The history and previous studies of the CogStyle instrument are available in a Series Two (lab report 2-5); Series Four (lab report 4-1) and Series Six (lab report 6-1) lab reports.
The core 30 item scale was created with one adjective and one 'action' selected to represent each of the six standard Holland vocational personality trait dimensions: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. For example, 'practical' and 'friendly' are adjectives used for the realistic and social dimensions; the corresponding actions are 'fixing things' and 'assisting people'.
Paired adjectives and then paired actions on each of the six dimensions are presented to the subject with instructions to choose the one which "fits you the best". There are thus 30 paired comparisons with a maximum score of 10 on each of the six dimensions.
Guide to Reports