4.3. Benefits
The central benefit of the TIPI is that it extends the scope of studies in which the
Big Five can be measured. As Saucier (1994) noted in the context of his 40-item
instrument, ‘‘The availability of this extremely short set of Big-Five markers widens
the potential application of the Big Five to assessment situations where brevity is
an unusually high priority.’’ (p. 515). This benefit is particularly appropriate now
that the Big-Five framework has been well established; the focus of personality research
is now free to shift from the psychometric and structural properties of the
Big Five to focus on relations between the Big-Five dimensions and other constructs
and outcomes. Whereas the early structural studies needed to devote extensive
resources to assessing the Big Five, newer studies can afford to use shorter
measures. Indeed, the development of several medium-length instruments such as
the BFI, the NEO-FFI, and Sauciers (1994) marker set reflect this change in research
emphasis. Although these instruments require far less time than the full
NEO-PI-R, they are still too time-consuming for some research purposes. In cases
where researchers are willing to tolerate the somewhat diminished psychometric
properties associated with even briefer measures, we offer the TIPI as one potential
research tool.
A second potential benefit of the TIPI is that by providing a standard instrument
for use by the research community, knowledge about its psychometric properties and
its external correlates can accumulate. Without a standard instrument, researchers
would be forced to create their own measures, and could not benefit from the work
done by others.
A third benefit is that very brief measures eliminate item redundancy, reducing
participant boredom and the oft-expressed frustration about ‘‘answering the same
question again and again.’’ This benefit can ameliorate the psychometric costs of
short measures (Burisch, 1984a, 1984b), and may explain why the TIPI performed
so well.