Measurement of Personality

The personality of a person is very complex and very hard to measure actually but
there are many tools developed by different psychologist which help a lot to
understand personality of any person. Some of the method to examine personality is
case studies, interviews, naturalistic observation, laboratory investigation and
psychological test.
Personality test helps to make estimation of clients’ strengths and weaknesses, and
useful in making the interpretation and planning of the treatment. For performing any
personality test these measures must be reliable, valid and standardized.
The first personality tests were developed in 1920s and were intended to ease the
process of personnel selection, particularly in the armed forces during WW I for
identifying emotionally disturbed person. Since these early efforts of test
development, a wide variety of personality tests have been developed, notably
the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the MMPI, and a number of tests based
on the Five Factor Model of personality.
On the basis of standardization, there are basically two different types of tests of
personality:
 Standardized Test
 Non-Standardized Test
Standardized Test
 Test that is administered and Scored in Consistent or standard manner.
 They are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for
administering, scoring procedures and interpretations are consistent and are
administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner.
 Standardized tests are perceived as being fairer than non-standardized tests.
 Any tests in which the same test is given in the same manner to all test takers.
 Army Alpha test, Army Beta test Developed by Robert Yerkes, ACT (
American College Testing), Achievement test, Aptitude test, Psychological
tests like test of IQ etc are the examples of Standardized tests.
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 Advantages of Standardized Test
 The result of standardized testing can be empirically documented. Therefore,
the test scores can be shown to have a relative degree of reliability and
validity.
 The results are generalizable and replicable.
 There lies no biasness in the test.
Non-standardized Test
 Unlike Standardized test, non-standardized test are significantly different to
different test takers or gives the same test under significantly different
conditions ( for example, one group of test taker is given permitted far less
time to complete the test than the next group)
 Non-standardized tests would be evaluated differently.

Broadly personality test can be divided into three categories according to their use in
modern time.
1. Inventory test or self-reporting test or Objective
2. Projective test
3. Behavioral assessment / Situational test or behavioral test
4. Interview
5. Observation

1. Inventory test or self-reporting test: Self-report inventories require individual to

respond to certain statements if it concern them. This method is also called the paper
pencil test. It consists of formal standardized questionnaire, statement or test. A self-
report inventory is a type of psychological test which is often used in personality
assessment. This type of test is often presented in a paper-and-pencil format or may
even be administered on a computer. A typical self-report inventory presents a
number of questions or statements that may or may not describe certain qualities or
characteristics of the test subject. The answer are usually in yes/no format. The score
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 obtained are indicators of the individual’s personality. The first was developed by
Wood Worth known as ―Personal Data Sheet‖. Later many were developed by
different experts as Cattell, Guilford, bell, etc. Chances are good that you have taken
a self-report inventory at some time the past. Such questionnaires are often seen in
doctors’ offices, in on-line personality tests and in market research surveys. This
type of survey can be used to look at your current behaviors, past behaviors and
possible behaviors in hypothetical situations. The most frequent self-report test are
 The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
 The California psychological Inventory (CPI)

MMPI: The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was developed in

the late 1930's by psychologist Starke R. Hathaway and psychiatrist J.C. McKinley
at the University of Minnesota. MMPI is a questionnaire which is based on the 10
dimensions of personality. It consists of 550 items or statements with yes, no or I
don’t know answers as an alternative for each statements. Today, it is the frequently
used clinical testing instrument and is one of the most researched psychological tests
in existence. While the MMPI is not a perfect test, but it remains a valuable tool in
the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.
A revision of the MMPI, the MMPI-2 has 567 items with 10 clinical dimension or
scales. The wording of many of the original MMPI questions has been updated and
few questions deleted. MMPI-2 has acceptability for large area of population for
broad population.
Administering the MMPI
The MMPI-2 contains 567 test items and takes approximately 60 to 90 minutes to
complete. The MMPI-2-RF contains 338 questions and takes around 30 to 50
minutes to complete.
The MMPI should be administered, scored, and interpreted by a professional,
preferably a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist, who has received specific training
in MMPI use. The test should be used in collaboration with other assessment tools.
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Diagnosis should never be made solely on the results of the test. While taking the
test the subject reads each item and decides whether or not it applies to him.

