What is "self-report inventory"

n. a personality inventory in which a person is asked which of a list of traits and characteristics describe her or him or to indicate which behaviors and hypothetical choices he or she would make [syn: self-report personality inventory]

A self-report inventory is a type of psychological test in which a person fills out a survey or questionnaire with or without the help of an investigator. Self-report inventories often ask direct questions about symptoms, behaviors, and personality traits associated with one or many mental disorders or personality types in order to easily gain insight into a patient's personality or illness. Most self-report inventories can be taken or administered within five to 15 minutes, although some, like the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), can take up to three hours to fully complete. There are three major approaches to developing self-report inventories: theory-guided, factor analysis, and criterion-key. Theory-guided inventories are constructed around a theory of personality. Criterion-keyed inventories include questions that have been shown to statistically discriminate between a control group and a criterion group. Questionnaires typically use one of three formats: a Likert scale, true-false, or forced choice. True-false involves questions that the individual denotes as either being true or false about themselves. Forced-choice is a pair of statements that require the individual to choose one as being most representative of themselves.

Self-report inventories can have validity problems. Patients may exaggerate symptoms in order to make their situation seem worse, or they may under-report the severity or frequency of symptoms in order to minimize their problems. Another issue is the social desirability bias.