Good Evening Everyone!
I've volunteered to start the thread each week for our blog. My apologies on the delay. I will aim to have the post ready by mid-day Wednesday in future weeks. Please select the 'comments' link at the bottom of this post to express your thoughts. My reaction is the following:
It seems evaluations like this one come a dime a dozen these days. Each have their own way of placing individuals into certain categories based on a number of responses. They can be found in businesses, relationships, religions, and many other facets of life. Looking at the positives, when we finish the test we are provided with some piece of information that might serve to help us further our understand of makes us who we are - our personality, strengths/weaknesses, compatibility, etc. This knowledge can be applied to make more informed decisions in the future. In a given situation, if we understand our natural instinct is to select option A (which may have negative consequences), we can become conscious of our choices and work on making sure they are the best fit for our well-being.
However, there are very dangerous side-effects of putting our faith in such a test like this. These tests place individuals into categories. If not explained and interpreted correctly, the test might be seen as an end-all answer. The individual may say to themselves that is who they must be and conclude that they can not make changes to whatever the results are (given that results are even accurate because responses to questions can change given the mood of the test taker that day). All these problems close the door on what is our most precious gift in life - our unlimited potential. Our potential to write whatever story we like in life and achieve whatever it is that we define as greatness. The categories of this test build walls that prevent individuals from stepping outside their perceived comfort zones and seeing that the limits they set were only illusions. The sky is the limit...
Look forward to your thoughts, have a great weekend!!!
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I took the Vals Survey and was typecast as and Innovator/Thinker. When I read the descriptions for innovator and thinker there were parts of the description that accurately described me, while other parts were not at all accurate in describing me. For example, it stated that as an innovator I am very receptive to new technologies, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. I hate reading technical manuals, and am not at all intuitive when it comes to new technologies. The “thinker” category was a more accurate description of me, but both categories were rather broad-based and could fit many different types of people.
ReplyDeleteI have taken a psychometrics class so have taken various other forms of these types of tests, and believe they can provide some useful information as long as they are kept in context. The Strong Interest Inventory is a comprehensive instrument that is often used as an aid in making decisions regarding career and education plans. These tests should be used as only an aid to making decisions, and not as hard facts.
The Vals Survey was a very short, quick test that was fun to take which must be kept in mind when interpreting the results. Also, there was no “neutral” option for some of the questions forcing me to choose on the “agree” or “disagree” side which didn’t accurately reflect my position. Overall, I think these types of tests are fun and interesting, but they should be used as only a small portion of the information when making complex decisions in life, such as education or career paths.
Gayle Sanders
First off, i think it would be interesting and telling to see how the class segments accross the framework. Secondly, i didn't look into what we were being surveyed on before i started and found the questions oddly all over the place. Lastly, anytime a population is being segmented into a framework it is highly likely that individuals will more realisitcally fall somewhere ona spectrum of the different chriterion as apposed to stricly one or the other.
ReplyDeleteI think surveys like VALS can be helpful as a starting place to understand different groups within a population. Tools like this are meant to push or pull people in one direction or another. These tools are intended to minimize discrpancy and maxamize similarity in order to create groups that have somehting in common. VALS is not intended for us as consumers to use, rather it is intended for marketting professionals to use.
We all exhibit the 8 charactersitics at different times in our day, week, and lives. And as consumers, we all know that our consumption paterns have less and less to do with who we are and more to do with the image the product is selling. We consume based on who we want to be.
I have never really liked these types of surveys that attempt to discover who you really are. At a previous job, the whole organization took a staff day to have a dynamic speaker lead us into a very complicated survey that fit each person into a specific color that represented a different type of personality. The whole aim of the staff day was that people had different types of personalities and communication styles. In order to effectively work and communicate, we all needed to know what type we were so we could then understand each other and see where we were all coming from. The rest of the day was spent on how green could work effectively with orange, blue with red, etc. I did not enjoy it very much. I have issues with categories and forcing things into boxes.
