phrase my feedback to a student, so they know what they need to be doing, and what to stop doing.

Recently I was trying to say very clearly to a student that they were telling the reader the what the reader would already know; that they were insulting the reader's intelligence; that much of what they were saying needed to 'go without saying'!

I thought that SURELY there must be a short, concise way - one word, hopefully - to tell the student that they were stating the obvious. However, the phrase, stating the obvious, is negative. I wanted to provide the same feedback in a more constructive and positive manner.

In my search for an answer on the interweb, I ran across an interesting discussion, which proposed the following answers (had to laugh!):

• Call the person "Captain Obvious" (not really suitable for students!)
• We could tell who runs on that they were "verbiose" [sic], or indulging in "prolixity" or "logorrhoea" (none have the same meaning though: all are more about providing a torrent of words, verbal diarrhoea; and also negative)
• Say the student was "belaboring the obvious". Someone also suggested that using "belabour" on its own would work, and that meant "to redundantly or excessively state the obvious" (possible, but not quite what I was after, and still negative)
• Tell the student to be "less redundant and get straight to the point", but that doesn't really clearly convey that the student is stating the obvious
• And then someone suggested "self-evident". I thought that was a good idea, as it has positive connotations.

So I used that: that what they were saying was 'self-evident'. However, that phrase still does not quite give me a clear, crisp word for the act of 'stating the obvious'. There must be one.

I will keep searching.


Sam

References:

• Arlen, H. & Mercer, V. (1944). Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive. Capitol Records
• Yelton, J. (2011). Word for “stating the obvious?” https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/11087/word-for-stating-the-obvious

read more "Stating the obvious"

How we ask questions

The way one phrases a question can make a large difference to the answer one receives. I don't think we think enough about this, and it was brought home to me very clearly, when reading a really great book on psychometric testing (as one does!), by Brian Cripps (2017).

"There is an apocryphal story in market research about two priests who are discussing whether it is a sin to pray and smoke at the same time.

"The first says that he thinks it is a sin. The second thinks it is not.

"So they agree to go to their respective [bishops] to gain a higher opinion. When they meet again, the first priest says that his [bishop] regarded smoking while praying as a sin. The second said that his [bishop] was adamant that it was not a sin.

"So the second priest said to the first, ‘What did you ask your superior?’

"He replied, ‘I asked my superior if it was a sin to smoke when praying.’

"'Ah,’ said the second priest. ‘My superior said it was fine. But I asked, is it a sin to pray when smoking?'" (Cripps, 2013, p. 29)

This is a very good analogy for us to think about how questions are asked, either by ourselves in interviews, or by others when using assessment instruments.

Whenever we are considering using a career inventory with a client, we need to first read through the questions and consider which may derail our clients, which may cause problems, or which may cause cultural misunderstandings. Considering this as a first step is particularly important in New Zealand, as few tests have been normalised for our nation.

First working through the instrument will help us to highlight those cultural differences to help us more accurately debrief our clients, post-test... and we can be watchful for how questions have been asked, which may have affected how our clients have answered.

That should lead to better career decision-making.


Sam

• Reference: Cripps, B. (Ed.) (2017). Psychometric Testing: Critical perspectives. Wiley Blackwell.

read more "How we ask questions"

Paraphrasing enough

One copied source (Tanw, 2017)

In English we have a saying that 'copying is the sincerest form of flattery'. We teach artists to paint by copying the work of grand masters. We teach people to write by reading the work of others. But when it comes to turning in work for credit, we must acknowledge the work that we are drawing on, and be clear in showing where we have copied - by citing and quoting - and where we are drawing on ideas - by citing.

Appropriate paraphrasing and citations show the reader that we understand what our source author was trying to say, that we are growing our mastery of our subject.

Using TurnItIn is useful to help students improve their writing, to understand how using other's words from 'essence' - instead of from structure - helps them to (a) lower their similarity score, but also, over time, (b) makes them a better writer. Any work that is not appropriately cited will show up in coloured highlight. TurnItIn can help to make us a more honest writer, to show us where we have not sufficiently honoured the work of others.

The example below is from a piece of student work where elements were insufficiently rewritten from the source. TurnItIn finds the underpinning structure of the source material, then compares student work with it, and highlights areas where there is similarity. As you can see by the left-hand column in the table below, some of the material has been highlighted. The image accompanying this post shows one source element of the insufficiently paraphrased material that the student used.

