Self-report are personality tests which as the person to answer a series of questions about their characteristic behavior and how they react in certain situations and are used to measure a specific personality trait. For example, they are told to state that they agree or disagree with sentences such as "I like most people I meet". Self-report inventories are structured interviews that can be easily scored. Each person answers to the same set of questions. Each item contributes to the final score on each personality trait. For example, in an inventory designed to measure the Big Five, the item, "I like most people I meet" is on the Extraversion scale.
Each item in an inventory is designed to relate with each trait of a certain theory. The responses of the tested person will be a analyzed to see which trait scale he belongs to.
Self-report inventories are use for clinical, counseling, and personnel work.