The 10 scales of clinical disorder are:

The MMPI has 10 clinical scales that are used to indicate different psychological
conditions. Despite the names given to each scale, they are not a pure measure since
many conditions have overlapping symptoms. Because of this, most psychologists
simply refer to each scale by number.
Scale 1 – Hypochondriasis: This scale was designed to asses a neurotic concern
over bodily functioning. The 32-items on this scale concern somatic symptoms and
physical well-being. The scale was originally developed to identify patients
displaying the symptoms of hypochondria.
Scale 2 – Depression: This scale was originally designed to identify depression,
characterized by poor morale, lack of hope in the future, and a general dissatisfaction
with one's own life situation. Very high scores may indicate depression, while
moderate scores tend to reveal a general dissatisfaction with one’s life.
Scale 3 – Hysteria: The third scale was originally designed to identify those who
display hysteria in stressful situations. Those who are well educated and of a high
social class tend to score higher on this scale. Women also tend to score higher than
men on this scale.
Scale 4 - Psychopathic Deviate: Originally developed to identify psychopathic
patients, this scale measures social deviation, lack of acceptance of authority, and
amorality. This scale can be thought of as a measure of disobedience. High scorers
tend to be more rebellious, while low scorers are more accepting of authority.
Despite the name of this scale, high scorers are usually diagnosed with a personality
disorder rather than a psychotic disorder.
Scale 5 – Masculinity/Femininity: This scale was designed by the original author’s
to identify homosexual tendencies, but was found to be largely ineffective. High

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scores on this scale are related to factors such as intelligence, socioeconomic status,
and education. Women tend to score low on this scale.
Scale 6 – Paranoia: This scale was originally developed to identify patients with
paranoid symptoms such as suspiciousness, feelings of persecution, grandiose self-
concepts, excessive sensitivity, and rigid attitudes. Those who score high on this
scale tend to have paranoid symptoms.
Scale 7 – Psychasthenia: This diagnostic label is no longer used today and the
symptoms described on this scale are more reflective of obsessive-compulsive
disorder. This scale was originally used to measure excessive doubts, compulsions,
obsessions, and unreasonable fears.
Scale 8 – Schizophrenia: This scale was originally developed to identify
schizophrenic patients and reflects a wide variety of areas including bizarre thought
processes and peculiar perceptions, social alienation, poor familial relationships,
difficulties in concentration and impulse control, lack of deep interests, disturbing
questions of self-worth and self-identity, and sexual difficulties. This scale is
considered difficult to interpret.
Scale 9 – Hypomania: This scale was developed to identify characteristics of
hypomania such as elevated mood, accelerated speech and motor activity, irritability,
flight of ideas, and brief periods of depression.
Scale 0 – Social introversion: This scale was developed later than the other nine
scales as is designed to assess a person’s tendency to withdraw from social contacts
and responsibilities.
In addition to these clinical scales, MMPI-2 also has other special scale known as
validity and control scale which are designed to detect tendencies for test taker to
present themselves in a favorable light or assess other unusual ways of responding.

Validity Scales of the MMPI-2

The L Scale: Also referred to as the "lie scale," this validity scale was developed to
detect attempts by patients to present them in a favorable light. People who score
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high on this scale deliberately try to present themselves in the most positive way
possible, rejecting shortcomings or unfavorable characteristics. Well-educated
people from higher social classes tend to score lower on the L scale.
The F Scale: This scale is used to detect attempts at "faking good" or "faking bad."
Essentially, people who score high on this test are trying to appear better or worse
than they really are. This scale asks questions designed to determine if test-takers are
contradicting themselves in their responses.
The K Scale: Sometimes referred to as the ―defensiveness scale,‖ this scale is a
more effective and less obvious way of detecting attempts to present oneself in the
best possible way. Research has demonstrated, however, that those of a higher
educational level and socioeconomic status tend to score higher on the K Scale.
The ? Scale: Also known as the ―cannot say‖ scale, this validity scale is the number
of items left unanswered. The MMPI manual recommends that any test with 30 or
more unanswered questions be declared invalid.
TRIN Scale: The True Response Inconsistency Scale was developed to detect
patients who respond inconsistently. This section consists of 23 paired questions that
are opposite of each other.
VRIN Scale: The Variable Response Inconsistency Scale is another method
developed to detect inconsistent responses.
The Fb Scale: This scale is composed of 40 items that less than 10% of normal
respondents support. High scores on this scale sometimes indicate that the
respondent stopped paying attention and began answering questions randomly.
In general the greater the number and magnitude of deviant scores, the more likely is
individual severely disturbed. This scale has been translated in more than 22
languages and adapted for use in many nation and cultures.

