16PF® (5th Edition) Personal Career Development Profile (2000)

Walter, V. 16PF® (5th Edition) Personal Career Development Profile (2000). Champaign, IL: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing, Inc. Manual, $38, 16PF Fifth Edition Administrator's Manual, $44. Reusable questionnaires, 10 for $20. Computer scoreable answer sheets, 25 for $18. Individual scoring and interpretative reports for quantities of 1-9 are $30, via OnSite (software), OnFax, Mail-In, or NetAssess (online). PCDP Plus reports also cost $30 for quantities of 1-9. Larger quantities cost less for each. Fax charges are an additional $3 each.

PURPOSE AND NATURE OF TEST

The 16PF Personal Career Development Profile (PCDP) is a computer-generated, interpretive report based on the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire-Fifth Edition (16PF5 Questionnaire). Walter (2000b) reported that the PCDP stems from the work of Campbell, Hyne, and Nilsen (1992), Cattell (1973), Holland (1973), Knowles (1970), Porter (1976), Strong (1939), Super (1972, 1983), and Sweney (1980). Using this input, the PCDP report summarizes the career strengths of a person based on aspects of his or her personality. The report also matches the respondent to careers in which people with similar personality traits are successfully employed. The PCDP "is intended to be used to enhance the assessment of a respondent's overall effectiveness and as a part of the career counseling process which includes an appraisal of interests and abilities, an evaluation of work history, and an augmentation of knowledge of occupations" (Olson & Matlock, 1994, p. 303). The publisher reports a variety of applications for the PCDP, including career and personal counseling, employee and manager training and development, personnel selection, and career transition coaching.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

To generate a PCDP narrative report, the respondent must first complete the 16PF5 Questionnaire. The 16PF5 Questionnaire is designed to identify key personality factors and predict behaviors for persons over the age of 16. The test is not a predictor of abnormal personality traits. The 16PF5 Questionnaire is readable at the fifth-grade level, according to the publisher. The test consists of 185 items. The first 170 items on the 16PF5 Questionnaire require a respondent to choose from among three options. Of the first 170 items, 103 are true-false questions. A question mark (?) serves as the middle option, for items when, as the manual states, "neither option is better" (Russel & Karol, 1994). The last...