Faking the 15FQ

In a highly competitive job market there is always a concern that candidates may attempt to distort the results of personality questionnaires, and try to present a falsely positive picture of themselves.The picture these candidates will attempt to present may be more in accordance with their perception of the job than their true personality.For example, candidates who are applying for sales positions are likely to try to present themselves as more extroverted and sociable than they really are.Being aware of this problem great care has been taken to ensure that the 15FQ™ items are difficult to fake.To this end all the items which form the 15FQ™ scales have been written so as to obscure the relationship between each item and the dimension it measures.Thus by using relatively opaque items, we have attempted to make it difficult to successfully fake the test.Moreover, great care has been taken to ensure that none of the items are evaluatively biased.That is to say, that it is no more desirable to answer any item one way than it is to answer that item the alternative way.

As a guide to the assessor, a number of specific measures were includedin the 15FQ™ to indicate whether deliberate distortion may have been attempted. These scales will highlight profiles which may have been subject to motivated distortion. In addition, as a further safeguard, during the initial item trialling stage, any item which was significantly correlated with the measures of distortion was removed from the test, thus further ensuring that the 15FQ™ does not contain any items which are easily faked.

In summary, the combination of carefully worded items which have been selected so as to minimise motivational distortion and the inclusion of a distortion scale in the test makes the 15FQ™ a robust assessment tool that is not easily influenced by a candidate's attempt to fake test scores.

Psytech International
The Grange
Pulloxhill
Bedfordshire
MK45 5HE
tel. 01525 720003
fax. 01525 720004
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