CPI [California Psychosocial Inventory]

 It is designed for use with normal adolescents and adults.
 It contains 20 CPI scales such as dominance, responsibility and sociability.
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  This test is used to predict the academic achievement, understand leadership
potential, to get the information on personal social characteristics and to
study individuals in various occupations.

The Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The MBIT was developed by Isable Myers (1987) and her mother, Kathleen Briggs.
It is very famous in business and counseling sector.
The Myers- Brings Type Indicator is a one hundred – question personality test that
asks people how they usually feel or act in particular situations based on Carl Jung’s
personality type used to assess personality.
The test questions are formulated to labels people as extroverted or introverted (E or
I), sensing or intuitive (S or N), thinking or feeling (T or F) and perceiving or
judging (P or J), these are then combined into sixteen personality types. The
descriptions of the term used in MBTI are as follows:
1. Extraversion (E) - Introversion (I): The extraversion-introversion dichotomy was
first explored by Jung in his theory of personality types as a way to describe how
people respond and interact with the world around them. Extraverts are "outward-
turning" and tend to be action-oriented, enjoy more frequent social interaction and
feel energized after spending time with other people. Introverts are "inward-turning"
and tend to be thought-oriented, enjoy deep and meaningful social interactions and
feel recharged after spending time alone. We all exhibit extraversion and
introversion to some degree, but most of us tend have an overall preference for one
or the other.
2. Sensing (S) - Intuition (N): This scale involves looking at how people gather
information from the world around them. Just like with extraversion and
introversion, all people spend some time sensing and intuiting depending on the
situation. According to the MBTI, people tend be dominant in one area or the other.
People who prefer sensing tend to pay a great deal of attention to reality, particularly
to what they can learn from their own senses. They tend to focus on facts and details
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 and enjoy getting hands-on experience. Those who prefer intuition pay more
attention to things like patterns and impressions. They enjoy thinking about
possibilities, imagining the future and abstract theories.
3. Thinking (T) - Feeling (F): This scale focuses on how people make decisions based
on the information that they gathered from their sensing or intuition functions.
People who prefer thinking place a greater emphasis on facts and objective data.
They tend to be consistent, logical, realistic and impersonal when weighing a
decision. Those to prefer feeling are more likely to consider people and emotions
when arriving at a conclusion.
4. Judging (J) - Perceiving (P): The final scale involves how people tend to deal with
the outside world. Those who lean toward judging prefer structure and firm
decisions. People who lean toward perceiving are more open, flexible and adaptable.
These two tendencies interact with the other scales. Remember, all people at least
spend some time extroverting. The judging-perceiving scale helps describe whether
you extravert when you are taking in new information (sensing and intuiting) or
when you are making decisions (thinking and feeling).
After the responses, the personality of an individual are combined into 16PF
personality type and grouped as ENTP, ESTJ, etc. INTJ’s are visionaries. They
usually have original minds and great drive for their own ideas and purposes. They
are characterized as skeptical, critical, independent, determined, and often stubborn.
ESTJ’s organizers. They are practical, realistic, matter- fact, with a natural head for
business or mechanics. They like to organize and run activities. The ENTP type is a
conceptualizer. He or she is quick, ingenious, and good at many things. This person
tends to be resourceful in solving challenging problems, but may neglect routine
assignment. This test is very successful in super successful firm like Sony, Honda,
Microsoft, etc. for predicting job performance Landrum (1993) but still lacking a
proven scientific worth and valid measure of personality (Pittenger, 1993).

Advantages of Inventory
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  The results are reliable as it yields relatively consistent or repeatable results.
 The test is valid as the test measures what the developers intended to
measure.
 Inventories are standardized.
 They are simple. So, they can be easily administered.
 They are economic in terms of time and money since it can be used in large
sample of similar people on the same sitting saving effort.

Disadvantages of Inventories
 The person taking the test should know language otherwise it would be
problem.
 It does not provide space for the test taker to deliver his/her internal self.
 It doesn’t provide much freedom of choice.
 Sometimes individual responses are not honest and the test taker picks the
answers which are socially desirable.

