Finding (and Labeling) IPIP Scales

 

At the link labeled "Multiple Constructs," there is a list of IPIP multi-scale inventories, including several based on either the lexically derived Big-Five factor structure or Costa and McCrae’s Five-Factor Model.  As is the case with most IPIP scales, these were developed by identifying IPIP items that, when summed into a scale, correlate highly with an existing measure.

The first three inventories, under the heading "The Big-Five Factor Structure," are IPIP measures designed to correlate with five-factor scales whose items are trait adjectives.  The first of these is labeled "Big-Five 5 Broad Domains."  If one follows its link labeled “Comparison Table,” one will find descriptions of both 50-item and 100-item IPIP inventories designed to correlate highly with the five adjective markers described in the following article:  Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4, 26-42.

Although none of the IPIP scales have official names, one should refer to them by the scales on which they are based.  Hence, these scales could be labeled "the 50-item (or 100-item) IPIP representation of the Goldberg (1992) markers for the big-five factor structure" or something like that.

At the “Multiple Constructs” page, the next set of scales are labeled "Seven-Factor Scales" which refer to IPIP scales that were developed to measure the adjective scales constructed by Saucier (1997).  His scales, which include the Big 5 plus Attractiveness and Negative Valence, are described in the link labeled “Comparison Table” and in the following article:  Saucier, G. (1997). Effect of variable selection on the factor structure of person descriptors.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1296-1312.

The third set of scales, labeled "45 AB5C Facets," refer to IPIP scales that were developed to measure the 45 adjective scales in the AB5C model of Hofstee, de Raad, and Goldberg (1992).  These scales are described in the link labeled “Comparison Table” and in the chapter by Goldberg (1999), which is available via a link on this IPIP Web site Goldberg (1999).

Next, listed under the heading "Broad-Bandwidth Inventories," there are a number of IPIP measures designed to measure constructs similar to those in various questionnaire-format personality inventories.  Although the Big-Five factors can be measured by several of these inventories, the most widely used five-factor questionnaire is the revised version of Costa and McCrae's (1992) NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R).  The IPIP scales labeled "NEO PI-R Domains" were designed to measure constructs similar to the five major “domains” in the NEO PI-R.  There are both 50-item and 100-item IPIP versions of those NEO-related domain scales. Costa and McCrae's NEO PI-R also includes six “facet” scales for each of the five NEO domains.  The IPIP scales associated with the label "NEO PI-R Facets" were developed to measure constructs similar to these NEO facet scales. One might refer to these scales as something like "the 50-item (or 100-item) IPIP representation of Costa and McCrae's (1992) five NEO domains (or 30 NEO facets)."

At the link labeled “Single Constructs,” there is information describing IPIP scales measuring a variety of characteristics (some focused on aspects of psychopathology), including Self-esteem, Self-monitoring, Public and Private Self-conscientiousness, Optimism, Impression Management, Self-Deception, Locus of Control, Perceived Physical Attractiveness, Need for Cognition, Cognitive Failures, Obsessive-Compulsive symptoms (2 measures), ADHD syndrome, Hypomanic traits, and Sensation-seeking facets.

Finally, at the link labeled “Index of IPIP Scales,” there is an alphabetical list of over 250 IPIP scales, and as new scales are developed they are added to this list.

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