Types of intelligence, personality types and their relationship with gender and career choice among first year undergraduate students in a selected public University, Kenya

Abstract

Training institutions all over the world place high premium on those who excel in examinations. In Kenya, students are admitted into available undergraduate degree programmes based on their performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination. Moreover, university admission requires that students should obtain a minimum grade of C+ which has been an impediment for a majority of students in choosing a career. Therefore, a substantial number of first year students end up revising their courses or settle for what is available, and this may lead to low career satisfaction levels being witnessed today. Moreover, limited research attention has been given to the importance of considering students’ unique intelligences and personality interests when placing them in the degree programmes. Therefore, the specific objectives of this study therefore were to establish types of intelligence among first-year undergraduate students across gender; to establish personality types across gender; to establish types of intelligence across career choice and to establish personality types across career choice. The study was guided by the Multiple Intelligence Theory (1983) and Holland’s Code Theory (1997). Ex-post facto and descriptive survey designs were adopted for the study. The study population was 490 first-years B.Ed students during the 2016/2017 academic year. The study sample consisted of 220 students selected through proportionate stratified sampling. Data were collected using modified Gardner’s multiple intelligence and Holland Questionnaire, Interview Schedule and Document Analysis Guide. The questionnaire was piloted using 10% of the study population. Research instruments were screened for content validity. Test-retest reliability indicated that the questionnaire was reliable (r=0.84). Qualitative data were transcribed and emerging themes reported. Quantitative data were analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. The study found that respondents can be classified into the nine intelligence types with interpersonal intelligence (n=34; 15.5%) being the dominant type followed by verbal linguistic intelligence (n=32, 14.5%). The least dominant was visual spatial (n=16; 7.3%). Males dominated in all types of intelligence except interpersonal, visual-linguistic and bodily-kinesthetic. The dominant personality type was social (n=40; 18.2%) with more males (n=24, 60%) possessing social personality type than females. The least was realistic type (n=30; 13.6%). Males outnumbered females in all personality types except artistic personality type where females were dominant. It was concluded that differences exist in specific types of intelligence and personality types across gender and career choice. The study recommends the findings for student appraisal to aid placement process, career guidance practices, knowledge and further research.