Submitted student work (72 words)

Paraphrased (70 words)

As a young woman, Kate Sheppard founded the 'New Zealand Women's Christian Temperance Union' who in 1885, decided that the reforms concerning the wellbeing of women and children would be more applicable if women were able to vote and represent in Parliament (Malcolm, 2013). At a time when women were expected to just "bear and rear children and attend to the household affairs" (Grimshaw, 2013) Kate Sheppard, a wife and mother herself, ...

Founder of the "New Zealand Women's Christian Temperance Union", Kate Sheppard, decided that proposed women and children's well-being reforms currently before the 1885 Parliament needed to allow the adults concerned - women - to vote and to represent those interested parties in Government. As women were apparently expected to just "bear and rear children and to attend to the household affairs" (Grimshaw, 2013), Kate Sheppard, a wife and mother herself, ...

There are many benefits to using other authors' work responsibly, but I don't think we talk about them often enough. Those advantages include:

• Writing our own work gives us practice at writing, and the more practice we get, the better we get. Practice also means that if our eventual boss asks us to write something, we can write the way they would expect us to be able to, as a graduate.
• We improve our ability to think, to critique, to identify argument, to create argument, and to provide adequate evidence.
• We learn our subjects well, and hold on better to the knowledge because of the rehearsal and the work of thinking and writing. We also improve our vocabulary, phrasing, spelling, punctuation, and our ability to summarise.
• Our performance on tests will improve due to the rehearsal of writing.
• Our ability to debate will improve due to seeking argument and critiquing the writing of others.
• We can be absolutely honest, and not need to remember any 'alternative' facts. We lower our personal risk, as we don't have to be worried about being 'caught'.

As lecturers, we need to be clear in explaining why we should not copy, why there are benefits in learning to write for ourselves, and what those benefits are.


Sam

• Reference: Tanw, N. (25 March 2017). 1847. https://prezi.com/fidlmw1blojm/1847/

read more "Paraphrasing enough"

Types of Career Inventories

There are many types of career inventories, and for someone new to the field, the differences between them might seem rather esoteric or arcane. So I thought I would do a short post and quickly illustrate the differences.

Most of the following lend themselves to either a qualitative or a quantitative method, but some - such as aptitude tests - are largely, even solely, quantitative. In general, inventories are not considered qualitative assessments. However, some - such as interests and values - can be understood using a card sort, a narrative technique, or via interactive drawing therapy (IDT).

Aptitude: Aptitude tests are not often used in NZ, but they may sometimes be used to identify those who have the highest performance where there are limited places. IQ tests fit this category.

Skills: Skills tests are those such as TOSA (for Word, Excel etc), literacy, numeracy, or digital competence tests

Interest: Interest inventories are those which measure where our interests lie such as Holland codes/RIASEC and CareerQuest

Personality: Personality tests are those that measure the personality we have, such as HBDI, MBTI, DISC, Smalleys, etc.

Decision: Decision assessments are those that help clients to learn more about the way they think about their career choices and explore new ways of thinking about their decisions, such as the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI), or the Career Decision State Survey (CDSS)

Achievement: Our education qualifications, exams, etc. That we meet a certain standard of performance.

Values: Values inventories are those which measure our values, such as Work Values inventory, life values inventory, work and motives inventory.

I hope that helps!

Sam

References:

Osborn, D. S., & Zunker, V. G. (2016). Using Assessment Results for Career Development (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

DigiNole. (2020). Career State Inventory (CSI) as a Measure of Readiness for Career Decision Makinghttps://fsu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fsu%3A540931

Saunders, D. E. (2014). Using the Career Thoughts Inventory in Practice: Helping Clients Shift from Self-Doubt to Certainty. Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, 30(4), 101-114.

read more "Types of Career Inventories "

Free or low cost online textbooks

The cost of textbooks is not reducing: nor is the quality increasing. I recently assigned a text to a course from a large education publisher. When the text arrived, I was unpleasantly surprised by the low print quality, the poor paper stock quality and the lack of proofing (there were multiple errors). The book was also expensive, and took a very long time to arrive (although the delivery delay was largely due to Covid-19, it was complicated by the fact that the publisher had very little stock).

