Comparison of two methods to identify major personality factors

Abstract

Both Howarth and Comrey have developed taxonomies of personality traits and inventories to measure them. The Howarth Personality Questionnaire and Additional Personality Factor inventories include 20 factors, whereas the Comrey Personality Scales (CPS) taxonomy includes eight factors. Howarth identified his factors through factor analysis of items, whereas Comrey identified his primary level factors through factor analysis of conceptually distinct clusters of homogeneous items, called Factored Homogeneous Item Dimensions (FHIDs), while avoiding the inclusion of highly redundant variables in the same analysis. Data for all three inventories were collected from the same subjects and factor analyzed. The Howarth factor scales were narrower in content and more highly overlapping than the CPS factor scales. Most of the Howarth factor scales were good marker variables for the CPS primary factors. Five CPS factors had major loadings for more than one of the Howarth factor scales. The CPS Emotional Stability vs. Neuroticism (S) primary level factor was split into several lower level factors in the Howarth system. Factor analysis of items is recommended to identify FHIDs. Factor analysis of FHIDs, in which no two FHIDs are merely alternate forms of the same conceptual variable, is recommended to identify the major primary factors of personality.