Measuring personality Traits:Simulations Exploring (Mis)Alignment between methods and measurands

Abstract

Measuring personality traits requires that measurement methods align with intended measurands. There are two broad classes of personality trait measurands: 1) differences in patterns of behavior; and 2) differences in the underlying psychological generators of behavioral patterns. It is often unclear which of these potential measurands is the focus of a given research study, hindering evaluation of measure-measurand alignment. It is also unclear how well common measurement approaches can be expected to recover different measurands. To evaluate personality measure-measurand (mis)alignment, this study employs simulations examining the ability of different measurement approaches to recover different personality measurands. The simulations highlight challenges in capturing personality trait measurands and offer insight into assumptions researchers must explicate to bolster personality measure-measurand alignment.