Replication of psychometric analysis of the 4Elements Inventory (4EI) in the general population
Replication of psychometric analysis of the 4Elements Inventory (4EI) in the general population

Author(s): Eva Höschlová, Radvan Bahbouh
Subject(s): Psychology, Organizational Psychology, Methodology and research technology
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Personality; 4 elements inventory; reliability; validity;
Summary/Abstract: Objective. The 4EI questionnaire, based on a four-factor personality model derived from the metaphor of the four elements, was standardized in 2008 in the form of a 100-item version on a quota representative Czech sample (N=493), after ten years of prior development. Following that, it was also standardized based on quota representative samples in the US and Spain. In 2018, the psychometric analysis of 4EI was replicated on a sample of the general population (GP). Method. The GP sample was comprised of all those who filled out the questionnaire since the aforementioned standardization (N=13 298, 58.5% females, average age 36.7, SD=9.7). A basic descriptive statistics item analysis, correlational analysis of the four elements (dimensions), as well as reliability measures and exploratory factor analysis were all repeated on this sample and compared with the previous analyses’ results. Results. In both samples, the difficulty of all items ranged between .1 and .9 and all items correlated with corresponding scales at least .2 or stronger. All four elements (dimensions) reached a high reliability, comparable with the previous estimations. The EFA of a priori fourfactor structure showed results comparable to those of the analysis performed ten years ago. Factor scores as outputs from EFA highly correlate with raw scores of four measured elements (from .96 to .71). Conclusions. Our study provides support for the psychometric qualities of the 4EI questionnaire, even using the new, extended GP sample. Limitations. The EFA as an exploratory tool provides sufficient evidence neither for the stability of factor structure in time nor for the factor validity. Therefore, there is a new article about 4EI in progress, where the results of CFA and ESEM will be provided.

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