ReplyDeleteThe VALS study is another such survey. I do see the value that this study has to marketing companies. Marketing companies need to dissect the population into neat boxes so they can tailor their product specifically for each segment. The interesting thing about the VALS study is that they ask the same questions over and over again by reframing the question. I caught myself answering differently to the same question that was just reworded differently.
The results of these types of surveys are always fun, however they are not exactly accurate. I disagreed completely with one of my designations and then only partially agreed with the other. Whatever the outcome, these surveys are important in all types of research that needs to break down the population into categories that fit each project.
I agree with Dave's comment about how these surveys now are a dime a dozen. Such a short survey tells who I am as a person. They told me I was a striver/achiever, and maybe some things were right, like in achiever being close to your family but other things were not (you can find right and wrong things in your daily horoscope as well...).
ReplyDeleteThese types of surveys are everywhere now. When applying for jobs (restaurant or retail jobs) they have you fill out a survey that is a few pages long. I really don't like them because there is no way for you to explain your answers and they ask about such situational behaviors. You are judged as a good fit to the job because you are forced to agree or disagree on a thought.
The VALS survey is a very rough estimate of personality types. However, given that the purpose of the test is to categorize consumer types, it serves its purposes. Aside from the watering down personality types into eight categories, the test appears pretty consistent in its categorization. I took the test on two separate occasions with matching results, which may indicate that limiting the number of categories may prove the test more reliable. The test is less impervious to mood swings and change in temporary subjective views. The narrow spectrum of answers forces individuals into committing to general answers. With a larger scale, say a 10-point scale, individuals may be more incline to vary their answer from day to day as a increase from a 7 to an 8 is not as dramatic at a jump from a 3 to a 4.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of an assessment of individual personality the VALS survey does a poor job. I am guessing that the majority of the individuals in the MPH program are classified as Innovators given that Public Health aims to aid those with less. This may indicate that the VALS test does well at indentifying the personality of a group of people with similar interests. However, our passions and interests are so widespread and varied that lumping all of the MPH students into one typecast is a limitation of the VALS survey. Overall, the primary motivation isn’t necessarily wrong, it’s just not specific enough to define each kind of Innovator that can exist. The vertical dimension attempts detect these minor differences but even so, with the vagueness of the questions that VALS test cannot accurately describe an individual’s personality.
In conclusion, it appears as if the VALS test would be useful at identify characteristics of a group population rather that than those of an individual. Applied to public health, we could use the VALS test to create “consumer” groups for our health campaigns, and use their characteristics to structure our goals and materials.
This was a fast, easy test that very accurately described my personality aside from a few minor details. As far as my 'consumer' personality, it was also accurate except that it stated I favored American products. This is not necessarily a false statement, I just don't normally catagorize the things I purchase based on where they are made.
ReplyDeleteThis tool would be most useful in advertising when describing products to its target population. It would be useful in public health to identify what motivates a population for an intervention. It could be used to market the intervention in a way that the population would 'buy'.
My outcome of the survey show that I am an experiencer and innovator. I guess since I'm in my twenties and don't have any children it makes sense that I'm classified as an experiencer that spends a chunk of my income on fashion, entertainment, etc. It also says that I seek variety and excitement in my day-to-day life, which I agree with. Innovators are receptive to new ideas and technologies and are active consumers. I also feel that I fall into this category.
ReplyDeleteVALS is a marketing and consulting firm and this survey segments the consumer marketplace on the basis of personality traits. I don't really think that it's meant to tell the survey taker what kind of personality traits they have, but rather to tell the survey taker what category they are part of. The survey is useful because it characterizes the target population and helps to market products more effectively to those people. I think there are a few weaknesses when it comes to the structure of the survey. For example, there were a few questions that asked the same thing just worded a bit differently. I agree with other people's comments that the questions were all over the place.
Cindy Tolentino
First off, the VALS survey deemed me an Achiever/Innovator.
