From Scores to Stories: A Pilot Evaluation of the Taking a Test is Telling Stories (TTTS) Narrative Feedback Procedure

Abstract

Standardized written interest feedback provides results efficiently but offers limited opportunity for clients to actively interpret and integrate them. The Taking a Test is Telling Stories (TTTS) procedure integrates principles of Life Design and Therapeutic Assessment into a two-step narrative approach that helps clients explore the motivations underlying their interests. This pilot-controlled study evaluated whether TTTS was associated with differences in high school students’ self-efficacy for self-appraisal. Thirty-one students were assigned to three conditions: TTTS (n = 11), written feedback (n = 10), and a delayed-feedback control group (n = 10). When all three conditions were compared simultaneously, the difference in post-test scores approached statistical significance, accounting for a moderate proportion of variance (η 2 p = .16). When TTTS was compared against the two comparison conditions combined, participants demonstrated significantly higher post-test self-efficacy scores (η 2 p = .18). Reliable improvement was observed in 54.5% of TTTS participants, versus 10% in both comparison conditions. These pilot findings suggest that TTTS may represent a promising approach to feedback delivery in career counseling, indicating that narrative-based collaborative feedback may support career self-efficacy more effectively than standardized written reports delivered without professional mediation.