Career Exploration Survey – CES
Measures career exploration behaviors, beliefs, and reactions across multiple dimensions including self-exploration, environmental exploration, and decisional stress.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Career Exploration Survey – CES was developed by Stephen A. Stumpf, Stephen M. Colarelli, Karen Hartman (1983). It is designed to measure Career exploration behaviors, beliefs, and reactions. The scale is intended for use with College students and adults undergoing career transitions.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 57 items organized into 12 factors/subscales: Information, Satisfaction with Information, Decision-Making Certainty, Environmental Exploration, Self-Exploration, Employment Outlook, Certainty of Outcomes, Intended Systematic Exploration, Self-Assessment Probability, Information Search Probability, Goal Importance, Decisional Stress.
| Factor / Subscale | Items | N |
|---|---|---|
| Information | 1,2,3 | 3 |
| Satisfaction with Information | 4,5,6,7,8,9 | 6 |
| Decision-Making Certainty | 10,11,12,13,14 | 5 |
| Environmental Exploration | 15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 | 9 |
| Self-Exploration | 24,25,26,27,28 | 5 |
| Employment Outlook | 29,30,31 | 3 |
| Certainty of Outcomes | 32,33,34 | 3 |
| Intended Systematic Exploration | 35,36,37,38 | 4 |
| Self-Assessment Probability | 39,40,41,42 | 4 |
| Information Search Probability | 43,44,45 | 3 |
| Goal Importance | 46,47,48,49,50 | 5 |
| Decisional Stress | 51,52,53,54,55,56,57 | 7 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = Little / Not satisfied / Not too sure / Not good / Not certain / Not Important / Insignificant, 2 = Somewhat / Low / Low probability, 3 = Moderate amount / Moderate probability / About equal, 4 = Substantial amount / High / High probability, 5 = Great deal / Very satisfied / Very sure / Very good / 100% certain / Very Important / Most significant.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 1 to 5. Interpretation guidelines:
- Low level of the dimension: 1 – 2
- Moderate level of the dimension: 3 – 3
- High level of the dimension: 4 – 5
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Cronbach's alpha ranges from .70 to .90 for the various subscales.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.