Research

Research

At Kuder, our world-renowned research team conducts ongoing, relevant research to ensure that our products are reliable and effective for today’s students and adults. View summaries of the various studies and read portions of white papers below. Click on the titles to read the full articles and papers.

• Kuder^® Career Planning System Technical Brief
• Kuder White Paper – The Value of Career Education: A Brief Summary
• Kuder White Paper - Career Assessment & Planning: A Collaborative Solution for Preparing America's Workforce
• Kuder Improves Academic Performance, Transitions, and Graduation in South Carolina
• Kuder Increases Career Exploration and Academic Planning
• Kuder’s Interest Assessment Helps Youth of Color in Poverty Select College Majors

Kuder^® Career Planning System Technical Brief

In April 2009, 735 students from six Sonoma County middle schools were surveyed in regards to their experiences in using the Kuder Career Planning System (KCPS) during the 2008-09 academic school year. This study measured the impact as it relates to:

1. A user’s educational goals
2. A user’s persistence in continuing to use the system as age increases
3. A comparative evaluation of a user’s assessment results to their career outcome

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Kuder White Paper - The Value of Career Education: A Brief Summary

The field of career development is strong nationally, but it has also gained international attention as the importance of offering reliable career education and planning services becomes apparent with the effects of globalization. A variety of studies have shed light on the positive impact that career interventions have had on students and adults, and with this research comes a better understanding of the questions that the following four sections of this paper will answer:

1. What are the critical components of effective career interventions?
2. What are the benefits of computer-based career guidance systems?
3. Why is career development necessary throughout the life span?
4. What are the practical implications of using such career systems?

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Kuder White Paper - Career Assessment & Planning: A Collaborative Solution for Preparing America's Workforce

America's Challenge: The United States faces a major dilemma in developing a highly trained workforce that keeps pace with today's fastest growing jobs. To create economic prosperity, students and adults currently in the workforce must prepare for careers that demand a higher skill level than a high school degree provides. Millions of workers today, however, face an uncertain future with little awareness of the opportunities and tools available to them.

Kuder's Solution: The nation’s workforce crisis requires a more coordinated approach to engage the unemployed, underemployed, and hard-to-reach populations in the career planning process. Kuder is at the forefront in offering a proactive response to the economic crisis facing the United States, and, through its products, promises to:

• Bring career awareness up to the level necessary to ensure youth and adults can make educated career choices that will advance the economy.
• Create a pipeline of individuals to pursue education programs required in high-growth industries.
• Better prepare and equip adults for the current and future workforce.
• Continuously evaluate Kuder products in order to provide relevant resources that meet the needs of every population.

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Kuder Improves Academic Performance, Transitions, and Graduation in South Carolina

In January 2008, a study conducted by Catalina D’Achiardi-Ressler, Ph.D., examined the impact that the Kuder Career Planning System (KCPS) has on students’ school performance, their ability to make career decisions, and their transition into higher education. Students from two technical colleges in South Carolina were randomly selected to participate in this study. This created a pool of nearly 2,000 participants, approximately half of whom were KCPS users.

Dr. D’Achiardi-Ressler’s hypotheses provided initial evidence that students using the KCPS, compared to non-KCPS users:

• Performed better in school.
• Transitioned to postsecondary education at a higher rate.
• Selected postsecondary majors related to their assessment scores.
• Changed their major, on average, less than one time, which suggests that students can graduate from college faster.

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Kuder Career Planning System Usage: Students’ Career Exploration & Academic Planning Behavior.

The researchers examined almost 6,000 student records from 29 schools in the Midwest using the Kuder Career Planning System (KCPS). Their study demonstrated that:

• Students who completed the assessment tools of the KCPS and those who logged into the system more often were likely to engage in more career exploration behavior.
• Students who started the interest and skills assessments, as well as those who logged into the system more frequently, were more likely to engage in academic planning activities .

This study represents an important contribution to vocational development literature which specifically examines the use of Computer-Assisted Career Guidance Systems (CACGS), such as the KCPS, and actual career exploration or academic planning behavior.

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Kuder’s Interest Assessment Helps Youth of Color in Poverty Select College Majors

A September 2008 study conducted by Matt Diemer, Ph.D., assistant professor of counseling at Michigan State University, examined how well vocational interests predict prospective college major specification among high school-aged youth of color in poverty. Dr. Diemer analyzed data from a sample of 1,930 minority high school juniors and seniors who attended schools in high-poverty communities and used the Kuder Career Planning System.

• The study’s findings support the use of interest inventories such as the Kuder^® Career Search with Person Match to inform college counseling professionals who work with marginalized youth.
• The study reveals that clarifying vocational interests is useful in helping youth connect their current vocational interests to prospective college majors.

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