2. Projective Test
Projective tests are free from cultural influences. The subject is presented an
ambiguous or unstructured stimuli like vague pictures, ink-blots, incomplete
sentences and so on into which the subject may read his own idea, wishes, fear,
conflicts, motives and intellectual level, coping, techniques and fantasies which
project his/her strong personality trends.
This type of test emerged from the psychoanalytic school of thought, which
suggested that people have unconscious thoughts or urges. These projective tests
were intended to uncover such unconscious desires that are hidden from conscious
awareness.
Francis Galton is the person who invented this method of testing. His first
experiment was conducted in 1897 and consisted of choosing a selection of words
and letting his mind free associate. He then took the words that he generated in
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 reaction to the original list and put them into new classifications which led think
more about the possibilities of sub-consciousness and thought.
Some points to remember in projective test are:
 Examinees often reveal unconventional and unrecognizable motives and emotional
stress without realizing that they are expressing their inner self
 They provide more freedom to people in their responses than inventories
 In projective test subject does not know meaning , what is good or bad responses so
reveal himself
 Inner self or unconscious self is revealed
 They are one way of uncovering an individual’s unconscious motives
 Most widely used test are Rorschach test and thematic apperception test

The Rorschach test

The well-known psychological test created by Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss
psychiatrist in 1921 in which subjects are asked to describe their perceptions of
various abstract ink-blots. The ink-blots are supposed to be kept very secret so that
the test subject’s responses to them will not be tainted. The idea behind the test has
to do with the immediacy of the reaction. The reactions are supposed to reveal the
innermost workings and secrets of the test subject.
Rorschach dropped ink onto a piece of paper and then folded the paper in half,
creating a symmetrical pattern to make a test. He used 10 symmetrical inkblots,
irregular in outline and varied in shading in which 5 cards in the test are black, white
and grey; the remaining five of the cards included other various colors. These
unstructured and ambiguous cards are used as a diagnostic tool.
ASSUMPTION OF RORSCHACH TEST
 Stimuli from the environment are organized by person’s needs, motives, conflicts
and by certain ―perceptual sets‖

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 These needs become exaggerated when subjects are confronted with ambiguous
stimuli
 These responses are representative of how individuals confront other ambiguous
situations
 Responses are scored along four categories: location, determinants, content and
originality

ADMINISTRATION of TEST
The test has very well organized way of administrating. There is first step of
introducing the subject to the technique. While conducting the tests subject and
examiner sit side-by-side and then examiner start presenting these cards, one at a
time and ask subject to describe what they look like. Blots are visible to subject,
stacked face down and in appropriate order with Card I on top. There is no right or
wrong answer. The test administration is divided in three periods.
1. Free association period:
In this period the examiner records the subject’s responses, comments, reactions and
time taken for the first response. The total time for test, the position of card, and the
time when each of those response is given is recorded.
2. Inquiry period:
This is conducted after all responses are given to all 10 cards by subject. It is done to
gain information needed to score accurately the test. Here there is no directive
question and nondirective questions are used; shortness is the rule. It is to find out
location of response in location sheet and also to enquiry about important features
about card according to subject. It is not for gaining new information but is for
making clear existing responses. For e.g., Card I is handed to the subject and asked
―All right, here you said (Verbatim reading of response)‖. This phase focus on
gaining information and asking questions on: Location (Where is it?), Determinants
(What makes it look like that?), Content (What is it?). In this phase non-verbal
responses as gestures, mannerism, attitude, etc. is also recorded.
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3. Testing of the limit:
This is third phase where the examiner notes what kind of responses not been given
by the subjects, response which are usually given by other subjects. The examiner
suggests to the subject to see like other’s see it and tries to discover whether it is due
to failure, lack of willingness, or inability that is caused for the subject’s oversight.
After the responses have been tabulated and scored an interpretation of Rorschach
test is done on the basis of main criteria, location, contents and originality. The
interpretation of RT is skill which requires expertise to convey its meaning.
Interpretation is done on the basis of following:
 Location: Where are responses coming from, using whole blot (W), a large detail
(D), a tiny detail (d), or white space will determine personality of person.
 Determinants: Determinant cover movement (M), animal motion (FM), color (C) and
shading (K) which subject may see in cards and these also explain personality of
subject.
 Content: what subject see as human, animal, scenario, sexual indication etc.
 Originality: it determines whether response is original or popular and normal or
deviant.

