Work Task Dimensions Underlying the World of Work: Research Results for Diverse Occupational Databases

This article reports new research supporting the two bipolar work task dimensions that underlie the World-of-Work Map (WWM) and Holland’s hexagon—working with data versus ideas (D/I) and working with things versus people (T/P). Three databases provided diverse perspectives on basic work tasks: (a) general nature of work (expert ratings for 1,122 occupations), (b) detailed nature of work (job analysis data for 1,573 occupations), and (c) interests of workers (mean interest scores for 640 career groups; total of 213,854 persons). Separate and combined database analyses supported the D/I and T/P dimensions. Across database pairs, correlations between D/I scores ranged from .75 to .78. Correlations between T/P scores ranged from .74 to .81. Because these correlations provide good support for the D/I and T/P work task dimensions, the scores were used to update and refine the WWM. Update procedures and use of the WWM in career planning are summarized.