South African Personality Inventory

96 Pages·2011·1.23 MB·English

South African Personality Inventory: The development of an investigation into the
psychometric properties of the intellect cluster

A. Labuschagne, HonsBCom

Mini-dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister
Commercii in Industrial Psychology at the
North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus)

Supervisor: Dr. C. Hill
Assistant supervisor: Dr. A. Nel
Final edit: Mr. W. Cloete
October 2010
Potchefstroo
COMMENTS

The reader should keep the following in mind:

The editorial style as well as the references referred to in this mini-dissertation follow the
th
format prescribed by the Publication Manual (6 edition) of the American Psychological
Association (APA). This practice is in line with the policy of the Programme in Industrial
Psychology of the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, to use the APA style
in all scientific documents as of January 1999.

The mini-dissertation is submitted in the form of a research article. The editorial style
specified by the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology (which agrees largely
with the APA style) is used, but the APA guidelines were followed in constructing tables.

i
DECLARATION
I, Antoinette Labuschagne, hereby declare that “South African Personality Inventory: The
development of an investigation into the psychometric properties of the intellect cluster” is my
own work and that views and opinions expressed in this work are those of the author and
relevant literature references as shown in the references.
I further declare that the content of this research will not be handed in for any other qualification
at any other tertiary institution.

ANTOINETTE LABUSCHAGNE OCTOBER 2010

ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And
because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
Hellen Keller
It has been a privilege to be part of the South African Personality Inventory project. I hope my
“something” will contribute to the bigger picture of how we view and understand personality in
South Africa. I would like to thank the following individuals who supported me throughout:
Our Heavenly Father
My husband, Hennie Bierman
My parents, Henk and Carien Labuschagne
My sister, Carlia Labuschagne
My two brothers, Rossouw and Louis Labuschagne
My grandmother, Corrie Burgers
My mentor and supervisor, Dr. Carin Marais
My assistant supervisor, Dr. Alewyn Nel

iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
List of appendixes vi
List of tables vii
Abstract ix
Opsomming xi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Problem statement 1
1.2 Research objectives 10
1.2.1 General objective 10
1.2.2 Specific objective 10
1.3 Paradigm perspective of the research 11
1.3.1 The intellectual climate 11
1.3.2. Meta-theoretical assumptions 12
1.3.2.1 Literature review 12
1.3.2.2 Empirical study 13
1.3.3 The market of intellectual resources 13
1.3.3.1 Theoretical beliefs 13
1.3.3.2 Methodological beliefs 15
1.4 Research method 16
1.4.1 Literature review 16
1.4.2 Empirical study 16
1.4.2.1 Research design 16
1.4.2.2 Participants and procedure 16
1.4.2.3 Measuring battery 17
1.4.2.4 Statistical analysis 18
1.4.2.5 Ethical considerations 19
1.5 Chapter division 19
iv
1.6 Chapter summary 20
Reference 21
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH ARTICLE 28
CHAPTER 3: CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1 Conclusions 74
3.2 Limitations of this research 78
3.3 Recommendations 79
3.3.1 Recommendations to solve the research problems 79
3.3.2 Recommendations for future research of the SAPI 79
References 81

v
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Description Page
Appendix A Response-derived definitions of the 14 facets of the Intellect cluster 83

vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table Description Page
Table 1 Characteristics of participants (N = 524) 42
Table 2 Descriptive statistics of the 202 items of the Intellect cluster 48
Table 3 Item correlations with facets 53
Table 4 Descriptive statistics, skewness, kurtosis and Cronbach alpha 55
coefficients
Table 5 Eigenvalues of the intercorrelation matrix for the Intellect cluster 56
Table 6 Oblique factor pattern matrix of the 14 facets of the Intellect cluster 57
Table 7 Intercorrelations of the first-order factors of the Intellect cluster 58
Table 8 Hierarchical Schmid-Leiman factor solution for the 14 facets of the 58
Intellect cluster
Table 9 Factor pattern matrices for White (n = 287) and African groups 60
(n=196)

vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Table Description Page
Figure 1 The factor solution of the Intellect cluster. 33
Figure 2. Scree plot and parallel analysis for the Intellect cluster. 57
Figure 3. The revised factor solution of the Intellect cluster 75

.

viii
ABSTRACT
Title: South African Personality Inventory: The development of an investigation into the
psychometric properties of the intellect cluster.
Key terms: South African Personality Inventory; Personality; Personality measure; Intellect;
Race.
The Employment Equity Act, 55 of 1998, Section 8 (Government Gazette, 1998) provides clear
guidelines for psychometric testing in South Africa. Due to the cultural complexity of the South
African population, personality tests in particular do not always comply with these
specifications. Most personality tests used in South Africa have been developed in and imported
from other countries, and are consequently not always appropriate for all cultural groups. Also,
the majority of indigenous personality tests were developed and standardised specifically for the
white population. Today a major challenge in personality assessment development is to develop
and standardise inventories for the 11 official language groups in South Africa.
The objectives of this study were to develop valid and reliable items for an Intellect-measuring
instrument that will form part of a larger personality inventory, to investigate the factor solution
of this Intellect cluster, and to compare the factor solutions of the white and African race groups
respectively. An Intellect questionnaire consisting of 202 items was developed based on the
qualitative phase of the South African Personality Inventory (SAPI). This research served as a
pilot study. The sample consisted of (N=524) students from tertiary institutions in the Gauteng
and the North West Provinces of South Africa. A quantitative design with an exploratory
approach was used to collect data. Statistical analysis was used to analyse the data.
The results indicated that only 18 of the original 202 items proved to be unreliable. Acceptable
reliability levels for all facets were found. First-order factor analysis produced two sub-clusters:
Aesthetics and Intellect. The Aesthetics sub-cluster consisted of the Artistic, Concrete work and
Creative facets, and the Intellect sub-cluster consisted of the Intellect, Knowledgeable, Logical,
Self-insight, Articulate, Competent, Enterprising, Perceptive, Social Intellect and Understanding
facets. Second-order factor analysis indicated a single-order factor for the Intellect cluster with
two second-order factors: Aesthetics and Intellect. Support was found to discard the Musical and
ix