The incremental bias: Likert scale to measure career interest in RIASEC theory

Abstract

Surveys based on Likert scales continue to dominate research practice. The Likert scale is the most widely adopted scale in social science studies. There has been much debate about the use of a Likert scale (eg: is it classified as ordinal or interval data, response bias, response options). This study aims to prove the weakness of the Likert scale used to measure RIASEC career interest from Holland's theory. The number of participants was 1752 high school students. The RIASEC career interest instrument was developed based on the Likert scale. Statistical analysis uses correlation to prove the relationship between types of career interest. The results show a positive correlation between types of career interest. For example, conventional with artistic (r = 0.379), investigation with interpretation (r = 0.286). What's interesting is the correlation between R–S (r = 0.134), I–E (r = 0.286), and A–C (r = 0.379) is positive, the correlation should be negative because the relationship between the two is opposite.

Keywords

• Limitations
• Likert Scale
• Career Interest
• RIASEC

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