When we stop to consider that academics research and write the material while being paid by their - often government funded - tertiary institution, then they get a pittance from the publisher, the decrease in quality and the rise in price is rather alarming. I suspect that the increased margins are not ending up in academics' pockets.

It is also difficult to find a text which will work for an entire course, or which meets our course learning outcomes. Often texts may be too long, have too much cross-over with other courses, or have chapters which simply don't fit our context. At times it would be ideal to cherry pick a range of chapters from a range of authors - but this is usually either impossible due to copyright, or prohibitively expensive.

However, there are some alternatives. Firstly, we can go for free, downloadable pdf textbooks, such as those available at the Center for Open Education (2020), here. Expense is not a factor when cherry picking a range of chapters from a number of authors. While the list of authors and topics is limited, a good pick through can usually find most of the information you need if you are setting up a business course (there are not enough yet for career courses, sadly).

We might reasonably think that a free pdf text is worth the price we paid for it! However, what is really interesting about the free texts is the reasons why and how those books have ended up being listed. Steven Krause has a very interesting story to tell about how his text ended up being freely available, which you can read here (2007).

Secondly, there are also some texts which can be used if we pay a nominal fee at Flatworld Knowledge (2020), here.

We still have a tendency to assume that a single textbook will meet all our needs, without considering other options. Granted, other options might be more complex, but they also might reduce cost for us all.

And we might want to think about writing our own textbook, and making it freely - or reasonably - available, using one of these platforms :-)


Sam

References:

• Krause, S. (2007). The Process of Research Writing. http://www.stevendkrause.com/tprw/
• Center for Open Education (2020). Open Textbook Library search: Business. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/business
• Flatworld Knowledge (2020). Management & Organization Textbooks. https://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/catalog/disciplines/13/titles

read more "Free or low cost online textbooks"

Cell word count in Excel

Most of my assessments for teaching are turned in online, using Moodle. Some of them are turned in using online forums, which I then extract in an Excel sheet for marking, and for record keeping.

When extracted, each answer for each question is extracted into one Excel cell. I find that works out well for marking, and for storage. However, when it comes to giving a student feedback on how well they have done - or not - sometimes it is useful to get a word count.

I can't get that information on Moodle, and I couldn't work out how to do it in Excel. For a long while I would copy the contents of the cell into Word, and do a word count there. However, I figured that I SHOULD be able to do that in Excel and eventually found some time to go and look.

And I found this little piece of kit that does just that: it counts the words in a single Excel cell:

=IF(LEN(TRIM(A2))=0,0,LEN(TRIM(A2))-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",""))+1)

So easy (!) when you know how :-)


Sam

• Reference: Extend Office (16 July 2016). How To Count The Number Of Words In A Cell Or A Range Cells In Excel? https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/excel/933-excel-count-words.html

read more "Cell word count in Excel "

Career practice philosophies

Teaching career development to students is certainly an interesting role for a practitioner to have. I get so many very interesting questions from students, which spark fascinating discussions.

Recently I had a student who was tackling a textbook exercise where they were being asked about their client's career philosophy (Osborn & Zunker, 2016). The student responded with worry that they were not really clear as to what their own career philosophy was, let alone their client's one.

My response was that I felt that the student would already have a preferred way of working with their clients: that they would more than likely have a particular theory, set of theories or range of approaches which resonated with them... even though they may not have deliberately put a name to them yet.

It made me think about the fact that when we get a new client in our practice, we will note what language they use, what markers they give us, what behaviours they display, and what cues they provide. We will - cautiously - start to form a picture about how this new client may like to work, and therefore what tools and approaches that client will resonate with. As our experience grows as practitioners, we realise that some clients will want a quick fix, to be task focused: others will want to build an on-going, relationship-oriented conversation.

I then related a story to the student about an academic in Australia who was leading CEOs through an MBA programme. The colleague was trying to shift the student/CEO mindset, and decided to put the CEOs at the edge of their comfort zone by using a guided practice of meditation and yoga in order to create discussion (Sinclair, 2007).

What was very interesting was that this one act effectively lit the fuse on what became a bi-partisan rebellion and almost derailed the entire course. One group of students wanted facts, quantitative methods, to stay private, and to keep exploration superficial. They wanted THE answer, not enlightenment. The other group of students wanted to reflect, to be open to new experiences, wanted to explore their own views deeply. They wanted to be investigative, and ask many questions: they sought personal enlightenment.

