The Big Five Inventory - University of California, Berkeley

The Big Five Inventory (BFI) is a self-report inventory designed to measure ... However, given that the entire BFI consists of only 44 very short ... Contact Measures Research People Home TheBigFive Inventory Frequently AskedQuestions   TheBigFiveInventory(BFI)isaself-reportinventory designedtomeasuretheBigFivedimensions.Itisquitebrief foramultidimensionalpersonalityinventory(44itemstotal), andconsistsofshortphraseswithrelativelyaccessible vocabulary.   IstheBigFiveInventory(BFI)inthepublicdomain andavailableforuse? IholdthecopyrighttotheBFIanditisnotin thepublicdomainperse.However,itisfreelyavailablefor researcherstousefor non-commercialresearchpurposes. Pleasekeepus postedonyourfindings.   WheredoIgettheBigFiveInventory(BFI)? IfyouareinterestedintakingtheBFIyourself,pleasevisitthiswebsite,whereyoucantakeanonlineversionofthescalethatgivesyouinstantfeedback.   IfyouareinterestedinusingtheBFIforcommercialpurposes,[email protected],theBFIisfornon-commercialusesonly.   IfyouareinterestedinusingtheBFIforresearchpurposes,pleaseclick[here], whichwilldirectyoutotheBFIdownloadpage.Wearetryingtocreate adatabaseforBFIusersofpublications,relevantfindings,and translationsoftheBFIinanefforttomakethescalemoreusefulfor users.Thus,beforedownloadingacopyoftheBFIandthescoring instructions,pleasecompleteashortsurveytoletusknowalittle moreaboutwhoyouareandwhyyouwanttousethemeasure.All informationwillbekeptstrictlyconfidential.   HowshouldIreferencetheBFI? Youshouldreferencethesearticlein manuscriptsusingtheBFI:   (1)John,O.P.,Naumann, L.P.,&Soto,C.J.(2008).ParadigmShifttotheIntegrative Big-FiveTraitTaxonomy:History,Measurement,andConceptual Issues.InO.P.John,R.W.Robins,&L.A.Pervin(Eds.), Handbookofpersonality:Theoryandresearch(pp.114-158).New York,NY:GuilfordPress. (2) John,O.P.,Donahue,E.M.,&Kentle,R.L.(1991).TheBigFive Inventory--Versions4aand54.Berkeley,CA:Universityof California,Berkeley,InstituteofPersonalityandSocialResearch. (3) Benet-Martinez,V.,& John,O.P.(1998). LosCincoGrandesacrossculturesand ethnicgroups:MultitraitmultimethodanalysesoftheBigFivein SpanishandEnglish. JournalofPersonalityandSocial Psychology,75,729-750.   HowdoIscorethe BFI? ScoringinstructionsandSPSS syntaxaredownloadablefromthiswebsiteaftercompletingthesurvey.   AretherenormsfortheBFI?There isnoofficialBFImanualwithpublishednorms.However,thefollowing papercontainsmeansfromage20toage60.Youmightwanttolookat it(downloadhere) foranAmericansample;scoreswereconvertedtoPOMP(percentageof maximumpossible)metricandgraphedbygenderandageforeachBig Fivedimension. Srivastava,S.,John,O.P.,Gosling,S.D.,&Potter,J.(2003). Developmentofpersonalityinearlyandmiddleadulthood:Setlike plasterorpersistentchange?JournalofPersonalityandSocial Psychology,84,1041-1053   Isthereashorterversion oftheBFI available? Yes,thereisanabbreviated11-item versionavailablehere.However, giventhattheentireBFIconsistsofonly44veryshortphrases andtakesonly5minutestocomplete,wedonotrecommendusing theshort11-itemversionunlessthereareexceptional circumstances.   Isthereaversionwith languageappropriateforchildren? Yes,thereisaversionof theBFIwhereitemswithwordingdifficultforchildrenhave beenmodified. Thisversionhasalsobeenadaptedsothat parentsmayfillitoutfortheirchildren.Bothversionsareavailableaftercompletingthesurvey.   IstheBFI availableinotherlanguages? Yes,theBFIhasbeentranslatedintothefollowinglanguages:   Chinese Dutch German(BFI-10only) English Hebrew Italian Lithuanian Portugese Spanish Swedish   CanItranslatetheBFIsothatImayuse itforresearchpurposes? IfyoutranslatetheBFI, anexpertbilingual(someonewhoisAmericanorhaslived intheU.S.A.)shouldperform back-translationprocedureswithyournewly-translatedversion. Inotherwords,afteryouhavetranslatedtheBFIinto the newlanguage,anexpertbilingual shouldtranslateitbackintoEnglish.Next, youshouldcomparethatback-translatedEnglishversion totheoriginalEnglishversionoftheBFI. Pleasesendusa copyoftheversionthatyouaregoing tousesothatwemayaddittoour collection.   Finally, it'smuchmoreimportanttocapturethe*totalmeaning*oftheitem thantotranslateanyofitspartsliterally.Forexample,the translationof"calm"intoGermanoftencomesoutas"ruhig"butthat couldbeN-aswellasE-(asinstill,quiet--eveninEnglish,"calm waters"arestillandquiet,too!).So,anNitemthathascalmasa partisbettertranslatedintoGermanusingthenegation"nicht nervoes"thanthemoreliteraltranslation"ruhig".   