Five Factor Inventory

Abstract

The Five Factor Inventory (FFI) is a robust and widely employed psychometric tool developed to quantify the fundamental dimensions of human personality, encapsulated within the Five Factor Model (FFM), often termed the Big Five. A majority of FFI versions utilized in academic research are derived from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), ensuring that the instrument remains in the public domain and is accessible for broad scientific use. The FFI measures the five core traits: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience (Intellect/Imagination). This entry specifically addresses validated short forms, including 50-item and 20-item versions, which were rigorously tested and confirmed for psychometric integrity in efficient online administration platforms.

Keywords

Five Factor Model, Big Five, International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), Personality Assessment, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, Psychometrics.

Authors

Lewis R. Goldberg, John A. Johnson, Herbert W. Eber, Robert Hogan, Michael C. Ashton, C. Robert Cloninger, Harrison G. Gough, Thomas Buchanan, R. E. Lucas, F. L. Oswald, B. M. Baird, M. B. Donnellan.

Purpose

The primary objective of the Five Factor Inventory (FFI), particularly those variants sourced from the IPIP, is to deliver an efficient yet comprehensive assessment of the five overarching dimensions that define human personality structure. These instruments serve as essential tools across various fields, including differential psychology, organizational behavior, and clinical research, by providing rapid and reliable quantitative data on fundamental individual differences.

A significant purpose behind the development and validation of these IPIP-based scales was the need for high-quality, non-proprietary measures suitable for large-scale data collection. Researchers, such as Buchanan, Johnson, and Goldberg (2005), specifically validated internet-based implementations of the FFI to confirm that the psychometric properties remained robust in high-volume, online testing environments. The FFI thus facilitates wider academic research by offering a publicly available and psychometrically sound alternative to expensive commercial scales.

Construct

The FFI is designed to measure the five global traits of the Five Factor Model (FFM), which represents the consensus view that human personality can be broadly categorized into five domains. These domains are commonly summarized using the acronym OCEAN, representing distinct behavioral and emotional tendencies:

• Openness to Experience (O): Measures imagination, intellectual curiosity, artistic sensitivity, and preference for variety or novelty.
• Conscientiousness (C): Measures self-discipline, organization, reliability, dutifulness, and goal-directed behavior.
• Extraversion (E): Measures sociability, assertiveness, talkativeness, energy level, and positive emotionality.
• Agreeableness (A): Measures kindness, cooperation, trustworthiness, compassion, and the tendency to be polite and considerate.
• Neuroticism (N): Measures emotional instability, anxiety, vulnerability to stress, and the tendency toward negative emotional states such as depression or moodiness.

The inventory consists of self-descriptive statements that respondents rate on a Likert-type scale. These items are carefully selected to capture the core facets underlying each broad factor, with scoring keys explicitly mapping individual responses back to the five core dimensions of the FFM.

Validity

The validity of IPIP-derived Five Factor Inventories is supported by extensive empirical evidence demonstrating strong congruence with established, proprietary measures of the Big Five, such as the NEO-PI-R. Studies confirm robust convergent validity, indicating that the FFI scales effectively measure the intended constructs, and strong discriminant validity, confirming that the scales successfully differentiate the Big Five factors from one another and from unrelated traits.

Crucially, research has specifically addressed the suitability of the FFI for contemporary testing practices. Validation studies, including the work on online implementation by Buchanan, Johnson, and Goldberg (2005), confirm that the structural integrity of the five factors is maintained when the instrument is administered via the internet. This suggests that the self-report methodology and underlying factor structure are valid across diverse testing environments, further confirmed by expected correlations between scale scores and relevant external behavioral criteria.

Reliability

The reliability of the Five Factor Inventory scales, particularly the IPIP versions, is consistently reported as high, demonstrating excellent internal consistency. High internal consistency indicates that the items within each factor are highly correlated and reliably measure the same underlying trait. The source data provides specific internal consistency coefficients, typically measured using Cronbach’s alpha, derived from empirical studies utilizing the FFI:

• Openness: 0.88
• Conscientiousness: 0.84
• Extraversion: 0.88
• Agreeableness: 0.76
• Neuroticism: 0.83

These reliability coefficients are generally strong, particularly for Extraversion and Openness, confirming that the scales are psychometrically sound and suitable for measuring the respective dimensions of the Big Five personality structure.

Factor Analysis

The structural integrity of the Five Factor Inventory is consistently confirmed through factor analysis. This statistical technique reliably extracts five distinct, either orthogonal (uncorrelated) or quasi-orthogonal (minimally correlated), factors that correspond precisely to the theoretical dimensions of the Five Factor Model (E, A, C, N, O).

This five-factor structure is consistently replicable across varied populations and different administration methodologies, including large-scale online surveys. The design of IPIP-based scales emphasizes item selection and weighting to ensure that individual items load cleanly onto their designated factors, minimizing cross-loadings. This rigorous approach to item development is critical for maintaining the instrument’s strong alignment with the Five Factor Model theory.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report personality inventory based on the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP).