All that had happened was a clash of philosophical approaches: but the clash was so powerful, so potentially derailing, that it sparked the academic to write a paper about the event. The approaches may be thought of as quantitative or qualitative; or we may think of these philosophies as being deconstructivist/ Socratic or constructivist; but I am not sure that initially we need the labels. What our way is is the useful thing to determine: who we are when we work with our clients.

Although initially we may not have names for what those client approaches are, by adding to our theory knowledge, we can learn to identify the grounding philosophies, and understand how that changes the way we approach our clients.

Getting familiar with the underpinning career theories helps us to improve our service by being more responsive. It should not narrow our approaches so much that we pigeonhole, and forget to be open to clearly hearing our client.

...and what was even more interesting - and utterly off topic - is that in the case above, the task-oriented group were men; the relationship-oriented group were women (Sinclair, 2007).


Sam

References:

• Sinclair, A. (2007). Teaching Leadership Critically to MBAs: Experiences From Heaven and Hell. Management Learning, 38(4), 548-472. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507607080579
• Osborn, D. S., & Zunker, V. G. (2016). Using Assessment Results for Career Development (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

read more "Career practice philosophies"

The comma

Who knew? There are SEVEN use categories for the comma. They are: the listing comma (twice); the joining comma; the gapping comma; the numeric comma; introductory clause comma; and the bracketing comma.

A superficial and highly simplified definition and example of each follows:

Non-restrictive comma (aka bracketing comma): This is where we use a pair of commas to "mark off a non-restrictive word, phrase, or clause which comments on the main clause or supplies additional information about it" (Waddington, 2014, p. 74; Brabazon, 2020). For example: 'I walked my dog, Finn, down the road.'

Comma splice (aka joining comma): this is where we run two unrelated phrases together, using a comma. Instead, we should use a semicolon or write two separate sentences (Waddington, 2014). For example, 'I walked my dog, I went to the local shop' becomes 'I walked my dog, and I went to the local shop.'

Introductory clause comma: Where a "sentence is introduced by an adverb, adverbial phrase, or subordinate clause, this is often separated from the main clause with a comma" (Waddington, 2014, p. 75). For example: 'However, I walked my dog to the shop every day.'

Adjective separating comma (aka qualitative or listing comma): this is where we SOMETIMES separate descriptive words in a list of descriptive terms. We do comma qualitative adjectives (Waddington, 2014). We don't comma words from different classification systems. For example: 'I walk my tall, rangy dog' versus 'I walk my red Boxer dog'.

Serial comma (also aka listing comma): This is where we add a comma to a list to separate each item for the reader (Waddington, 2014; Brabazon, 2020). For example: 'I walk my dog, cat, sheep, and horse' (however, I prefer to rework my sentences to use semicolons where possible as I feel they make the separations in a list much clearer).

Numeric comma: This is the comma we use as a 1000s separator in large numbers (Waddington, 2014). For example: 1,000,000.

Gapping comma: this is where we don't repeat words, but assume the reader will impute them. For example: "the PhD is the highest qualification and the associate certificate, the lowest" (Brabazon, 2020).

What I also find interesting is that in New Zealand we have adopted the US method of placing a comma after an "i.e." and an "e.g.". In the UK they don't (Waddington, 2014).


Sam

References:

• Brabazon, T. (10 April 2020). Vlog 212 - Comma. https://youtu.be/xDcBHILQbR4
• Waddingham, A. (Ed.) (2014). New Hart's Rules: The Oxford style guide (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

read more "The comma"

Some qualitative career assessments

Most career practitioners I know in New Zealand use a lot of 'non-standardised' assessments methods, which are more commonly known in this neck of the woods as qualitative assessment methods. I recently compiled a list of a few of these for my students, and thought it might be useful to share the list.

The items I included are:

Cognitive map: After completing a card sort, the practitioner creates a mind map from the clients process of deciding, and final placement of the cards, adding the title the client assigned to each group. The number of card groups is important. "According to Peterson and Lenz (1992), the median is between five and seven piles, which they state is a picture of occupational maturity. A person with [fewer] than five piles might need more specific information on the world of work, whereas a person with more than seven might need help integrating [their] knowledge" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 168).

