TASK 1 – WHO ARE YOU?
ASHTON, CHAPTER 1.3: METHODS OF MEASUREMENT: SELF- AND OBSERVER
REPORTS, DIRECT OBSERVATIONS, BIODATA
1.3.1. SELF REPORTS
• Most widely used method of measuring personality
• Ask the person a series of questions about his/her actions, thoughts and feelings in various
situations
o Inferring that individual’s personality on the basis of the responses
• Measurements are ‘structured’ or ‘objective’:
o Every person is asked the same set of questions
o There is a fixed set of response alternatives for every question
• Can make meaningful comparisons of the responses the different persons provide
• Usually provides a fairly accurate measurement and does so cheaply and effectively
• Accuracy of self-report depends on assumptions:
1. People generally know their behaviors, thoughts, feelings fairly well
2. People are willing (at least under some circumstances) to report those behaviors,
thoughts and feelings
• Sometimes they involve an overall rating of the individual’s level of a personality trait (Self-Ratings)
o Ie. Rate his/her own level of impulsivity
Advantages SELF RATING Disadvantages SELF RATING
• Advantageous compared to other self- • People may differ in their understandings of
reports, since the rating is a more direct which behaviors, thoughts, and feelings
indication of the trait would indicate an individual’s level of a
given trait
1.3.2 OBSERVER REPORTS
• Analogous to self-report, but instead of asking the individual about their own behaviors, thoughts,
feelings, it involves asking someone else for that information
Advantages Disadvantages
• An individual’s personality might in some • People who know the individual very well
cases be judged more objectively by may be inclined to present a good
someone who actually observes that impression of the candidate
individual from the outside
• Even the other people who know the
individual well do not know that person
, quite as well as the individual knows
themselves
1.3.3 DIRECT OBSERVATIONS
• To observe a person’s behavior directly
• Possible to measure that trait by observing the frequency or intensity with which the individual
performs those behaviors
• Observations may be made by observing in their natural habitat OR in an artificial lab setting
• This method has been used in personnel selection
o WWII: the Office of Strategic Services used direct observations to assess personality when
selecting secret agents
Advantages Disadvantages
• Potentially very informative, as by definition • Requires a lot of time and effort to use,
it involves observation of people’s behavior thus very expensive
• Very large undertaking if you wish to
measure many different traits / many
different individuals`
• Even for a single trait it may be necessary
to observe each individual over a wide
variety of situations and on many
occasions to ensure a reliable
measurement
• Direct observation very difficult on large
scale
1.3.4 BIODATA (LIFE OUTCOME DATA)
• To obtain some records of the person’s life that seem likely to be relevant to an individual’s
personality
o ie. Cell phone talking time as indication of sociability
Advantages Disadvantages
• Often represent important outcomes in a • Not always clear that a particular piece of
person’s life information about an individual’s life is
really an accurate indication of their level
of the personality trait assessed
• Objective indicators of behavior rather than • A particular outcome may be influenced by
merely reports other traits / by a variety of circumstances
unrelated to the personality
1.3.5 COMPARING THE METHODS OF MEASUREMENT
• There are strong correlations between self-report and observer-report measurements and strong
correlations between observer-report measurements and personality characteristics as provided by
2 observers
, • Self-report and observer-report measurements show good convergent validity with regard to direct
observations of behavior and biodata
• Self and observer-reports are widely used because…
o Provide extremely quick, cheap, efficient methods of measuring a wide array of traits, with
generally good levels of reliability and validity
o Provide better measures for personality overall because of the extreme difficulty of
obtaining enough direct observations of individuals across a variety of situations and a
variety of behaviors
MEASURING PERSONALITY CONSTRUCTS: THE ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES OF SELF-REPORTS, INFORMANT REPORTS AND BEHAVIOURAL
ASSESSMENTS – MCDONALD
Construct validity – the accuracy of a measurement of the theoretical concept (how well a measurement
tool measures the construct it should measure)
INTRODUCTION
• It is important to ensure that theoretical constructs are measured in a convincing and valid way
• Abstract personality constructs can only be accepted and made more concrete if the validity of the
methods used to measure them can be ascertained
• Determining the best methods of measuring personality constructs is one of the most prominent
issues in personality psychology
• Value of several measures discussed:
o Self reports
o Informant / observer reports
o Behavioral measures
1) SELF-REPORTS
• Asking people directly for information relating to a particular construct
• 98% of the studies assessing personality traits in Journal of Research of Personality (2003) used self
report studies, and 70% of these ONLY used self report
• Big Five traits – Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness
o Can be directly assessed through personality questionnaires such as NEOPIR – measures
the 5 factors
• Do we have enough self-knowledge to be able to report on our personalities?