Format: Multiple choice or Likert-type scale. Respondents typically use a 5-point scale ranging from “very inaccurate” to “very accurate” to rate self-descriptive statements.

Language Available: Primarily English, though the public-domain nature of IPIP items has facilitated translation and use in numerous languages worldwide.

Population Group: General adult population (Non-clinical settings).

Age Group: Adolescents and adults.

Population Details: Used extensively in diverse research samples, including university students and general web users in large online assessment studies.

Test Methodology: Can be administered either online or via traditional paper-and-pencil methods. Scoring involves calculating raw scores by summing the responses for items belonging to a specific factor, after correctly inverting scores for any reverse-scored items.

Keywords

Psychological assessment, IPIP scales, Personality traits, Psychometrics, Self-report measure, Online assessment, Five Factor Model, Cronbach’s alpha, Factor structure.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Correspondence Address: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The core items of the Five Factor Inventory are derived from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), which is maintained as a public-domain resource. Consequently, the items themselves are free for use by researchers, clinicians, and practitioners without requiring licensing fees or permissions. The versions of the FFI discussed, particularly the 50-item and 20-item short forms, were validated and utilized in research studies spanning the period of 1999 to 2005, reflecting the crucial era of validating psychometric scales for internet application. The foundational work establishing the IPIP structure was formally published by Goldberg et al. in 2006.

The original PDF describing the internet implementation of this inventory can be downloaded here: http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/5/j5j/papers/EJPA2005.pdf

Reference’s

The instrument is associated with key research concerning the IPIP and its validation, particularly in online environments:

• Goldberg, L. R., Johnson, J. A., Eber, H. W., Hogan, R., Ashton, M. C., Cloninger, C. R., & Gough, H. G. (2006). The international personality item pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 84-96.

• Buchanan, T., Johnson, J. A., & Goldberg, L. R. (2005). Implementing a Five-Factor Personality Inventory for Use on the Internet. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 21, 115-127. (This reference corresponds to the public PDF provided above.)

• Buchanan, T., Goldberg, L. R., & Johnson, J. A. (1999, November). WWW personality assessment: Evaluation of an online Five Factor Inventory. Paper presented at the 1999 Society for Computers in Psychology Conference. Los Angeles.

• 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.

• Additional resources regarding the IPIP structure can be found at: https://www.msu.edu/~lucasri/ipip.html

Items of the Five Factor Inventory

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

50-Item Inventory List:

1. Tend to vote for conservative political candidates.
2. Have frequent mood swings.
3. Am not easily bothered by things.
4. Suspect hidden motives in others.
5. Enjoy hearing new ideas.
6. Believe in the importance of art.
7. Have a vivid imagination.
8. Am the life of the party.
9. Am skilled in handling social situations.
10. Am always prepared.
11. Make plans and stick to them.
12. Dislike myself.
13. Respect others.
14. Insult people.
15. Would describe my experiences as somewhat dull.
16. Seldom feel blue.
17. Don’t like to draw attention to myself.
18. Carry out my plans.
19. Am not interested in abstract ideas.
20. Have a sharp tongue.
21. Make friends easily.
22. Tend to vote for liberal political candidates.
23. Know how to captivate people.
24. Believe that others have good intentions.
25. Am very pleased with myself.
26. Do just enough work to get by.
27. Find it difficult to get down to work.
28. Carry the conversation to a higher level.
29. Panic easily.
30. Avoid philosophical discussions.
31. Accept people as they are.
32. Do not enjoy going to art museums.
33. Pay attention to details.
34. Keep in the background.
35. Feel comfortable with myself.
36. Waste my time.
37. Get back at others.
38. Get chores done right away.
39. Don’t talk a lot.
40. Am often down in the dumps.
41. Shirk my duties.
42. Do not like art.
43. Often feel blue.
44. Cut others to pieces.
45. Have a good word for everyone.
46. Don’t see things through.
47. Feel comfortable around people.
48. Make people feel at ease.
49. Rarely get irritated.
50. Have little to say.

20-Item Inventory List with Factor Codes (E=Extraversion, A=Agreeableness, C=Conscientiousness, N=Neuroticism, I=Openness):

1. Am the life of the party (E)
2. Sympathize with others’ feelings (A)
3. Get chores done right away (C)
4. Have frequent mood swings (N)
5. Have a vivid imagination (I)
6. Don’t talk a lot (E)
7. Am not interested in other people’s problems (A)
8. Often forget to put things back in their proper place (C)
9. Am relaxed most of the time (N)
10. Am not interested in abstract ideas (I)
11. Talk to a lot of different people at parties (E)
12. Feel others’ emotions (A)
13. Like order (C)
14. Get upset easily (N)
15. Have difficulty understanding abstract ideas (I)
16. Keep in the background (E)
17. Am not really interested in others (A)
18. Make a mess of things (C)
19. Seldom feel blue (N)
20. Do not have a good imagination (I)

Note: Items 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 are reverse scored.