Scales

The fifteen dimensions measured by the 15FQ™ are bipolar. That is to say high or low scores on each dimension measure opposite personality characteristics (e.g.retiring versus outgoing, accommodating versus assertive etc.) as presented in the following table:

15FQ™ Primary Dimensions

Low Score Description	High Score Description
Reserved cool, aloof, distant	Outgoing, gregarious, warm, participating
Temperamental, emotional, moody	Calm-stable, mature, resilient, unruffled
Accommodating empathic, mild, modest	Assertive forceful, confrontational
Cautious deliberating, sober, serious	Enthusiastic lively, impulsive, animated
Expedient flexible, tolerant, spontaneous	Conscientious rule-bound, meticulous
Retiring timid, shy, restrained	Socially Bold attention-seeking, confident
Factual, Realistic hard-headed, unmoved	Intuitive, aesthetic, tender-minded
Trusting easy-going, accepting, tolerant	Suspicious cynical, questioning, wary
Practical pragmatic, down-to-earth	Conceptual imaginative, abstract
Direct forthright, uncalculating, frank	Restrained inhibited, guarded, diplomatic
Confident self-assured, complacent	Self-doubting apprehensive, insecure
Conventional conservative, traditional	Radical innovative, liberal-minded
Group Orientated dependent, affiliative	Self-sufficient self-reliant, solitary
Informal undisciplined, unconventional	Disciplined self-controlled, rigid
Relaxed composed, placid	Tense-driven impatient, irritable

Second-order Factors: Using the statistical procedure of Factor Analysis, a further five broad underlying characteristics can be derived from the 15FQ™.

15FQ™ 2^nd Order Factors

Low Score Description	High Score Description
Introversion	Extroversion
Low Anxiety	High Anxious
Creative	Tough Minded
Agreeable	Independent
Low Control	High Control

Measurement Issues:Raw scores on the 15FQ™ scales are converted into a ten point standardised scale based on the distribution of scores of the reference ÔnormÕ group. The sten scale has a mean of 5.5 and a standard deviation of 2. Scores within the range of 4-7 on the sten scale (middle 68%)are considered to be typical of the reference group, while sten scores of 1-3 and 8-10 (lower or higher 16%)can be treated as high or low as below.

Percentages of People obtaining scores within sten score range

Sten range	Proportion of people obtaining scores in this range
5,6	38%
4,5,6,7	68%
1-3 & 8-10	16%
1,2 & 9,10	7%
1&10	2%

Given the lack of perfect measurement accuracy of the 15FQ™ dimensions, scores obtained for a given respondent should be treated as an estimate of their ÔtrueÕ score,if there were perfect measurement of the characteristic being assessed. As a convention a confidence interval (Standard Error of measurement) is applied to the score obtained for a respondent. This confidence interval is related to the reliability of the scale, which for 15FQ™ would amount to just under one sten point. Given that, we would expect a personÕs score to be within a range of just under one sten point 68 percent of the time or we can be at least 68% certain that if repeatedly tested, the respondentÕs score will be within a range of plus or minus one sten point.