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Choosing An Accurate And Reliable
Personality Assessment
By Soni Pitts
Ever wondered why you always end up in the wrong job
or the worst relationships, even when they seemed so
promising going in? It can be especially confusing when
there doesn't really seem to be anything wrong with the
work or the other person, just that things never did
seem to take off or click. Well, maybe it's not the work
or your prospective partners - maybe you just don't have
a clear understanding of who you really are in the first
place - your personality type, your risk aversion
levels, your tendencies and the underlying assets,
preferences and issues in your make-up that you may not
be taking into consideration. But how do you go about
"finding yourself" without embarking on a navel-gazing
and soul-searching journey of epic proportions (which,
face it, few of us have the time for)?
One of the best places to start is personality
assessment. There are literally thousands of different
assessments available, often on the Internet where they
are either free (although often in an abbreviated form
from their full fee access) or at a reasonable charge. A
quality test can help you map your personality makeup as
a whole and perhaps tease out previously hidden factors
in your mindset or behavior that may affect your
decision making, your overall job and life satisfaction
in given situations and your choices.
There are many website and hard-published assessments
which can help you identify your strengths and
weaknesses, and where your personal gifts lay. However,
you have to pay attention and steer clear of
"recreational" assessments and quizzes if you are
looking for an accurate and predictive overview,
especially on the Internet. To be truly useful, a
personality assessment must meet three criteria:
It must be empirical and accurate
This means that the test is based on scientifically
designed questions that are proven to be predictive (by
having known personality types take the test, and
checking for correlation in the results).
It must be normed
This means that when the assessment results are
tabulated as a group, the number and pattern of
personality types it presents must be representative of
the general population who are likely to be taking the
test. This is done by testing a representative sample,
graphing the test results and then matching the results
against a scientifically predicted bell curve for that
particular population. Note that if an assessment is
designed for a specific, narrow population (such as law
enforcement cadets, engineers or abused women), it will
produce results that are skewed from the general
population norm, but which can be internally predictable
and normed within that narrowly defined group.
It must be reliable and consistent
This means that the test must return the overall same
pattern of results for the same person taking it
repeatedly, even if their answers differ slightly from
day to day due to normal moods and perceptions. This
also means that the greater the number of questions, the
more likely it is to be accurate (assuming it was
created by trained individuals). A large pool of
questions (from which the actual test is randomly
generated) allows a little "wriggle room" for slightly
different answers, plus allows for plenty of
"cross-check" questions which ask essentially the same
things, but from different perspectives and with
different wording. Often an assessment will be tested
for internal consistency by giving the same individuals
half of the test questions (say, all the odd numbered
questions). The test result is tabulate, and then the
other half of the questions is given and the results
compared. If both halves produce essentially identical
results, the test can be considered internally
consistent. There are innumerable "fun" tests out there, from "Are
you a good kisser?" to assessments designed to look
scientific but which, in effect, tell you what you want
to hear (along the lines of fake horoscopes and palm
readings at the fair) and only after you sign into their
"members-only results" area, as a means to procuring
your email address. Or they give you a free low-content,
vague and essentially useless answer, and then offer to
send you the full results if you sign up for their
product or course. Of course, there are several
respected and reliable assessment companies that also
offer a two-tiered membership approach (free scaled back
test, and membership-fee full service and content
version), so you need to be able to differentiate
between the two.
Many well-respected assessments, especially the popular
ones such as the MAPP (Motivational Appraisal of
Personal Potential), the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator or
the DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and
Conscientiousness) Profile, charge quite a bit for the
full service. But this is only fair, as they are the
result of literally years of research, proprietary
information gathering, intellectual property creation
and relentless testing, not to mention countless
man-hours of work. Also, many of these high-quality and
scientifically validated tests are so complicated, and
the results so open to misinterpretation by the
layperson, that in order to get the full benefit and
usefulness of the test it needs to be administered by,
and the results personally reviewed and discussed with,
a trained administrator.
The results you get from these fee-paid assessments are
generally worth the money, if you have it. If you don't,
you can still find several small or scaled back
assessments that give reasonably detailed and accurate
results for free, or for a nominal registration fee.
Another way to get a proper assessment on the cheap is
to take one offered in a book, either purchased or
loaned out from your local public library. Many
assessments can be found in hardcopy form and even if
they lack the depth of a professionally administered
version, they can be taken and the results studied and
interpreted at your leisure. Of course, as with the
Internet versions, you have to critically judge the
content and accuracy of any book-bound personality
assessment you take.
What you find out about yourself once you've competed a
few assessments may shock you. Or it may simply confirm
suspicions you've had all along. Either way, by actively
and consciously using the information you have gained,
you will stand a far better chance of creating and
maintaining a quality and style of living that works for
you rather than against you - and that's an assessment
we can all live with. |