ReplyDeleteI take these tests with a grain of salt. These tests are so much of the vein of horoscopes and zodiac signs that it kills me. (No offense to anyone who truly adheres to the Zodiac prinicple... i am a tried and true taurus... and therein lies the rub).
These tests use broad catagories that can truly describe aspects of everyone. The descriptors concentrate mainly on positive characteristics - not truly the negative. Going back to the idea that i am characterisitacally a Taurus - i am loyal, i am earthy, i am stubborn - can't all people relate with these characteristics at one point or another???
If my VALS survey had come out as experiencer/innovator or any other combo, I would probably take a look at aspects of my life that fit that certain bill and say, "yeah, thats right, i am this and this..."
I think that as long as the charactersitics being handed out are positive, thats fine with me - people need an ego boost every once in a while!!!
Just don't close yourself off to another characteristic because you aren't "deemed" that by some test. All things in moderation, my friends...
Happy Monday,
Alexis
The VALS survey is a way to roughly categorize people into personality types. Overall, I did not find this particular survey to be accurate in determining my “type”. I was deemed an innovator/thinker. Different aspects of each type were correct, but as a whole I didn’t think it rang true to my personality (or at least my own interpretation!). I found a few aspects of the survey troublesome. For instance, since the scale that was used did not have an option like “neutral”, it forced me to answer in a way that might not be representative of my true personality. Also, while I acknowledge that it was a fun, short survey, I feel that many of the questions were very sporadic. On the other hand, I did like how many of the same types of questions were asked several different ways, which would increase the reliability of the survey. Also, the length was short enough to prohibit “question fatigue”.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of the previous postings that say these surveys are now “a dime a dozen”, with very few of them being valid and reliable measures of personality types. Oftentimes, these types of survey tools are used when applying for job positions. When these surveys are used in job settings, I do not think they are an accurate tool to assess an individual’s personality. Many people are going to answer in a fashion that is conducive with the particular job they are applying for because the results are not anonymous.
After reading the results of my survey, I gained some insight into my work style and personality. I think that it is interesting to self-asess and learn more specifically about how we set goals and our work style. With that said, I tend to disagree with how heavily these tests are weitghed in some organizations and/or networks. I read things about myself that I agreed with but also things that I completely disagreed with.
ReplyDeleteBecause there are so many types of these tests, as Dave mentioned, it doesn't seem relevant to weigh the results heavily or base serious decisions on the results. This test specifically is so short and gives limited feedback that I think the accuracy is even less than others that I have seen. For example, I took an asessment that was much more involved and invasive, consequently producing more accurate results. At the very least, the VALS survey was interesting and fun.
I don't think this test accurately described my personality at all. But, this might be because it labeled me as highly conservative and consumeristic- the two things I try to avoid at all costs. So maybe I was blinded by those two traits ;)
ReplyDeleteI took a look at all the possible results though, and realized that none of them described me as I would describe myself. However, I think that's one of the biggest flaws of tests such as this. It's difficult to say if it is true or not. If you say, "Oh yeah that's definitely me," then why did you even need to take the test to begin with? It lacks an element of falsifiability, in my opinion. I think with this test in particular, there were two few options. We, as individuals, cannot and should not be sectioned into so few categories. I think our behaviors and personalities are significantly more complex than these tests lead one to believe. I neither like nor believe the idea that many other people would receive the exact same personality profile as myself.
Instead, I advocate and try to adhere to frequent personal reflection. If you take the time to know yourself, your strengths, and your weaknesses, then who needs online tests? Of course, for more thorough ones, I suppose can see the benefit of use for cursory company screenings or personality matching- if it's necessary.