Thematic Apperception Test [TAT]

The TAT was first published in 1935 by Christina Morgan & Henry Murray and was
developed at Harvard University. It was based on principle developed by Freud in
describing the influences of many unconscious principles. As other projective tests
TAT is free from cultural influences, and assume that ambiguous or unstructured
pictures are interpreted by individuals according to their own idea, wishes, fear,
conflicts, motives and intellectual level, coping, techniques and fantasies which
project his/her strong personality trends.

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The Thematic Apperception Test, or TAT, is a projective measure intended to
evaluate a person's patterns of thought, attitudes, observational capacity, and
emotional responses to ambiguous test materials. In the case of the TAT, the
ambiguous materials consist of a set of cards that portray human figures in a variety
of settings and situations. The subject is asked to tell the examiner a story about each
card that includes the following elements: the event shown in the picture; what has
led up to it; what the characters in the picture are feeling and thinking; and the
outcome of the event.
Because the TAT is an example of a projective instrument— that is, it asks the
subject to project his or her habitual patterns of thought and emotional responses
onto the pictures on the cards— many psychologists prefer not to call it a "test,"
because it implies that there are "right" and "wrong" answers to the questions. They
consider the term "technique" to be a more accurate description of the TAT and other
projective assessments.

The TAT contains 31 cards, 30 black and white pictures, and one blank card. Of the
31 pictures, 10 are gender specific while 21 others can be used either with children
and adults of either sex. (Some pictures are intended for boys, some for girls, some
for women and some for men.) The usual administration involves 20 pictures for a
person. Usually only a subset (maybe 10) is administered. TAT is an individual test
in which each card is presented one at a time to one individual.
The subject is handed over the cards one by one and asked to tell a story about what
is happening, what characters are feeling, and the outcome of situation in the card.
The key instructions are," Tell me a story about what you see in this card." The story
should have a beginning, middle and an end. Usually 5 minutes are allowed for each
card, but subject is encouraged to fully express their thought. The subject can explain
the story either orally or in writing. The examiner will also record nonverbal clues as
vocal change, pauses, gestures, flushing, etc.

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 TAT intends to evaluate patterns of thought, attitudes, observational capacity and
emotional responses in a person. The subject is asked to include the following
elements; what has led up to the event shown in the picture, what the characters
in the picture are feeling and thinking and the outcome of the event. It is thought
to penetrate deep unconsciousness and identify needs of subject (achievement need,
affiliation need, security need, etc) and press (Deprivation, Emptiness, Force &
restraint, Danger, Love) in his/her environment.
According to Murray, TAT picture responses can be analyzed into five important
events:
 The Hero: important traits of the main character.
 The Need: motives and interest of the main character.
 The Press: the forces and strength in environment.
 The Theme: the action and reaction between the hero's environment and his forces.
 The Outcome: the concluding situation, or end of the story.

In interpreting responses to the TAT, examiners typically focus their attention on one
of three areas: the content of the stories that the subject tells; the feeling or tone
of the stories; or the subject's behaviors apart from responses. These behaviors
may include verbal remarks (for example, comments about feeling stressed by the
situation or not being a good storyteller) as well as nonverbal actions or signs
(blushing, stammering, fidgeting in the chair, difficulties making eye contact with
the examiner, etc.) The story content usually reveals the subject's attitudes, fantasies,
wishes, inner conflicts, and view of the outside world. The story structure typically
reflects the subject's feelings, assumptions about the world, and an underlying
attitude of optimism or pessimism.

Word Association Test

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  In this technique, there are number of selected words.
 The subject is told that;

 The examiner will utter a series of words, one at a time.

 After each word, the subject is to reply as quickly as possible with the first
word that comes to his/her mind.
 There is no right or wrong answer.

 The examiner then records the reply to each word spoken by him; the
reaction time and any unusual speech or behavior manifestations
accompanying a given response.

Sentence completion test

Sentence completion test include a list of incomplete sentences, generally open at the
end. The incomplete sentence requires the completion by the subjects in one or more
sentences. The subject is asked to go through the list and answer as quickly as
possible without giving second thought to the answers.

For example;
I am worried over ………………………..
My hope is ……………….
I feel proud when …………….
I would like my dad if ……………………..