o Self reports are built on the assumption that we do
o Kagan (1988): people DO NOT possess this self awareness
o Before the emphasis of factor derived traits, projective or indirect tests were used rather
than self report – because of the notion that individuals could not accurately provide self
information
ASHTON, CHAPTER 1.3: METHODS OF MEASUREMENT: SELF- AND OBSERVER
REPORTS, DIRECT OBSERVATIONS, BIODATA
1.3.1. SELF REPORTS
• Most widely used method of measuring personality
• Ask the person a series of questions about his/her actions, thoughts and feelings in various
situations
o Inferring that individual’s personality on the basis of the responses
• Measurements are ‘structured’ or ‘objective’:
o Every person is asked the same set of questions
o There is a fixed set of response alternatives for every question
• Can make meaningful comparisons of the responses the different persons provide
• Usually provides a fairly accurate measurement and does so cheaply and effectively
• Accuracy of self-report depends on assumptions:
1. People generally know their behaviors, thoughts, feelings fairly well
2. People are willing (at least under some circumstances) to report those behaviors,
thoughts and feelings
• Sometimes they involve an overall rating of the individual’s level of a personality trait (Self-Ratings)
o Ie. Rate his/her own level of impulsivity
Advantages SELF RATING Disadvantages SELF RATING
• Advantageous compared to other self- • People may differ in their understandings of
reports, since the rating is a more direct which behaviors, thoughts, and feelings
indication of the trait would indicate an individual’s level of a
given trait
1.3.2 OBSERVER REPORTS
• Analogous to self-report, but instead of asking the individual about their own behaviors, thoughts,
feelings, it involves asking someone else for that information
Advantages Disadvantages
• An individual’s personality might in some • People who know the individual very well
cases be judged more objectively by may be inclined to present a good
someone who actually observes that impression of the candidate
individual from the outside
• Even the other people who know the
individual well do not know that person
, quite as well as the individual knows
themselves
1.3.3 DIRECT OBSERVATIONS
• To observe a person’s behavior directly
• Possible to measure that trait by observing the frequency or intensity with which the individual
performs those behaviors
• Observations may be made by observing in their natural habitat OR in an artificial lab setting
• This method has been used in personnel selection
o WWII: the Office of Strategic Services used direct observations to assess personality when
selecting secret agents
Advantages Disadvantages
• Potentially very informative, as by definition • Requires a lot of time and effort to use,
it involves observation of people’s behavior thus very expensive
• Very large undertaking if you wish to
measure many different traits / many
different individuals`
• Even for a single trait it may be necessary
to observe each individual over a wide
variety of situations and on many
occasions to ensure a reliable
measurement
• Direct observation very difficult on large
scale
1.3.4 BIODATA (LIFE OUTCOME DATA)
• To obtain some records of the person’s life that seem likely to be relevant to an individual’s
personality
o ie. Cell phone talking time as indication of sociability
Advantages Disadvantages
• Often represent important outcomes in a • Not always clear that a particular piece of
person’s life information about an individual’s life is
really an accurate indication of their level
of the personality trait assessed
• Objective indicators of behavior rather than • A particular outcome may be influenced by
merely reports other traits / by a variety of circumstances
unrelated to the personality
1.3.5 COMPARING THE METHODS OF MEASUREMENT
• There are strong correlations between self-report and observer-report measurements and strong
correlations between observer-report measurements and personality characteristics as provided by
2 observers
, • Self-report and observer-report measurements show good convergent validity with regard to direct
observations of behavior and biodata
• Self and observer-reports are widely used because…
o Provide extremely quick, cheap, efficient methods of measuring a wide array of traits, with
generally good levels of reliability and validity
o Provide better measures for personality overall because of the extreme difficulty of
obtaining enough direct observations of individuals across a variety of situations and a
variety of behaviors
MEASURING PERSONALITY CONSTRUCTS: THE ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES OF SELF-REPORTS, INFORMANT REPORTS AND BEHAVIOURAL
ASSESSMENTS – MCDONALD
Construct validity – the accuracy of a measurement of the theoretical concept (how well a measurement
tool measures the construct it should measure)
INTRODUCTION
• It is important to ensure that theoretical constructs are measured in a convincing and valid way
• Abstract personality constructs can only be accepted and made more concrete if the validity of the
methods used to measure them can be ascertained
• Determining the best methods of measuring personality constructs is one of the most prominent
issues in personality psychology
• Value of several measures discussed:
o Self reports
o Informant / observer reports
o Behavioral measures
1) SELF-REPORTS
• Asking people directly for information relating to a particular construct
• 98% of the studies assessing personality traits in Journal of Research of Personality (2003) used self
report studies, and 70% of these ONLY used self report
• Big Five traits – Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness
o Can be directly assessed through personality questionnaires such as NEOPIR – measures
the 5 factors
• Do we have enough self-knowledge to be able to report on our personalities?
o Self reports are built on the assumption that we do
o Kagan (1988): people DO NOT possess this self awareness
o Before the emphasis of factor derived traits, projective or indirect tests were used rather
than self report – because of the notion that individuals could not accurately provide self
information
