Item Responding in Personality Assessment: Should Ideal Point Methods be Considered for Scale Development and Scoring?

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2006

Keywords

personality measurement, test construction, item response theory, ideal point methods, personality assessment, scale development, scoring, item calibration, personnel section

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.1.25

Abstract

The present study investigated whether the assumptions of an ideal point response process, similar in spirit to Thurstone's work in the context of attitude measurement, can provide viable alternatives to the traditionally used dominance assumptions for personality item calibration and scoring. Item response theory methods were used to compare the fit of 2 ideal point and 2 dominance models with data from the 5th edition of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (S. Conn & M. L. Rieke, 1994). The authors' results indicate that ideal point models can provide as good or better fit to personality items than do dominance models because they can fit monotonically increasing item response functions but do not require this property. Several implications of these findings for personality measurement and personnel selection are described.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Journal of Applied Psychology, v. 91, issue 1, p. 25-39

Share

COinS