Freiburg Personality Inventory FPI-R. Primary data from the standardization sample 1982.

Research Questions/Hypotheses:

It was not the intention to examine particular hypotheses. However, it was expected that the expanded item pool could successfully reproduce the existing scales and also be used to create additional scales for the new characteristic constructs. The aim was to apply new scales covering the constructs of life satisfaction and self-realization, social orientation (helpfulness, prosocial attitudes, altruism), performance orientation, demands, experience of demands and stress, and health concerns.

Research Design:

Normalized Test Procedure; single measurement

Measurement Instruments/Apparatus:

The theoretical basis:
The FPI is the result of the authors’ theoretical interests in certain personality traits. The theoretical approach to forming constructs was grounded in the personality theory, and this personality inventory served as a medium-spectrum description system for various differential-psychological assessment tasks.
Multistrategic concept of the FPI:
The test structure is hypothetical-deductive, examining a full range of personality traits for specific research and clinical areas and is empirically inductive concerning factor analyses and cluster analyses. The item and factor analytical parameters were evaluated as heuristic information, being expressly subordinate to the psychological operationalizations of the construct. The authors’ theoretical intentions determined the themes of the item pool and also influenced the scale construction. However, the extent of the psychological constructs/scales is driven by the factor- and cluster-analytic reduction of that which the average lay person supplies in terms of a psychological description of self-description/self-assessment. The scales represent psychological constructs that are both obvious and strong influencing factors of an average participant’s self-description. The entire data set (2,035) was used for the construction of the FPI. The analyses were performed with the corresponding programs from the SAS (SAS Institute Inc.) and SPSS, factor analysis with MAXVAR (principal components-method and varimax-rotation), cluster analysis by Ward with HGROUP as well as CLUSTAN 1 C (Euclidean measure of distance). Generally, no missing data were replaced, but analysis were conducted with a reduced number of people (pair-wise exclusion). Variations between results may be due to differences in the methods, of the various algorithms (PROC-statements in SAS and SPSS), and by differences in the missing-data treatment.
Results of the design:
The combination of factor analysis, item analysis on the preserved scale designs, and cluster analyses led to a statistically- and psychologically-substantive interpretation process for the design of the 10 FPI-R-S standard scales as well as separate, reconstructed scales of extraversion and emotionality (as interpreted by Eysenck). The reliability of the FPI-R scale was found to be internally consistent. The consistency coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha) range from 0.71-0.84. These coefficients were considered satisfying for the 12- and 14-item scales. Though higher coefficients would indicate a greater homogeneity (in the sense of lower measurement errors), they might also indicate a redundancy of item content.
As to the empirical validity of the FPI-R test scores, the test manual presents the numerous relationships between the information pertaining to occupational and health hazards as well as to the socio-demographic characteristics. Furthermore, mean differences between patient groups and other comparison groups were presented. Generally speaking, the test values of the FPI-R record can be, for general use, considered sufficient to capture individual characteristics of personality traits despite the relatively small number of items.
Structure of the questionnaire:
Using 138 items, 12 personality traits were measured: life satisfaction, social orientation, performance orientation, inhibition, irritability, aggression, stress, physical discomfort, health concerns, and openness as well as the 2 secondary factors of extraversion and emotionality (neuroticism). Items were presented as declarative true/false sentences. Due to factor and item analysis of the 25 items measuring attitudes toward social and political issues, a scale called “conservative-progressive tendency” was formed along with 4 other subscales: attitudes toward authority, pessimism concerning the future, alternative attitudes, and radical attitudes. The statistical analyses were described elsewhere (see Hampel & Fahrenberg, 1983). The initial steps of the test development are described in earlier editions of the test manuals. The revision of the personality questionnaire in 1984 is described in detail in the test manual, with additional table material presented in a research report (Hampel & Fahrenberg 1983, see also Fahrenberg, Hampel, and Selg 2010).

Data Collection Method:

Data collection in the presence of an experimenter

• Individual Administration
• Paper and Pencil

Population:

Population of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany, including West Berlin) aged 16 years and older.

Survey Time Period:

Sample:

Quota Sample

Gender Distribution:

53,2% female subjects (n=1082)
46,8% male subjects (n=953)

Age Distribution: 16 years or older

Spatial Coverage (Country/Region/City): Germany

Subject Recruitment:

The survey was done following selection process based on the IfD-estimated German population of 46.8 million people aged 16 years or older in West Germany and West Berlin (21.6 million men and 25.2 million women). Each of the approximately 510 interviewers received instructions that dictated how many people were to be consulted and how participants were to be selected. The interviewers allocated to the 11 states (26 regions) according to the official population statistical data. Within these regions, the interviewers were divided up among the 6 community-size categories which were structured according to gender, 7 age groups, and the workers, both employed and unemployed, spanning 5 occupational groups.

Sample Size:

2035 individuals

Return/Drop Out:

A total of 2608 subjects were additionally asked to fill out the FPI. According to the Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach (IfD), 59% completed the questionnaire on the spot, 36% were given the questionnaire to be "collected in the coming days", and 5% remained unspecified. Of the 2181 questionnaires (84%) that were returned, 146 questionnaires were deemed unsuitable and eliminated, leaving a remainder of 2035 (78%) for evaluation. Reasons for elimination were either a lack of complete information (more than 10 missing data, or 4% of the 240 items), not clearly identifiable questionnaire numbers, or a negative answer to item 1 which asked for the willingness of each participant to take part in the FPI. However, 68 questionnaires in which item 1 had remained unanswered were not eliminated after an inspection revealed that this group, which fell into the average of the FPI scale openness, did not differ from a parallel group with whom they matched for gender, age, and education level. (t = 0.46 , p = 0.65).