¶ … deductive and empirical strategies used in the construction of structured personality instruments, it is important to denote just what the terms deductive and empirical mean and how they relate to tests specific to psychological purposes. Empirical evidence is that which can be demonstrated or proven, and which ultimately exists in the world. Deductive reasoning is a form of logic wherein individuals establish a basic premise or truth, combine it with others for which there is empirical evidence to validate, and then draw conclusions. This type of reasoning determines conclusions based on a top-down approach to reasoning. These respective strategies, then, which frequently are applied in congruence with one another, are highly important for the makeup of structured personality tests. One may even posit the viewpoint that without such strategies, the results of personality instruments would be virtually useless or inconclusive at best.
Define and Describe Deductive
Therefore, when examining the deductive and empirical strategies for these instruments, it is pivotal to denote the fact that these strategies largely pertain to isolating and stratifying different aspects of an individual's personality. Specifically then, personality tests are constructed for various purposes, some of which, like the Big Five Factor Personality Model, may be of use in particular situations or yield certain insight such as which job candidates have a personality in congruence with a particular organization's company culture. Some standardized assessments used for psychological purposes are designed for certain populations (Kaplan, no date, p. 329). They also have different facets of personality that they attempt to categorize and gauge -- such as the Myers-Briggs Jungian Measures, which categorizes personality by factors such as extroversion, perceiving information, judging and external information.
In addition to being designed for particular applications and stratifying personality by a series of relevant factors, personality tests are constructed with various types of scales which aid in their deductive reasoning and empirical nature. There are typically primary and secondary and even tertiary scales, which involve a variety of formats for participant...
One of the most helpful aspects of the variation in scale is that on many tests, such as the 16PF-5, there are scales specifically designed to measure the worth of the test's validity (Strack et al., 2000, p. 376). The scales are comprised of a number of different items. It is also beneficial that on some personality tests there are multiple scores which provide a greater degree of detail and insight into a population's or an individual's score. These tests frequently have means and deviations, which enable the administrators to note significant data. Moreover, since these assessments are typically administered individually, they offer the opportunity for an administrator to "observe behavior in a standard situation" which may be "invaluable to an examiner who is trying to understand the unique attributes of a person and interpret the meaning of a test score" (Kaplan, no date, p.362).
Empirical Strategies for the Construction of Structured Personality Tests
A pivotal strategy for constructing empirically and deductively valid personality tests includes gauging its reliability. There are many ways of achieving this objective. One of the most trusted is to utilize samples from various segments of the population in order to gauge the "internal consistency" (Strack et al., 2000, p. 376) of the particular measure one is using. By assessing different types of individuals from different segments of a population, the exam administrators will be able to better adjudicate the reliability of the assessment instrument itself. It is also key to issue the test at different points in time to analyze its reliability. When utilizing specific populations for the purposes of reliability measurement, it is best to compare the demographics of that group vs. that of normative data regarding the population as a whole. Key factors to consider relating to reliability and population sample include gender and racial ethnicity, especially since these areas can induce bias in other standardized assessments based on aptitude (Suzuki et al., 2000, p. 491). Intelligence is one of the factors on numerous personality tests.
In terms of verifying the validity of personality tests, it is crucial to perform other studies on these tests…
