Final Year Psychology Students’ Perceptions of Their Degree and Career Preferences

Abstract

In today’s world, the selection of job is not a decision that can be made instantly as every career field requires a person to be equipped with specific type of education that comes with its own experiences, skills, and personality traits that are good fit for the career. This paper aims to identify students’ perceptions of their degree and their career preferences. The participants consisted of one male and three female final year psychology students from International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The sample size was determined through purposive sampling of 53 final year psychology students. The participants were chosen based on the conscientiousness score they obtained from a screening test. This study employed instrumental case study design by using semi-structured questions to explore participants’ perceptions and opinions and obtain open-ended data. Interview sessions were conducted through Zoom Meeting to collect data and the approximate duration of each interview was around 15 to 30 minutes. The qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis in order to identify themes that reflect the textual data. The result showed that students’ perceptions of their degree characterized by the establishment of self-concept and personal growth, and students’ career preferences were influenced by their perceptions of their degree. 8 themes were identified namely, positive characteristics, negative characteristics, changes in behaviour and perception, applicable knowledge and skills, employability skills, relevant courses, psychology-related career, and human resources.