Second-Order Factor Structure Common to Five Personality Questionnaires

Abstract

The argument is presented that many commercial personality questionnaires occupy a similar common vector space. A data-set was obtained of scores for 204 persons on the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, the California Personality Inventory, the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, the Omnibus Personality Inventory, and the Adjective Check List. Quasifactor scores were generated from each inventory, based on the results of earlier work, as estimates of five broad variables hypothesized to define the common vector space across instruments. Factor analysis of the correlations among the resultant 23 variables was largely confirmatory of the hypothesized common vector space.