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Oregon vocational interest scales (ORVIS)

The Oregon vocational interest scales, or ORVIS, are a questionnaire about what kinds of activity you would like to do, from making important things happen to repairing a machine[1]. This page prints the whole instrument as this site uses it: all of its statements, how they are scored, the licence it is used under and the paper that published it.

Measures
Leadership, Organization, Altruism, Creativity, Analysis, Production, Adventure, and Erudition
The statements
92
Licence
Public domain
Statements from
ipip.ori.org
Used on this site by
Career interest test

What it is

The ORVIS was published by the researchers Pozzebon, Visser, Ashton, Lee and Goldberg as a public-domain measure of vocational interests: an open alternative to the commercial inventories that people usually meet in career counselling. It belongs to the International Personality Item Pool, a collection of questionnaire statements that its authors have given to everyone.

Each statement is the end of a sentence that begins "I would like to", for example "Make important things happen". You say how much you would like it, from strongly dislike to strongly like. The statements belong to eight interest areas: leadership, organization, altruism, creativity, analysis, production, adventure and erudition. Each area has between ten and fourteen statements.

Scoring in plain words

Answers are numbers from one for strongly dislike to five for strongly like. All statements are worded in the same direction, so none of them is counted backwards. The score of an area is the average of the answers to its statements.

The average is used rather than the sum because the areas do not have the same number of statements: a sum would favour the areas with more of them, and an average lets the eight scores be set side by side. The list of statements below says which statements make up each area, and the scoring key under it repeats this area by area. The result is a ranking: the areas you liked most come first.

What it can and cannot tell you

A high score for an area says you would like the activities listed under it. It does not say you would be good at them, that a job in that area would suit you, or that a low score closes any door. Interests change with experience, and many people like activities from several areas.

Use the ranking as a way to notice what draws you and to start a conversation about work or study. It is not advice on which job to take.

Where you can try it here

The career interest test asks these statements and ranks the eight areas for you. How the site works out and words its results is described on the methodology page.

The questionnaire as we use it

The authors' instructions

Please rate the degree to which you like to do the following activities, using the following scale.

The statements

Each statement completes the words before it.

I would like to…

  1. Make important things happen
  2. Be the financial officer for a company
  3. Help others learn new ideas
  4. Create works of art
  5. Be a chemist
  6. Care for cattle or horses
  7. Be a professional athlete
  8. Be a translator or interpreter
  9. Lead other people
  10. Be an office manager
  11. Care for sick people
  12. Create new fashion designs
  13. Design a laboratory experiment
  14. Be a farmer
  15. Engage in exciting adventures
  16. Be a librarian
  17. Be a sales or marketing director
  18. Plan budgets
  19. Be an elementary-school teacher
  20. Be a professional dancer
  21. Be a mathematician
  22. Construct new buildings
  23. Survive in the wilderness
  24. Be a professor of English
  25. Be the chief executive of a large company
  26. Prepare financial contracts
  27. Be a social worker
  28. Write short stories or novels
  29. Explain scientific concepts to others
  30. Be a forest ranger
  31. Be a racing car driver
  32. Make up word puzzles
  33. Organize a political campaign
  34. Develop an office filing system
  35. Be a minister, priest, rabbi or other religious teacher
  36. Play an instrument in a symphony
  37. Be a physicist
  38. Cultivate plants
  39. Face physical danger
  40. Edit a newspaper
  41. Be the master of ceremonies at a meeting
  42. Supervise the work of others
  43. Counsel persons who need help
  44. Redecorate one’s house
  45. Carry out medical research
  46. Go on nature walks
  47. Be a military officer
  48. Know many languages
  49. Plan an advertising campaign
  50. Plan investment strategies
  51. Instruct parents on child care
  52. Select art works for a museum
  53. Be a scientific reporter
  54. Do woodworking
  55. Compete in athletic events
  56. Be a foreign correspondent
  57. Debate topics in a public meeting
  58. Establish time schedules
  59. Be a doctor or nurse
  60. Sing professionally
  61. Solve complex puzzles
  62. Raise flowers
  63. Be a bounty hunter
  64. Speak fluently on any subject
  65. Persuade others to change their views
  66. Monitor business expenses
  67. Be a physical therapist
  68. Be an actor or actress
  69. Develop a computer program
  70. Repair cars or trucks
  71. Be a long-distance bicycle rider
  72. Read many books
  73. Be a state governor or senator
  74. Be a purchasing agent
  75. Provide comfort and support to others
  76. Be an artist or architect
  77. Be a statistician
  78. Work with tools and machinery
  79. Be a police officer
  80. Keep a diary or journal
  81. Run for political office
  82. Keep track of a company’s inventory
  83. Participate in charity events
  84. Act in a play
  85. Design Internet web pages
  86. Make decisions that affect a lot of people
  87. Manage a computer data base
  88. Help people make career decisions
  89. Write songs
  90. Keep detailed records
  91. Be a counselor or therapist
  92. Paint or draw

Answers, from 1 to 5

  • 1 Strongly dislike
  • 2 Dislike
  • 3 Neutral
  • 4 Like
  • 5 Strongly like

How it is scored

  • Leadership: the average of statements 1, 9, 17, 25, 33, 41, 49, 57, 65, 73, 81, 86.
  • Organization: the average of statements 2, 10, 18, 26, 34, 42, 50, 58, 66, 74, 82, 87, 90.
  • Altruism: the average of statements 3, 11, 19, 27, 35, 43, 51, 59, 67, 75, 83, 88, 91.
  • Creativity: the average of statements 4, 12, 20, 28, 36, 44, 52, 60, 68, 76, 84, 85, 89, 92.
  • Analysis: the average of statements 5, 13, 21, 29, 37, 45, 53, 61, 69, 77.
  • Production: the average of statements 6, 14, 22, 30, 38, 46, 54, 62, 70, 78.
  • Adventure: the average of statements 7, 15, 23, 31, 39, 47, 55, 63, 71, 79.
  • Erudition: the average of statements 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80.

A statement marked R is counted backwards: an answer a counts as 6 minus a.

Licence

Public domain (International Personality Item Pool)

Because the IPIP has been placed in the public domain, permission has already been automatically granted for any person to use IPIP items, scales, and inventories for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial..

https://ipip.ori.org/newPermission.htm

Read at the source on October 1, 2026.

How to cite it

Pozzebon, J. A., Visser, B. A., Ashton, M. C., Lee, K., & Goldberg, L. R. (2010). Psychometric characteristics of a public-domain self-report measure of vocational interests: The Oregon Vocational Interest Scales. Journal of Personality Assessment, 92(2), 168-174. doi:10.1080/00223890903510431

Goldberg, L. R., Johnson, J. A., Eber, H. W., Hogan, R., Ashton, M. C., Cloninger, C. R., & Gough, H. G. (2006). The International Personality Item Pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(1), 84-96. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2005.08.007

Sources

  1. Pozzebon, J. A., Visser, B. A., Ashton, M. C., Lee, K., & Goldberg, L. R. (2010). Psychometric characteristics of a public-domain self-report measure of vocational interests: The Oregon Vocational Interest Scales. Journal of Personality Assessment, 92(2), 168-174.doi:10.1080/00223890903510431