After the subject completes the test, then the analysis is done on the basis of the
answers provided by the subjects in the complete sentences. Varieties of sentence
completion tests are used for the different purposes. Most commonly used tests are
The Tendler Sentence Completion Test (Tendler, 1930), The Sentence Completion
Test for the Office of Strategic Services Assessment Program (Murray &
MacKinnon, 1946), The Incomplete Sentences Blank (Rotter, 1951) and so on.

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3. Situation or behavioral studies
The most direct and objective method for gathering personality data is to observe the
behavior and simply count specific behaviors that are associated with particular
traits, such as aggression, hostility, friendliness, anxiety or conscientiousness.
Behavior studies can be done naturally by observing people in their own setting. It
can be done in workplace, home, school and the laboratory in controlled
environment. Behavior examination in natural setting is difficult since it is
influenced by the interaction of our innate disposition with our environment. People
don’t behave with consistency, their behavior changes from situation to situation.
The researchers/raters first establish an exact definition of the trait they wish to
measure, identify the behaviors that make up that trait. And then observe the
behaviors of the individuals.
Behavior studies can be done in test situation as well. Test situation provides
opportunity to test, retest, revise and reproduce the examined behavior. Behavior
studies can be easily done through video tapes, tape recorders, checklists and
interviews. Time sampling, episode sampling and sociometry rating scales are used
in behavior studies.
Time sampling: A series of successive observation of an individual's particular
behavior over a period of time are studied. For example, studying pro social / helping
behavior, social relationships in different time period.
Episode sampling: The behavior is studied for longer time depending upon certain
phenomenon. For an instance, an individual's honesty and hostility is studied in
different situations.

Sociometry rating scales

It was developed by J.L. Moreno for describing the social and emotional relationship
among individuals in a group. It attempts to describe attractions or repulsions
between individuals by asking them to indicate whom they would choose or reject in
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various situations. It attempts to describe the attractions or repulsions between
individuals by asking them to indicate whom they would choose and reject in various
situations. It indirectly studies the motive behind the information. The information is
constructed on a chart known as sociogram. Usually sociogram is constructed along
with the interview to be taken with the subject.

Advantages
 When children or others, such as animals, who can’t evaluate or report on
their own personalities are being assessed, behavioral observations are
required.
 It doesn’t depend on people's view of themselves.
 It is relatively direct and objective.

Disadvantages
 It is costly and time consuming.
 Not all the personality traits may be observed. At times some of them are
likely to be experienced internally and subjectively.

4. Interview
Interview is the technique of getting information directly from the subject about
his/her personality. It gives the opportunity for the mutual exchange of ideas and
information between the subject and the psychologists since it would take place face
to face. For this purpose, the psychologist would try to fix a face to face appointment
with the person under assessment. The psychologist makes sure of the personality
traits or behavior he/she has to assess and then makes plan accordingly. Usually, a
list of questions to be asked is prepared for this purpose and after taking proper
consent the subject is asked the questions as prepared. The person taking the test
would not only care for the content of the responses rather the tone, behavior and
other similar factors that would make the difference in the personality. The test taker
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may either use structured, semi structured and unstructured interview as per the
circumstances.

Advantages
 Information can be obtained face to face. So it can be more reliable and
valid.
Disadvantages
 It needs a well trained competent interviewer.
 It is costly in terms of labour, time and money.
 It also suffers from the biasness of the interviewer.

5. Observation

It is one of the oldest and popular methods to study the behavior pattern of an
individual in actual life situation. What personality traits or characteristics the
observer needs to know are first decided by him and then he observes relevant
activities of the subject in real life situations. It involves studying behavior or any
other aspects of the world through careful observation it as it occurs. It is the
careful and accurate measurement of the events through observation.

It can be done in two different ways;

Participatory observation

Non-participatory observation

For having the clear idea, the observer can make the use of tape-recorder, video
recorder and noting taking as well.

Advantages
 Direct observation leads to correct information about the subject under study.
 Participatory observation done leads to free of biasness.
 It is simple and easy to be used.

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  Since the observation is done in natural setting, the validity is higher as
compared to other methods.

Disadvantages
 It may not be cost effective by time and money since it must be done in real
life setting.
 Skillful manpower may be required to carry out the participatory observation.

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