I also took the survey without doing much research about the VALS survey before hand, and the questions were pretty all over the place. But I have taken many surveys like this in the past as a psych major and at my job. I was classified as an innovator/experiencer which it sounds like a lot of other people were categorized that way as well, which clearly reflects our choice to enter into a public health masters program. I think these surveys can be a useful tool when it comes to targeting an audience. However, just like the dozens of other surveys I have taken, they are all fairly vague and just try to group people into broad categories, which most people could probably identify with even if it wasn't their main personality type. I think these surveys are interesting at best but there are so many I don't see how incredibly useful they can be. I took a survey at work, something along the title of "true colors" and it helped identified peoples work habits and it was a pretty extensive survey. It was interesting to discover what "colors" your co-workers were and even suggested how people with different or the same colors could work together. That was the only survey I felt was useful in a direct, effective way. VALS was fun and interesting, but hardly delivered eye opening results.
ReplyDeleteWhile taking the survey i felt i was answering almost the same questions again and again. I also felt that for some questions options like mostly disagree or mostly agree seemed irrelevant and maybe misleading.Though at the end of the survey i was happy about the results-i was classified an achiever/striver, but some characteristics of my personalities that it showed were not true. These surveys maybe fun sometimes but i doubt how accurately they can describe or categorize an individual's personality. It maybe helpful for the Marketing sector to broadly categorize consumers but it is definitely not a true reflection of one's personality.
ReplyDeleteI took the VALS survey and was classified-achiever/striver. Though i agreed on some of my personality traits but others were not even close to the person i am. Such surveys may be helpful to categorize consumers into broader personality types however these are not true estimates of ones personality traits and cannot be relied on completely.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kelly that when such surveys are taken for job applications they might be framed in a way that benefits the person and hence should not be relied on completely to understand a person's personality. There is much more to a person than just being a thinker/striver/achiever etc. I also felt that some questions were repititive and it felt boring to be answering them all over again.
I was classified by the VALS Survey as an Achiever and Innovator. For the most part I believe these classifications describe me well; however, the descriptions are broad and general and some aspects do not apply to me. Two things I liked about the survey was that it was not long and the statements were straightforward. I did; however, dislike the fact that there was not a neutral answer choice. There were some statements I felt I did not agree or disagree with. Yet, I was forced to select agree or disagree. Since I did not research what the VALS Survey I had no idea what my answer choices was going to say about me. It was fun trying to figure it out as I agreed or disagreed with each statement.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, surveys such as the VALS can be useful in identifying personality traits but should not be the only determinant of a person’s character. I can see this tool being used in a team building setting where it can be a fun interactive way for people to learn about different personality traits in a group setting.
VALS survey system is based on psychological traits which help many companies to assess their particular market and attitude of its consumers. But the questions that are asked are few and not in detail which may fail to comply with the marketers chance of cutting through today's advertising clutter. I was classified as an Experiencer/Innovator according to the survey, which is far from my primary as well as secondary types. My personality leans more towards Thinkers/Believers. Though , there are quite a variety of surveys in the market that are successful, but VALS could not justify my psychological trait. Filling out surveys can be fun, but judging one's personality through it is very difficult and misleading results can affect marketers a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe results of my VALS test were that I was a Thinker/Innovator. For the most part, it does cover my over-all traits well.
ReplyDeleteFor a quick and short test as it was, it did give a fairly accurate description of what I look for and see-this would be very useful to someone wanting to "market" to me. Yes, a more in-depth type test would be more fine-tuned to me personally but for someone wanting to get a good and quick snapshot of a population, this would probably do OK.
Oh course, like many have said, this is perhaps too broad to give the finer points of our "personality". But looking at what it would be used for-marketing-it seems to be an easy, quick, and simple enough test that people would be willing to take that would give marketers a good sense of the wants, needs, and desires of their targeted population.
The VALS survey was short and very easy to complete. I ended up being categorized as an ACHIEVER/INNOVATOR. As I read through the descriptions of these categories I realized that some of the traits did describe me, while others were way off. I can see how this type of survey may be useful for those in marketing and advertising to identify or group people into general categories. However, personally I didn’t find it particularly useful. It actually reminded me of my reaction when reading my horoscope in the newspaper: entertaining, but nothing I would take too seriously. However, I do find these type of surveys fun and interesting and that is probably the reason I will usually take the time to complete them when I run across them in magazines or online.
