South African personality inventory : the development of an investigation into the psychometric properties of the intellect cluster

Abstract

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 Enterprising facets from the Intellect cluster. Similar factor solutions were found for the white and African groups - except for the Musical facet, which loaded on the Aesthetics sub–cluster for the white group and on the Intellect sub–cluster for the African group. Recommendations were made for future research.