We employ a new approach for classifying methods of personality measurement such as self-judgment, mental ability, and lifespace measures and the data they produce. We divide these measures into two fundamental groups: personal-source data, which arise from the target person’s own reports, and external-source data, which derive from the areas surrounding the person. These two broad classes are then further divided according to what they target and the response processes that produce them. We use the model to organize roughly a dozen kinds of data currently employed in the field. With this classification system in hand, we describe how much we might expect two types of measures of the same attribute to converge—and explain why methods often yield somewhat different results. Given that each measurement method has its own strengths and weaknesses, we examine the pros and cons of selecting a given type of measure to assess a specific area of personality.

中文翻译：

---

关于人格测量及其数据：测量方法的分类及其推荐用途

我们采用了一种新的方法对人格测量方法进行分类，例如自我判断、心理能力和生活空间测量及其产生的数据。我们将这些措施分为两个基本组：个人源数据（来自目标人自己的报告）和外部源数据（来自该人周围的区域）。然后根据它们的目标和产生它们的响应过程进一步划分这两个大类。我们使用该模型来组织该领域目前使用的大约十几种数据。有了这个分类系统，我们就可以描述同一属性的两种类型的度量在多大程度上会收敛，并解释为什么方法经常会产生不同的结果。鉴于每种测量方法都有其自身的优点和缺点，我们研究了选择特定类型的测量方法来评估特定人格领域的利弊。