ReplyDeleteThe VALS survey is to help understand the personality types of the consumers... what they want and need. And it is just that. It's for the purpose of the businesses, to find what makes us tick. I don't think people need to read into the fact that they are grouped into one of the eight personality types that may or may not accurately describe them... what does it matter? It's not being used to tell you who you are or who you should be. It actually seems like, if accurate, could be beneficial to marketers or business owners. For example, I was an achiever/striver, the survey told me I'm as impulsive of a buyer as my financial situation will let me be. That... is most likely very true, but the point is this information can really help a business target me. If something desirable is placed in front of a store with a great price tag on it, that will help draw those (impulse) costumers in.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a neat little survey, and after taking it and reading more of what VALS was about, I can appreciate the effort a little bit more. I definitely do agree with my other classmates on needing an option of "don't know" or "neutral." I ended up marking responses even though I maybe didn't have one strong feeling over another. I also wonder how they test to see if these surveys are accurate in providing information about their consumers.
According to the VALS survey , i am primarily an experiencer and secondarily an innovator.It says primary type represents my dominant approach towards my life and secondary classification represents a particular emphasis i give to my dominant approach.But i am not fully satisfied either with the test or with its result. I think question was not that much self explanatory and are directed towards a particular type of group.Only good thing about the survey is its shortness.
ReplyDeleteThe VALS survey classified me as a Experiencer and an Innovator. In general I do I agree with the survey classification, especially with the Experiencer. The Experiencer person is described as an enthusiastic, impulsive, excitment seeking, and finds an outlet in exercise, sports and the outdoors. I don't really agree with the Innovator description because it mentioned that image is important expression of taste and I like to think that my expression of taste is a reflection of my personality. Overall, the test was fun and easy to take and like most surveys that predict personally traits or behavior, there is plenty of room for better accuracy.
ReplyDeleteThe VALS survey reported that my primary type is Striver, and my secondary type is Thinker.Apparently the primary VALS type represents my dominant approach to life. The secondary classification represents a particular emphasis I give to my dominant approach. Based on the explanations on what the thinker type is: someone motivated by ideals mature satisfied, reflective and someone who values knowledge, I agree that that is an adequate description of who I am. I don’t agree with the translation of this thinker type into the type of consumer I am supposed to be. The VALS survey site states “ Thinkers are conservative, practical consumers; they look for durability, functionality and value in the products they buy” Hmmm for me it depends on what type of product but for the most part my main criteria is that is it cheap ? If it is cheap I will buy it regardless of whether I need it or not. Also the type of questions on the survey does not really capture the ethnic diversity in the U.S.A. The self starter, consumerism type is very much an American value and may not be very applicable to immigrants or ethnic minorities. My primary type according to the VALS Survey is a Striver, someone who is trendy and fun loving, motivated, concerned about opinions and approval of others and that money defines success. I agree with most of this except that I am not trendy nor do I think money defines success. I know I am not trendy because I certainly can’t understand why Versace cloths cost thousands of dollars or even why I would want to wear his cloths even it were free. But then again maybe that’s just an American thing I don’t understand. In addition, I really don’t thin money defines success; Don’t get me wrong of course I will take a million dollars any day if someone was giving it out for free. However, to me success is beating the odds; achieving things that no one expected of you even yourself. Success is making contributions to society that remains even after you are gone. Success is waking up one morning when I am 90 years old and saying to myself, yes I have lived my life to the fullest, I have done everything I can to make the world a better place and I am ready to leave the planet. All that being said, I am still the most gullible consumer. Just put on an infomercial at 2 am in the morning selling who knows what and within 15 mins I am absolutely convinced that the potato dicer or the tooth brush sterilizer is going to change my life and I absolutely must have it. So in my opinion marketers should just make gullibility surveys and target all their products towards these people
ReplyDelete