Self-Report Data (S-Data)
Information a person verbally reveals about themselves, often based on questionnaire or interview, is self-report data. Self-report data can be obtained through a variety of means, including interviews that pose questions to a person, periodic reports by
Unstructured vs Structured
Self-report can take a variety of forms, ranging from open-ended questions to forced-choice true or false questions. Sometimes these are referred to as unstructured (open-ended, such as 'tell me about the parties you like the most') and structured ('I lik
Likert Rating
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Experience Sampling
In experience sampling, people answer some questions, for example about their mood or physical symtoms , everyday ofr several weeks or longer. People are usually contacted eletronically ('beeped') one or more time a day at random intercals to completethe
Observer-Report Data (O-Data)
Observer-report data are the impressions and evaluations other make of a person whom they come into contact with. For every individual, there are dozens of observers who form such impressions. Observer-report methods capitalize on these resources and prov
Multiple Social Personalities
Each of us displays different sides of ourselves to different people - we may be kind to our friends, ruthless to our enemies, loving toward a spouse, and conflicted toward our parents. Our social personalities vary from one setting to another, depending
Naturalistic Observation
In naturalistic observation, observers witness and record events that occur in the normal course of the lives of their participant. For example, a child might be followed throughout an entire day, or an observer may record behavior in the home of the part
Test Data (T-Data)
A common source of personality-relevant information comes from standardized tests (T-Data). In these measures, participants are placed in a standardized testing situation to see if different people react or behave differently to an identical situation. Ta
Projective Techniques
In projective techniques, a person is presented with an ambiguous stimulus and is then asked to impose some order on the stimulus, such as asking them what they see in an inkblot. What the person sees is interpreted the reveal something about his or her p
Life-Outcome Data (L-Data)
Life-Outcome data, or L-Data, refers to information that con be gleaned from events, activities, and outsomes in a person's life that are availbale to public scrutiny. For example, marriages and devorces are a matter of public record. Personality psycholo
Reliability
Reliability is the degree to which an obtained measure represents the 'true' level of the trait being measured. For example, if a person has a 'true' IQ of 115, then a perfectly reliable measure of IQ will yield a score of 115 for that person. Moreover, a
Repeated Measurement
Repeated measurement is a way to estimate the reliability of a measure. There are different forms of repeated meaurement, and hence different versions of reliabiltiy. A common precedure is to repeat the same measurement over time, say at an interval of a
Historical Bias in personality tests
Some structured personality tests, such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), contain an unspecified number of items that refer to historical events in a person's life. Examples of such items are: "I have never been in trouble with th
Validity
Validity refers to the extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure. There are five types of validity: face validity, predictive validity, convergent validity, discriminat validity and contruct validity.
Face Validity
Face validity refers to whether a test, on the surface, appears to measure what it is supposed to measure. Face validity is probably the least important aspect of validity. In fact, some psychologists might argue that face validity refers to the assumptio
Predictive Validity
Predictive validity refers to whether a test predicts some criteria external to the test. Scales that successfully predict what they should predict have high predictive validity.
Convergent Validity
Convergent validity refers to whether a test correlates wtih other measures that it should correlate with. Convergent validity is high due to the degree that alternative measures of the same contruct correlate or converge with the target measure
Discriminant Validity
Discriminant validity is often evaluated simultaneously with convergent validity. Where as with convergent validity refers to what a measure should correlate with, discriminant validity refers to what a measure should not correlate with. The idea behind k
Construct Validity
Construct validity generally refers to whether a test measures what it claims to measure. It is often assessed by determining whether a test correlates with what it is supposed to correlate with, and does not correlate with what it is not supposed to corr
Theoretical Contruct
Most personality traits refer to contructs, or what Allport called convenient fictions. For example, if someone asks you to show them your level of extraversion, there is nothing you can produce. Extraversion is a convenient fiction, a theoretical constru
Generalizability
Generalizability refers to hte degree to which a measure retains its validity across different contexts, situations, and conditions. Greater generalizability is not always better; rather, what is important is to identify empirically the contexts in which
Experimental Methods
Experimental methods are typically used to determine causality - to find out whether one variable influences another variable. Experiments involve the manipulation of one variable (the independent variable) and random assignment of subjects to conditions
Manipulation in experiments
Researchers conducting experiements use manipulation in order to evaluate the influence of one variable (the manipulated or independent variable) on another (dependent variable)
Random Assignment
Random assignment in an ecperiment is assignment that is conducted randomly. If an experiment has manipulation between groups, random assignment of participants to experimental groups helps ensure that each group is equivalent
Counterbalancing
In some experiments, manipulation is within a single group. For example, participants might get a drug and have their memory tested, then later take a sugar pill and have their memory tested again. In this kind of experiment, equivalence is obtained by co
Statistical Significance
In research, if the obtained results are unlikely due to chance )probability being less than one out of twenty) then they are said to be statistically significant. Statistical significance is not the same as conceptual significance or importance.
Correlational Method
A correlation is a statistical procdure for determining whether there is a relationship between two variables. In correlational research designs, the researcher is attempting to directly identify the relationship between two or more variables, without imp
Correlation Coefficient
Researchers are interested in the direction (positive or negative) and the magnitude (size) of the correlation coefficient. Correlations around .10 are considered small; those around .30 are considered medium; and those around .50 or greater are considere
Directionality Problem
One reason why correlations can never prove causality is known as the directionality problem. If A and B are correlated, we do not know if A is the cause of B, or if B is the cause of A, or if some third unknown variable is causing both B and A.
Third Variable Problem
One reason why correlations can never prove causality is the third variable problem. It could be that two variables are correlated because some third, unknown variable is causing both.
Case Study Methods
In case studies, researcher examine the life of one person in particular depth. Case studies can give researchers insights into personality that can then be used to formulate a more general theory that is tested in a larger population. They can also provi