Psychometric Test Example

Quintax - Big Five model of Personality (Quintax is a registered trademark)

Describing personality differences between people. How big is your personality?

Psychometric test example that we use is Quintax. The greatest growth in the use of the psychometric test has come in the use of personality profiling with the development of people in mind. This article looks at the content of one personality questionnaire and its origins. The author of this page has not used the instrument nor have they any experience of using it. This is one of the reasons this form of psychometric test has been chosen. The other is because it has been derived from the Big Five. The Big Five has five dimensions:

Extraversion (sociability and interactivity versus solitude and privacy)
Openness (abstract ideas and possibilities versus concrete realities and facts)
Agreeableness (co-operative versus competitive approaches to interactions with others)
Conscientiousness (task oriented versus divergent, process oriented work styles)
Negative emotionality (responsiveness to stress)

Quintax as a psychometric test provides a five factor profile and a taxonomy or system of types for describing personality differences between people - hence its name which derives from 'Quin..' for five and '..tax' for taxonomy. Quintax is designed for use in the workplace in both selection and development applications where a short administration personality questionnaire is required. Having the 'Big Five' as a basis, it provides a broad picture of individual behaviour based on the acknowledged major dimensions of personality. Utilising narrative reports for both profile and type approaches, it provides the practitioner with an instrument that can be used in individual assessment, management development workshops, and training.

With managerial, student based, and general occupational norms differentiated by age and gender it comes equipped with all the required comparison groups for individual norming. Key Features of the Quintax psychometric test: Developed from the 'Big Five' model of personality to focus on personality styles that give important information about behaviour at work. Applicable to a broad range of human resource functions including: selection, personal development, outplacement and career counselling, workshops and training in areas such as team building, team roles, time management. Designed to provide full support for practitioners in personality assessment including:

Manual or computer-based administration and scoring
Narrative report software,
Development workshop materials, type-based interpretive guides, variety of norm groups.

Designed, tested and standardised in partnership with UK organisations using best practice in psychometric test development. Short administration time. Can be used employees at a wide range of levels. Self-scorable answer sheets and reusable question booklets.

So What?

Of course having an insight into your own or another persons personality is useful but how can you use this in a situation, for example, where you are recruiting someone. Being able to give and receive feedback in the most effective way is critical. Relentlessly focus on the small incremental steps that move one toward superior performance and learn about giving and receiving feedback from this site. Of course there are many questionnaires and psychometric test instruments each with their own claims. We think of the difference between the two as follows:

Psychological tests have been produced after extensive research and testing. They have then been registered with the British Psychological Society (BPS), or similar professional body, and accepted on their approved list of tests.
Questionnaires on the other hand are developed more for on-line surveys and do not, necessarily, go through the rigorous procedures set down by the BPS.

However this is just a very simplistic personal view and does not detract from the valuable use that questionnaires perform. They still need to be produced with great care and tested rigorously. We welcome your views on which is more useful - questionnaires or the psychometric test.