User:PariA11/sandbox

Article Evaluation 02/13/2018

Article Selection and References 03/01/2018

Erica, Kalie, and Andrea

Our group selected 'Personality Test' as the article we would like to improve upon.

We would like to pull information from the book about self versus observer reports and expand on existing information.

Reference: Individual Differences and Personality by Michael C. Ashton (3rd Addition)

The article lacks detailed information about personality use in the workplace.

Reference: Employment Personality Tests Decoded: Includes Samples and Practice Tests for Self-Assessment by Anne Hart and George Sheldon (2007)

Self- vs. Observer Reports
Combining the scores of a self-report as well as an observer report can reduce error, giving a more true depiction of the person being evaluated. Self- and observer reports tend to give very similar results, proving validity.

Self reports are more common.

There are several ways to have people answer questions of a personality test including but not limited to rating their personality on a scale, choosing yes or no, or giving a free response.

Likert style means participants answer through a given scale (1 being strongly disagree to 5 being strongly agree with 3 being neutral, for example). Bockenholt believed participants responded through a decision making process. This process included indifference, direction, and intensity. This was termed The Three Process Model. It is possible for people to give only extreme answers which might not be an accurate representation of their true personality traits. Psychologists have tried to find the underlying reasons why people respond with an extreme response style but have not successfully done so. Trying to pin point the style to groups with the same sex, gender, or race has fallen short. Studies that have tried to pin point the style to people with certain personality traits has also been looked at.

Having someone take a personality test is a relatively simple, quick, and effective way to gather information and make a conclusion of what someone's personality includes. ~

Test development
The existing information regarding empirical tests is vague and incomplete...add:

Empirical tests can take a great deal of time to construct, because the idea is that a trait level is measured by observation rather than pure logic. In order to ensure that the test is measuring what it is designed to measure, psychologists first collect data through self- or observer reports, ideally from a large number of participants. The theory is that trait levels can be determined by examining how observed evidence relates with some other variable that is believed to be indicative of said trait. For example, if the goal is to asses an individual's level of aggression, a researcher will have to construct relationships between observed information and aggression itself. PariA11 ( talk ) 23:58, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

Direct Observation Reports
Direct observation reports are when a second party directly observes someone. The second party watches how someone behaves in certain situations to note how they respond, therefore, revealing that person's personality traits. This observation can take place in a natural or artificial setting. This method can be used for multiple reasons, one being narrowing down prospects for a job. For example, a hiring panel conducts a secret interview by inviting job applicants in and putting them in a particular situation to see how they react. This produces genuine reactions, more so than just asking the person directly how they think they would react in the same situation. Down sides to direct observation reports include the trait needing to one that is observable (sociability is easier to notice than say sincerity) as well as being very time consuming and likely expensive. ~

Personality Tests in the Work Place
Personality tests can reveal a lot about how a person acts and will react to certain things. When used in the workplace, they can predict whether an employee will be loyal when presented with certain tasks. Taking traits from the Big Five, if a person is high in conscientiousness he or she will be less likely to commit acts of crime such as stealing money or destroying property. People who are high in conscientiousness understand that there will be consequences for such crimes so they are less likely to commit them. Likewise, people who are higher in agreeableness tend to be less likely to fight or argue with others. However, personality tests can't always tell when someone will do good or bad. There's always the chance that people may fake on the test by not telling the whole truth about themselves in order to look better to the employer. Another downside of having personality tests done in the workplace is that some of the tests can get rather expensive. However, standardized personality tests are normally fairly cheap and they can't hurt anything to try. ~ Eh982 (talk) 20:53, 6 April 2018 (UTC)

Test Evaluation
For a test to be successful, users need to be sure that the test is measuring what it claims to be measuring and that the results can be replicated.

Reliability, in this sense, refers to a degree of confidence in test scores that if any user were to repeat the test, his or her score would be very similar to the results from the test that the user had originally received. Test validity can be judged as the degree to which test scores relate to evidence of their claims. PariA11 (talk) 05:29, 7 April 2018 (UTC)