IMPROVING CRITERION-RELATED VALIDITY IN PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRES AT THE ITEM LEVEL Dimitrov, Roger When using a personality questionnaire for predicting behavior, criterion-related validity improvements have historically focused on improving scale level construction techniques over examining the global impact of item-level characteristics on criterion-related validity. This article investigates the impact of item-level characteristics on the criterion-related validity of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) (as a personality instrument) as a predictor of job-related behavior. Two self-report FFM measures were correlated with workplace observer ratings to derive mean validity scores for each of the FFM items. A panel of judges then rated these items on the following item characteristics: ambiguity, abstractness, comprehensibility, wording, negation, transparency and social desirability. As hypothesized, social desirability, negation, wording and transparency were correlated with criterion-related validity. Contrary to the study hypothesis, abstractness was found to be positively correlated with criterion-related validity. M.S. in Psychology, May 2015 Mead, Alan 2015 2015-05 Thesis application/pdf islandora:8880 http://hdl.handle.net/10560/3509 PSYCH / Institute of Psychology Illinois Institute of Technology en In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/ Restricted Access