International Journal of
Information and Education Technology

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to discuss the item development of a self-reported personality scale that meets the psychometric standards, and provides some experiences for relevant studies. Results show that a psychometric sound personality scale items must possess the follow features: 1) considers the cultural background wherein the scale is applied; 2) should be develop based on a theoretical framework; 3) target a certain group of people considering their educational attainments, positions, and other background demographics; and 4) should fit appropriate psychometric standards. Furthermore, the items of a personality scale must be selected according to their effect towards the theoretical framework, social desirability factor, connotation and extension of the item, the presupposition of the question, and as well as the questions of privacy. In addition, a personality scale needs to contain a lie scale, so as to avoid the concealment when the participants answer the inventory.