- VIA Character Strengths Test
- The results of the test are accurate and clear; brief descriptions of the strengths simplify their understanding.
- Big Five Personality Test
- The test includes a bigger number of questions and provides more profound results in comparison to the previous assessment. The test report is detailed and contains tables and graphs, which helps visualize the results.
Introduction
Many people face difficulties defining what kind of job corresponds to their personality and strengths. Besides, goal-setting might be a challenge for those who are not aware of how to use their best personality traits effectively. Sometimes it may be problematic for people to make decisions by themselves, and they use different assessment methods, such as tests or consultations, to define the most important aspects of their personality.
One of the ways to identify oneâs character strengths and apply them in the future is to take a psychological test. Cohen, Swerdlik, and Sturman (2018) emphasize that many personal traits remain throughout an individualâs life. Moreover, other researchers state that the negative impact of uncertainty can lead to choosing the wrong career path (Anand, Patil, Bhaawat, Karanje, & Mangalvedhekar, 2018). At the same time, Barr (2014) mentions that online self-discovery tests are becoming more popular. Therefore, it is essential for people who hesitate about their career choice to take a reliable and exact personality assessment. Further, in this paper, the professional and popular press assessments will be analyzed and compared.
Test Content
Both assessments are aimed at defining personality features, though they focus on different aspects. The VIA Character Strengths Test aims to identify the prevailing and the most influential traits of an individual. The Big Five Personality Test is designed to analyze an individualâs personality according to five major factors: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and natural reactions. Both tests contain similar statements about an individualâs habits or values that an individual has to grade.
Administration Format
Both tests were easy to understand; the VIA Character Strengths Test had numerous versatile questions, while the Big Five Personality Test was more profound and included comprehensive statements for self-assessment.
Administration Time
Both tests were simple; however, the Big Five Personality Test takes up to fifteen minutes. The reason for this might be that this assessment is more extended than the VIA test.
Item-Response Format
Both tests are designed in a âcircle the answerâ format with option buttons. In both cases, it was possible to choose only one option.
Face Validity
Both tests equally covered the aspects they measured; the Big Five Personality Test seems to have more face validity due to the number of factors it covered.
Homogeneity and Heterogeneity
In the VIA test, none of the questions were repeated, while the Big Five test included several similar statements that were represented in different ways.
Validity
The Big Five test can be considered factual, as it contained a big number of questions, and some of them were paraphrased to retrieve more exact results. At the same time, the overall results fully depended on how honest an individual is while taking the test.
Test-Retest Reliability
I retook the VIA test, and it showed the same results, proving that the assessment was accurate and trustworthy.
In conclusion, it is possible to say that there were many similarities between the two assessments I have completed. Both tests focused on personality traits; however, the first test identified the strengths of identity, while the second test evaluated different character aspects. The tests are similar in format and seem to be accurate. However, if I had to choose between the two assessment tools, I would prefer the VIA Character Strengths Test. Even though this assessment was focused on one aspect, the results seem to be more exact, and they are presented more simply. The Big Five test was not so simple, and it took more time to complete the assessment and analyze the results.
References
Anand, A., Patil, D., Bhaawat, S., Karanje, S., & Mangalvedhekar, V. (2018). Automated career guidance using graphology, aptitude test and personality test. 2018 Fourth International Conference on Computing Communication Control and Automation (ICCUBEA), 1-5. Web.
Barr, M. (2014). âWhich (blank) are you?â Online personality quizzes go viral on social media. The Canadian Press. Web.
Cohen, R. J., Swerdlik, M. E., & Sturman, E. D. (2018). Psychological testing and assessment: An introduction to tests and measurement (9th ed.). Web.