Genogram or Vocational Family Tree: "the purpose is to gain a graphic picture of the client's career heritage [...]. What have family members done in the past? What themes are evident among gender, or other, factors? The counselor would work with the client to create a genogram, in the same way a genogram is normally created (start with either self or relative, indicating marriages, children, divorces, etc.). What gives a genogram a career emphasis is going back through the genogram and identifying each person's career. Many other options exist. For example, it might be interesting to note highest level of education achieved, career paths each took, any dominant values, stress-related illnesses, and so forth" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 178).

Career Collage: This activity uses client-chosen images from any source - this can be done by clipping and saving to a file on a device, or using hard copy magazines and pasting the chosen images onto a large sheet. It would be normal to start with a theme, such as "focus on a career decision we were considering at that point, [or] to create a picture of our present or future selves, our values", or to "think about [a] life in retrospect, and to find symbols that represented a life well lived" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 177). "By supplementing discussion with action and creative energy, you can help to get clients out of their heads and into the core constructs that make them who they are" (p. 178).

Five Lives: This activity is useful for starting career conversations, where the practitioner asks "If you were able to live five completely different lives, what would they be?" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 175). This should start a conversation about potential, "versus 'getting down to business' and staying focused in reality. This is important because [some clients may] dismiss aspirations that are actually quite within the realm of possibilities. This happens because of real or perceived barriers" (p. 175).

Ideal Day: For this activity the client has to be open to relaxation techniques, and to personal creativity. This is similar to the Five Lives activity, but with the practitioner taking a counselling approach and helping the client to relax and to imagine an an ideal day. The practitioner uses a scenario script to help the client to place themselves within and walk them through the day, with questions which prompts the client's imagination. A debrief takes place after the activity, where the client relates what this day was like for them (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 176).

Life Role Analysis: "Gysbers (2006) designed this assessment to help clients explore their expectations towards the different life roles they have played, are playing currently, and expect to play in the future" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 179). "Clients are instructed to draw three separate circles, to identify roles 5 years back, currently, and projecting 5 years into the future. Within each of those circles, clients draw smaller circles to represent the roles they are playing during those time periods, arranging the smaller circles to show relationships among the roles and importance as compared to the other roles" (p. 179).

My Career Chapter: "Mcilveen (2008) developed this writing tool as a narrative approach to use with clients, with an emphasis on self-reflection. Consisting of seven steps, clients are asked to respond to different prompts. Steps may include completing a matrix of personal influences versus environmental/societal influences, writing a manuscript in response to sentence completion stems, 'channeling' a self that is five years younger to act as an editor of the manuscript, and reviewing themes" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 179).

20 Things: This activity works where people are stuck in identifying skills or interests. "Clients are instructed to write down 20 things they like to do. They can list activities done at work; leisure activities, such as movies, parties, reading; or taking classes" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 180). Once the list is complete, clarifier codes are noted against to each item: T for additional training; R for risky; PL for planning; A for solo participation; P for being a group or partnership activity; a date for the last engagement in the item. Then the client stars their top five (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 180).

Other ideas: There is a superb book by Mary McMahon and Wendy Patton (2015) called "Ideas for Career Practitioners" which contains 48 chapters full of qualitative or constructivist career ideas. I strongly suggest that you obtain a copy as it is (a) context-rich for Oceania, (b) contains clear instructions from each of the practitioners who developed the exercises, and (c) details the time, the resources, and some suggested alternatives. This is a great piece of kit.

I hope some of these ideas assist :-)


Sam

References:

• McMahon, M. & Patton, W. (2015). Ideas for Career Practitioners: Celebrating excellence in career practice (2nd ed.). Australian Academic Press.
• Osborn, D. S., & Zunker, V. G. (2016). Using Assessment Results for Career Development (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

read more "Some qualitative career assessments"

Steps for a card sort

A card sort is a non-threatening, tactile way to encourage some participants to interact with a practitioner, to encourage them to sort their "thoughts about interests, skills, values, occupations, or other issues" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 163), or to take a broader perspective in considering their career development.

