This section aims to provide you -- the practicing or future career counselor and researcher -- with background information on the theoretical foundation underlying the Making Better Career Decisions system. The information includes rationale and background research for MBCD, explanation of how MBCD can be incorporated into the counseling process, list of the aspects used in MBCD, list of references related to MBCD and MBCD's development sources.

Developers of MBCD
The Rationale Underlying MBCD
The Science and Art of MBCD
How MBCD can be Incorporated into the Counseling Process
MBCD Worksheet (includes the list of factors)
Background Research
Research Related to MBCD
I would like to try MBCD
The Solutions Adopted in MBCD to Overcome Problems with Computer Assisted Career Counseling

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Developers of MBCD
MBCD was developed by collaboration between research teams at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Oregon . It combines three scientific approaches. First, it incorporates psychological principles based on the research of Itamar Gati of Hebrew University . Gati developed the PIC Model for Career Decision Making: P rescreening, I n-depth exploration, and C hoice. This model is the rationale underlying MBCD. Second, MBCD utilizes the thirty plus years of research used to develop the Career Information System (CIS) at the University of Oregon . It incorporates economic, sociological, and psychological research to create a useful occupational database and set of factors. Finally, it utilizes knowledge of computer science and web page design gained at both universities to create an efficient, user-friendly product.

The Rationale Underlying MBCD
Background

• Decision-making models can serve as a theoretical framework for career decision making.
• Career decision making involves the processing and integration of large amounts of personal and professional information, but the individual's cognitive system can only process and remember a limited amount.
• In choice situations where the number of alternatives is large (e.g., when choosing a college major or an occupation), the decision-making process can be divided into 3 stages:
  • P rescreening, whose aim is to locate a small set of promising alternatives.
  • I n-depth exploration of each promising alternative, in order to verify its suitability.
  • C hoice, pinpointing the best career option.
• For more information on this 3-stage model -- the PIC model -- see Gati and Asher (2001a, 2001b).
• We recommend that the Prescreening stage use a Sequential-elimination process, which takes into consideration the career aspects that are important to the counselee (Gati, 1986; 1996).
• Computerized systems can contribute to this process, since they can provide not only information but also some features of counseling, based on a relevant theoretical framework (Gati, 1996).

Additional information may be found in the Relevant Research list.

MBCD's Goals

• Advancing the user's career decision-making by locating a small set of promising occupational alternatives on which he/she may focus and about which more detailed information can be collected.
• Increasing the user's readiness and motivation to make a career decision.
• Presenting a practical model of career decision making that can be implemented in future career (and other) decisions as well.

Target Population

• High-school students who are exploring future career-options after graduating from high school.
• Young adults who are studying or considering studying at a college or university and have to select a major or field of study.
• Graduates of colleges and universities who are wondering what kind of job they should be looking for.
• People interested in a career transition or a “second (or third) career”.
• Individuals interested in going through a systematic career decision-making process, even if they are not currently facing a career decision.

MBCD's Features

• The user interact with the system, which is divided into distinct stages corresponding to the career decision making stages (for example, reporting factor importance is separate from reporting within-factor preferences).
• MBCD includes 28 career factors (e.g., work values, areas of interest, preference for using abilities, work environment), making it possible to carry out a detailed comparison between the system's occupational database and the user's preferences.
• The individual's preferences within each factor include:
  • The optimal level; and
  • Additional levels that the individual regards as acceptable (and hence reflect the individual's willingness to compromise).
• Each occupation is characterized by a range of levels within each factor, to capture the within-occupation variance.
• Promising alternatives are located using the Sequential-Elimination model (Gati, 1986). The user is also given the option of using a compensatory model for this purpose.
• During the interaction, quality control is exercised over both the user's input and its effect on the search results. At each step, the system provides detailed feedback (for example, the number of alternatives that have been eliminated as a result of the reported preferences in the last factor) and recommendations when appropriate (for example, “we recommend that you consider compromising more on this factor”).
• The interaction is flexible and the users can change their responses at any point.
• MBCD has a built in “sensitivity analysis” module -- users can ask which occupations have been eliminated from their list of promising alternatives due to only one small discrepancy with the reported preferences (this is the “Occupations Almost on Your List” option).
• Other options allow the users to examine any occupation they wish in depth (including the options of “Why not”, “What if”, “Similar occupations”, “Occupational description”).
• At the end of the process the user receives a summary printout that will accompany him / her in further processing of the information and provide counseling and relevant information also for counselors.
• The user's preferences are kept in a personal portfolio for future reference.

Summary

MBCD is an Internet-based, interactive career decision-making system that is a unique combination of a career-information system, a decision-making support system, and an expert system, designed to help deliberating individuals make better career decisions.