Department of Psychology, University at Albany-State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2012 Apr;102(4):874-88. doi: 10.1037/a0027403. Epub 2012 Feb 20.
Researchers often use very abbreviated (e.g., 1-item, 2-item) measures of personality traits due to their convenience and ease of use as well as the belief that such measures can adequately capture an individual's personality. Using data from 2 samples (N = 437 employees, N = 355 college students), we show that this practice, particularly the use of single-item measures, can lead researchers to substantially underestimate the role that personality traits play in influencing important behaviors and thereby overestimate the role played by new constructs. That is, the use of very short measures of personality may substantially increase both the Type 1 and Type 2 error rates. We argue that even slightly longer measures can substantially increase the validity of research findings without significant inconvenience to the researcher or research participants.
研究人员经常由于其便利性和易用性以及认为此类措施可以充分捕捉个体的个性，而使用非常简短的（例如，1 项，2 项）人格特质度量标准。利用来自 2 个样本（N = 437 名员工，N = 355 名大学生）的数据，我们表明，这种做法，特别是使用单项措施，可能导致研究人员大大低估人格特质在影响重要行为方面的作用，从而高估新结构的作用。也就是说，使用非常简短的人格测量可能会大大增加 1 型和 2 型错误率。我们认为，即使是稍微长一点的测量也可以大大提高研究结果的有效性，而不会给研究人员或研究参与者带来重大不便。
