Psychometric Properties of a Paper-and-Pencil Test Measuring the Personality Trait of Persistence

Abstract

A test measuring the behavioral aspects of the personality trait of persistence, The Persistent Effort Test, was constructed and psychometric properties assessed. The original version consisted of 12 items, each one a nonsense block of six letters. The task of 9 men and 9 women was to construct as many correct Swedish words as possible from letter combinations. The total time spent on this task and the number of correct words constituted the dependent variables. A Persistence Effort Quotient was calculated. The reliability calculated on the quotient for the 12-item version was acceptable (Cronbach alpha = .86) and an item analysis indicated that the test could be shortened by six items with increased reliability (Cronbach alpha =.87). A validity analysis also using the quotient performed with a second sample of subjects using classmates' ratings on two separate rating scales of specific aspects of persistence, yielded acceptable validity (Pearson r = .69 for the first scale and .71 for the second scale). This indicates that the shortened 6-item version is a reliable and valid test of persistence even though it is necessary with more studies to address the issues of predictive validity and norms for different groups of people.