Osborn and Zunker (2016, p. 164) advise some "basic instructions for an occupational card sort", but the principles they outline could equally be used for a values sort, an interest sort or a skills sort. What Osborn and Zunker suggest is as follows (2016, p. 164):

1. "Clients are first instructed to sort the cards into three piles under the headings 'Would Not Choose', 'Would Choose', and 'No Opinion'. Other headers might range from ''Not like me at all' to 'Exactly like me', or from 'Extremely Important to me' to ''Not at all important'." Alternatively, we could get clients to create piles at their own discretion, then, during the debrief, question them on why each pile was in a certain place.
2. If there are any cards left over, they "are instructed to sort the remaining cards under each of the categories.
3. "Clients might be asked to go back through the three main piles to form subgroups within those piles, based on the client's reasoning. For example, clients would take the occupations in the 'Would Not Choose' category and identify why they rejected each occupation that was placed in that category. During the process, common themes for rejecting may begin to emerge.
4. "Together with the counselor, the client discusses the subgroups and looks for other themes, such as education, Holland type, prestige, gender typing, and so forth.
5. "Next steps are determined, which might include additional self-assessment or researching occupations".

This is quite a useful, generic process that we can consider with any card sort.

Sam

• Reference: Osborn, D. S., & Zunker, V. G. (2016). Using Assessment Results for Career Development (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

read more "Steps for a card sort"

Ethical factors in career development

When we undertake career work, we need to carefully consider what interventions we might be planning on using from an ethical standpoint. Sometimes it can be hard to remind ourselves of exactly what the client needs, or to be honest about realistically just how competent we are in delivering an instrument. Cutting corners can be tempting. Not wise, but tempting.

However, a good reminder about just ethical factors we need to consider when suggesting assessments to our clients:

Competence. As a "practitioner you agree that you will act within your own 'boundaries of competence' ' (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 45; CDANZ, 2016), and to "to become competent in an area or with an assessment, [we] must have training and supervised experience" (p.45). While this is difficult in a small nation like New Zealand, at the VERY minimum, we should follow the nine point approach to assessment that Osborn and Zunker propose in Chapter 1 (p. 3). The alternative is to recommend a licenced test provider.

Client Needs. "Any intervention that a practitioner selects should be based cm the client's characteristics, needs and the stated goals for counseling" (Osborn & Zunker, 2016, p. 45). We must carefully consider "a client's comfort/desire to engage in any intervention before recommending it" (p. 45). We must also consider the client's cultural and personal differences, and how that may affect test norms, including "understanding of age, gender, ability, race, ethnic group, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, linguistic background and other personal characteristics in order to provide appropriate assessment and diagnostic techniques" (p. 45). Further, we must consider what norms our chosen tests have which relate to our client: Osborn and Zunker mention the possibility of gender or 'heterosexist' biases potentially influencing or skewing results (p. 47).

Confidentiality. As practitioners we need to prove ourselves worthy of trust, and keep the client's results utterly confidential. We cannot, without the client's express permission, pass their test results onto another person. Where testing is being paid by one party for the benefit of another, it should be made clear that payment does not equal disclosure. The test results are the property of the person being tested. With minors, this becomes an more clouded matter of permission within the counselling arrangement, and should be discussed clearly before any testing takes place.

Orientation. This is where, according to Osborn and Zunker, we "follow the [7 point] model described in Chapter 2" (2016, p. 48, 20) and "both know why a certain assessment is being suggested", and have confirmed this with the client before the test goes ahead. Ensure that the client knows that they cannot "take one test that will tell them what they should be", and "determine that the client is emotionally and mentally able to complete" the chosen test (p. 48).

Technology. Tests, even though they are delivered almost entirely online, still need to "be used in a consultative manner between practitioner and client" (Osborn & Zunker 2016, p. 49), and be selected and thought through using the 7 point method (p. 20), then debriefed using the (a)-(i) nine step method (p. 22-23). Further, using one only test alone increases the possibility of error, skewed data, or a poor client-test fit to negatively affect the result. We must also ensure we don't put too much emphasis on results where we do not have independent third party evidence of test reliability and validity.

A good, simple reminder. Let's be ethical out there :-)


Sam

References:

• CDANZ (2016). Code of Ethics. http://www.cdanz.org.nz/uploads/CDANZ_CoE_Word%20English%20Final.pdf>
• Osborn, D. S., & Zunker, V. G. (2016). Using Assessment Results for Career Development (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

read more "Ethical factors in career development"