Evaluating the processes and outcomes of vocational counselling: An action theory perspective

Abstract

In the context of current research in, and calls for, evidence-based practice, an action theory perspective is proposed for the evaluation of vocational counselling and other career guidance interventions. The proposition of an action theory perspective, which is based on the common understanding of human experience as being goal-directed, is made in light of several issues in the philosophy of science relevant to evaluation, including the role accorded common sense, the tension between evaluating processes and outcomes, how meaning is represented, how quality is judged, and the place of the intentionality of human agents. The specifics of this integrative approach for evaluation include the continuity of action, project, and career, as well as goals, functional steps, and behavioural and other elements that comprise them. These systems operate in vocational counselling itself, as well as in other systems of which counselling is a part. The research evidence on vocational counselling reflects the goal-directed processes that the perspective enunciates.