Characteristics of the Mini-IPIP Shortened Measures of the Big-Five Domainsa

 

 

 

 

Big-Five Domain

Number
of Items

Coefficient
Alpha

Correlation
with Parent Scaleb

                  +    -

 

 

 

 

I. Extraversion

2 + 2 =   4

.77

.93 

II. Agreeableness

2 + 2 =   4

.70

.89

III. Conscientiousness

2 + 2 =   4

.69

.90

IV. Neuroticismc

2 + 2 =   4

.68

-.92c

V. Intellect

1 + 3 =   4

.65

.85

Total/Mean

9 + 11 = 20

.70

.90

 

 

 

 

 

aThe abstract of the article on the construction and validation of this measure (Donnellan, et al., 2006) describes the Mini-IPIP as "a 20-item short form of the 50-item International Personality Item Pool—Five-Factor Model measure (Goldberg, 1999)." "The Mini-IPIP" was not the best choice of a label for this inventory because the IPIP is a pool of several thousand items, not the name of a particular inventory (see the page on citing and referring to IPIP scales). Furthermore, the Mini-IPIP is based on the 50-item IPIP representation of the Big-Five lexical markers, not, as its authors state, the 50-item IPIP measure of the Five-Factor Model (see the page that describes the difference between the lexical Big Five and the Five Factor Model). Finally, although "(Goldberg, 1999)" is a valid citation for the IPIP as a whole (again, see the page on citing and referring to IPIP scales), neither the 50-item lexical Big-Five IPIP inventory nor the 50-item Five-Factor Model IPIP inventory is mentioned in Goldberg (1999). The reference for the original lexical scales on which the IPIP lexical Big-Five inventory is based is Goldberg (1992). Should one choose to use the Mini-IPIP in research, one should be aware that the Donnellan, et al. (2006) description of the constructs assessed by inventory are not wholly accurate.

bThe correlations between the Mini-IPIP scales and the original scales are inflated because each pair of scales contains four identical items. The correlations between the four-item Mini-IPIP scales and the six items not on the scale are .78, .67, .67, .76, and .56 for Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Intellect, respectively.

cThe authors of  the Mini-IPIP chose to score the Emotional Stability scale from the lexical Big Five in reverse and to use the label Neuroticism from the Five-Factor Model for this scale. The current consensus is that Emotional Stability and Neuroticism are opposite ends of the same dimension, or nearly so. Again, should one decide to use the Mini-IPIP in research, one should be aware that Donnellan, et al.'s (2006) scoring and conceptualization of this factor differ from that of the original IPIP scale on which it was based.

References

Donnellan, M. B., Oswald, F. L., Baird, B. M., & Lucas, R. E. (2006). The Mini-IPIP scales: Tiny-yet-effective measures of the Big Five factors of personality. Psychological Assessment, 18, 192-203.

Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4, 26-42.

Goldberg, L. R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. In I. Mervielde, I. Deary, F. De Fruyt, & F. Ostendorf (Eds.), Personality Psychology in Europe, Vol. 7 (pp. 7-28). Tilburg, The Netherlands: Tilburg University Press.


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