Here - Tilburg University

Presenter
Lochner, Katharina; cut-e GmbH
Authors
Katharina Lochner; Maike Wehrmaker; Achim Preuss; cut-e GmbH
Title
Normative, ipsative, and beyond
Abstract
For online personality tests, two formats are established: normative and
ipsative. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Normative questionnaires
are pleasant to answer for test takers because they can indicate for each item to
what extent they agree, but the resulting profiles are not always as
differentiated as desired by the evaluator. The ipsative format yields profiles
with a much higher degree of differentiation, but is not as pleasant to answer for
the test takers because they are forced to make a choice, no matter to what
extent they agree. A third format that strives to combine the advantages of the
two formats will be presented: adalloc (adaptive allocation of consent). Adalloc
presents items in blocks and test takers have to make a choice, like the ipsative
method. They do so by allocating points to the items. However, they are not
required to allocate all points, and they may also allocate an equal number of
points to all items, like in the normative format. The method allows for
shortening the questionnaire because it weights the responses and thus the
underlying concepts during the administration. Therefore, not all combinations of
constructs assessed have to be presented to the test taker. The weights also
allow for a high amount of differentiation between the constructs assessed.
Therefore, the test administrator benefits from the format. And so does the test
taker because the questionnaire is short, and decisions are not forced. It would
be desirable to discuss after the presentation how IRT models can be applied to
estimate item qualities when using the adalloc format.