Investigator

Project Summary

Structural equation modeling (SEM), which includes diverse techniques like measurement model, latent variable modeling, causal modeling, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), path analysis etc., represents an important development in social sciences in Western countries. Similarly Five-Factor Model of personality (FFM) represents, perhaps, the most popular emerging trait model of personality, investigated in 33 countries, 29 languages and 36 countries. In India, the first published accounts of the FFM have been provided by our research group. The Western literature as well as our own studies indicate that the maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis (ML-CFA), a technique based on SEM is not quite suitable for recovering the Five-Factor structure. On the basis of the detailed review of the literature, we propose to compare the three confirmatory factor analytic methods- maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis (ML-CFA), unweighted least square confirmatory factor analysis (ULS-CFA) and generalized least square confirmatory factor analysis (GLS-CFA), all three based on the SEM and some more confirmatory factor analytic methods in non-SEM tradition, like orthogonal and oblique procrustes transformations / rotations and multiple group factor analysis (MGFA). We intend to apply all these methods to the empirical data and test how well they do in recovering the Five-Factor structure. We hope the study to contribute substantially to the field of personality psychology and psychometry.

Recent Publications of the Investigator
(only those relevant for the project)

1. Lodhi, P. H., Deo, S., and Belhekar, V. M. (2002). The Five-Factor Model of personality: Measurement and correlates in the Indian context. In R. R. McCrae & J. Allik (Eds.), The Five-Factor Model of personality across cultures (pp 227-248). New York: Kluwer Academics/ Plenum Publishers.
2. Lodhi, P. H., Deo, S. and Belhekar, V. M. (2004). Evaluating the Five-Factor Model of Personality: Confirmatory Factor Analyses of the Revised NEO-Personality Inventory. Journal of Psychological Researches, 48, 17-24.
3. Lodhi, P. H., Deo, S. and Belhekar, V. M. (communicated). Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale: Psychometric Evaluation and Eysenckian and Five-Factor Personality Correlates. Submitted to Personality and Individual Differences. (U.K.)

Qualifications

Master's degree in Psychology with 55% of marks. The candidate should (i) have good background in Personality psychology, particularly the Five-Factor model, (ii) be familiar with the use of the softwares like SPSS, LISREL, and MATLAB, and (iii) have working knowledge of elementary matrix algebra.

Additional Information

The candidates who are already working in this area will be given a preference.

The duration required for the project will vary to some extent depending on the candidate's background. An advanced student, already registered for Ph.D., should be able to complete this project within a year whereas a totally fresh candidate will require much longer time. Such a candidate can register for a doctoral degree but he/she is given a very clear understanding that neither the CMS nor the department would provide him/her the financial assistance beyond one year.

Other things being equal, the candidate already working in this area will be given a preference.

Our target is to produce a good paper for a prestigious journal. In addition the candidate may use this work for his/her doctoral degree.

About | People • Students • Alumni | Programmes | Contact
Research • Reports | Announcements | Moodle

---

© Centre for Modeling & Simulation, Savitribai Phule Pune University