WhyaretheremultipledescriptorsforsomeBFIitems? For severalitems,suchas"beingrelaxed,handlesstresswell,thetypical understandingwouldbethatthesecondphraseprovidesanelaboration ofthefirstconcept,soitsunderstoodas"beingrelaxed,inthesense ofbeinggoodathandlingstress".Specifically,"relaxed"istypically alow-Neuroticismitemandmeans"notanxious,noteasilyupsetor stressedout."Butsomepeoplemightmisunderstand"relaxed"tomean "easy-going,havingfun"whichwouldbeanhigh-Extraversionitem. Thus,toruleoutthismisinterpretation,weuse"handlesstresswell" toelaboratewhatwemeanby"beingrelaxed".   Howdoyouhandlemissingitems? Therearedifferentapproachesintheliterature,varyingin complexity.Ifalotofitemresponsesaremissing,youmaynotwantto usethatperson'sscores.Withonlyafewresponsesmissing(6or less),Itrytouseeithertheresponsetotheclosestsynonym (similar)itemorIcomputethescalescore(asanaverageitem response)withoutthemissingitem(s)andthenusethatscore(rounded toaninteger)asthesubstituteitemscore(whenyoudothat,be carefulnottogetconfusedwithreverseitems). GiventhefactthatitisafiveptLikertscale,thereareboundtobe somemiddle(3)responsesgiven,especiallyifparticipantsbecome fatigued.Howdoyouhandlethese3responses?Aretheydiscarded?Or aretheycountedtowardthetotalscore? Ialmostalwayspermitmiddleresponses(3)--whenresearchparticipants arereasonablymotivated,theyuse"3"whenappropriate--onsomeitems, peoplearejust"inthemiddle."Thesescoresgetsimplyaddedintothe overallscore.Remember,thisistrulyadimensionalresponsescale, nota"trueorfalse"questionnaire!Infact,onsomeitems,responding "3"isactuallyverydiagnostic;forexample,responding"3"the reverseAgreeablenessitem"Startsquarrelswithothers"meansthe participantisadmittingtoconsiderabledisagreeableness(themajority ofindividualsanswer2oreven1).So,unlesstherearelotsof3 responses,Iwouldnotworryaboutit. Has anyoneusedthescalewithoutresponse3(neitheragreeordisagree)? i.e.useonlytheremaining4itemscaletoforcerespondentstochoose ananswer?Havetherebeenanypsychometricsdoneonthis?Youare implyingthatyouwillgivetheBFIinaninterviewformat--willyou? Ifso,youcouldgiveaninstructionthatsays"first,considerwhether youagreewiththisitem,ordisagree--chooseoneway.”Thenhavethem rate*howmuch*theyagree(stronglyoralittle)ordisagree(strongly oralittle).Andtellthemthattheyshould/canrespond"neitheragree nordisagree,rightinthemiddle"onlyinthoserareinstanceswhen theyarereallyrightinthemiddle. IftheBFIisself-administered,inthatparticipantsreadtheitemsby themselvesandrecordtheiranswersinwriting(thewayweusually administertheBFI),thenyes,youcouldsimplygivethescaleas rangingfrom1to4,withthemiddle-responseoptionomitted.Ifyou havestrongreasonstodothat,it'sokwithme,butyouwillendup sacrificingtheopportunitytocompareyourmeansandSDstoother research,allofwhichhasusedthestandard5-pointscale.Ifthe problemisfatigue-related,Iwouldratherhavethemtakealittle break! ShouldIusethe54-itemversion? YouseemtobeusingaveryearlyversionoftheBFI;10itemsarenot scoredonanyofthescales.Thefollowingmaterialsrefertothe 44-itemversion,allofwhichareincludedinthe54-itemversion.Just selectthoseitemsandfollowthescoringforthose44.Ignorethe other10items.IftheBFIisadministeredroutinelyatyour institution,youmaywanttoupdatethequestionnaireandusethe 44-itemfinalversion. I cannotlocatetheJohn&Donahue,1998,TheBigFiveInventory: Studiesofreliabilityandvalidityarticlereferencedin Benet-Martinez&John1998.Wasitpublished?No,itwasnot published.PleaserefertoRammstedt&John2007,Measuring personalityinoneminuteorless:A10-itemshortversionoftheBig FiveInventoryinEnglishandGerman.JournalofResearchin Personality,41,203-212.Thisarticlefocusesonashorter10-item versionthatincludesinformationonexternalvalidityviapeerratings forthefull,44-itemBFIaswell.Notethatwedonotrecommendusing theshort10-itemversionunlessthereareexceptionalcircumstances.   WherecanIlearnmoreabouttheBigFive dimensionsofPersonality? Foranintroductiontotheconceptualand measurementissuessurroundingtheBigFivepersonalityfactors, agoodplacetostartistherecentJohn, Naumann,&Soto(2008)HandbookofPersonalitychapter.   Thechaptercoversanumberofimportantissues includingthescientificoriginsandhistoryoftheBigFive, theoreticalaccountsoftheBigFive,andcomparisonsof differentmeasurementinstruments. Thechapteralsoincludesaconceptualandempirical comparisonofthreemeasurementinstruments: theBigFiveInventory(BFI),CostaandMcCrae'sNEOFive FactorInventory(NEO-FFI),andGoldberg'ssetof100 trait-descriptiveadjectives.There isnoone-size-fits-allmeasure,butthechapterincludesour recommendationsonwhichinstrument(s)youshouldusefordifferent applications.     Copyright©2007-9BerkeleyPersonalityLab   |   Designedbyedg3.co.uk   |   Managedby