Equal Opportunities Fact Sheet

Equal Opportunities issues

in using personality measures

Are personality measures fair for

use with people from different
backgrounds?
Research suggests that personality factors
are very similar across cultures.
It is perfectly appropriate to use personality
measures with people from different
backgrounds. Care should be taken if
respondents are not fluent in English
(see fact sheet Testing in English as a
foreign language).

Reference
1

Baron, H and Miles, A. (2002) Personality

Questionnaires: Ethnic Trends and Selection.
Paper presented at the BPS Occupational
Psychology Conference, Blackpool.

As with any other assessment, fairness

depends mainly on the relevance of the
measure. Therefore, to ensure fairness,
the job should be carefully analysed to
determine which personality factors are
important for good job performance. Make
sure that you take into account potential
different approaches to the role, e.g. a
sales person who uses relationship selling
may be just as effective as someone who
sells through persuasion and enthusiasm.

Are there score differences or

adverse impact?
There are some differences between
groups on some scales, e.g. men tend to be
more competitive than women.
Differences for gender, ethnic origin and
age groups are documented in the relevant
questionnaire manuals. However, these
differences tend to be small and are likely
to cancel out when multiple personality
scales are used in decision making. Thus
the use of a personality questionnaire is
unlikely to lead to adverse impact. In fact
research suggests that inclusion of a
personality measure can both increase the
validity and reduce the overall adverse
impact in a selection procedure if there are
score differences with other measures.1
Equal Opportunities Fact Sheet

Equal Opportunities Fact Sheet

Equal Opportunities issues in using

personality measures
Equal Opportunities Fact Sheet
Where to go for more information
This fact sheet tries to answer some common
questions people have in using tests fairly.
However, it is difficult to cover all the issues in
brief. If you would like more information here
are some further options:
OPQ/Level B course notes
SHL Best Practice Guidelines (www.shl.com)
Questionnaire Manual
SHL Client Support Centre on
0870 070 8000

Whilst SHL has made every effort to ensure that these

guidelines reflect best practice, SHL does not accept
liability for any loss of whatsoever nature suffered by
any party as a result of its reliance on these guidelines.
SHL Group plc 2004

SHL (UK) Ltd

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