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In 1975, gender identity scholars developed the personality attributes questionnaire. This questionnaire accurately predicts whether a person is masculine, feminine, or in-between based on their character and preferences. 

Gender is a social construct, and it defines every aspect of our lives. The implication is by studying a person’s behavior and how they relate with others, you can get a sense of whether they are masculine, feminine, or androgynous. This article will explain how the personality attributes questionnaire works and why it is still relevant nearly 50 years later. 

What is a Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ)? 

A personal attributes questionnaire helps you to measure gender attributes in individuals. This standard method determines instrumentality or expressivity based on a person’s responses. In this case, responses that lean towards instrumentality are considered masculinity, while expressivity is feminine. 

The personal attributes questionnaire was developed by Janet T. Spence, Robert Helmreich, Joy Stapp, and it has since become one of the most common methods for interpreting gender identity. It is built on a single scale with comparatively heterogeneous items.

Here’s how it works. First, the researcher curates a set of 24 bipolar questions. Attached to each of these questions is 5–point scale with opposite answer options at either end. For example, you could have a question like: Are you a risk-taker? With options like, “yes, I love taking risks” and “I prefer not to.” 

At the end of the questionnaire, the researcher interprets these responses as either masculinity (instrumentality) or femininity (expressivity). There is also a less-popular neutral score—androgyny (masculinity-femininity). 

Importance of PAQ 

  1. In a general sense, personal attributes questionnaires prove to be a reliable method of understanding an individual’s gender identity. 
  2. This questionnaire allows us to ascribe certain qualities to masculinity and femininity. 
  3. PAQ gives you insights into how gender shapes the peculiar experiences of different individuals in terms of how they behave, react and relate with others in different contexts. 
  4. The personal attributes questionnaire is one of the oldest methods for understanding gender-specific personality characteristics.
  5. It gives some degree of interpretation of how gender identity influences power and individual aspirations. 
  6. Personal attributes questionnaires measure desirable qualities in people of different genders. 

33+ Personal Attributes Questions 

1. How would you describe yourself? 

A–Not at all Aggressive

B

C

D

E–Very Aggressive 

2. How would you describe yourself?

A–Not Independent 

B

C

D

E–Independent 

3. When you face challenges, how do you deal with them?

A–Never give up easily 

B

C

D

E–Give up easily

4. What kind of person are you?

A–Not emotional 

B

C

D-

E–Very emotional 

5. How do you deal with a significant crisis?

A–Not at all excitable

B

C

D

E–Very excitable

6. How would you describe your commitment to others? 

A–I am not at all able to devote myself entirely to others

B

C

D

E–Able to devote self entirely to others

7. How competitive are you?

A–Not at all competitive 

B

C

D

E–Very Competitive 

8. How helpful are you to others? 

A–Not at all helpful to others

B

C

D

E–Very helpful to others 

9. How would you describe yourself?

A-Not home-oriented 

B

C

D

E-Very home-oriented 

10. How would you describe your dealings with others? 

A-I am indifferent to others approval

B

C

D

E-Highly needful of others approval

11. How do you relate with others? 

A-Very cold in relating with others

B

C

D

E-I relate warmly with other people 

12. How would you describe yourself?

A-Not submissive

B

C

D

E-Very submissive 

13. How would you describe yourself?

A-I never cry

B

C

D

E-Cries frequently 

14. How do you work under pressure?

A-Goes to pieces under pressure

B

C

D

E-Stands up well under pressure

15. How will others describe you?

A-Not at all kind

B

C

D

E-Very Kind 

16. How would you describe yourself?

A-My feelings do get hurt easily

B

C

D

E- I get hurt easily 

17. How would you rate your decision-making skills?

A-I find it challenging to make decisions

B

C

D

E-I can make the right decisions easily 

18. How would you rate your self-confidence?

A-I am not confident, and I always feel inferior

B

C

D

E-I always feel optimistic and superior

19. How would you describe your personality?

A-Very submissive

B

C

D

E-Very dominant

20. How would you describe your actions?

A-Passive

B

C

D

E-Active 

21. I enjoy helping people.

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

22. I enjoy meeting new people

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

23. I love to try out new activities.

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

24. I am modest about my achievements. 

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

25. I enjoy setting long-term goals

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

26. I am nervous about new opportunities.

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

27. How would you describe your level of empathy?

A–I do not care about how others feel 

B

C

D

E–I am considerate of other people’s feelings

28. I conceal my feelings

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

29. I have no issues with confronting people. 

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

30. I hardly experience anxiety.

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

31. How would you describe yourself? 

A–Not empathetic

B

C

D

E–I always feel for others 

32. I love adventure

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

33. I am quickly disappointed. 

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

34. I enjoy fixing problems. 

  • Strongly agree
  • Agree
  • Neither agree nor disagree
  • Disagree
  • Strongly disagree

35. How do you handle your feelings? 

A–I do not conceal my feelings

B

C

D

E–I always conceal my feelings 

Why Create a Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) with Formplus? 

Calculation 

You can add calculation fields to your questionnaire to allow you to carry out basic mathematical processes in your Formplus form easily. These include summing up values, subtracting one value from the other, dividing and multiplying variables in form fields. 

Once you’ve added the right field types to your form (input fields, choice, and rating fields), choose the add calculation option and assign the required values to each field. Also, select the field you’d prefer the calculator to record your response and save all the changes. 

Rating Scales 

Rating scales allow respondents to indicate the degree to which they agree with a particular statement or assertion. You can add different types of rating scales in the form builder, including numerical scales, emojis, and heart ratings. 

To add any type of rating scale to your survey, go to the builder’s form fields section, click on the rating option, and choose your preferred scale-type from the drop-down.

"formplus-rating"

Since you’re creating a personality attributes questionnaire, you can go for a matrix scale or the other scale options. 

Matrix Fields 

As mentioned earlier, the matrix scale is one of the best field types for PAQs. It allows respondents to evaluate different items based on the same set of options. Instead of creating separate questions with the same options, matrix fields bring all of the questions together, and respondents can choose the options that best apply to each question. 

Matrix fields help you to create concise forms that do not overwhelm your respondents. These fields improve your survey design and can also bump up your response rates. 

Offline Capability 

All Formplus forms work in offline mode, which means you can collect questionnaire responses from participants who do not have access to the internet. People can fill and submit their personality attributes questionnaire in remote areas or places with poor internet connectivity. 

Any offline submission is saved on the respondent’s device until they have access to the internet. Then, this data will be automatically updated on our secured servers or your preferred cloud storage system, including Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox. 

Multiple Form Fields

Apart from the fields earlier highlighted, you’d find other exciting field types in the form builder. For example, you can add the date-time field to record timestamps on all questionnaire responses. You can also play around with other field options like radios and checkboxes to create some sort of alternative scale. 

After adding a new field to your questionnaire, you can make it compulsory for respondents. You can also use form logic to determine whether a respondent sees a particular question in your form. 

Social Media Sharing

To gather more responses to your survey, you can use the direct buttons in the form sharing section to publish it on your social media platforms—Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Formplus automatically generates image cards for each post, which improves engagements and responses to your questionnaire. 

You can explore other form sharing options on Formplus like embedding the questionnaire to your website, sharing personalized links to respondents as email invitations, or sharing your form’s QR code. Hence, respondents only have to scan to complete the questionnaire. 

Mobile-Friendly Forms

Participants are most likely to view and fill your questionnaire on their smartphones. And this is why Formplus forms are optimized for mobile. You can complete any surveys, questionnaires from any internet-enabled device and enjoy the same user experience you would have when filling the web version.  

The form builder is also mobile-responsive, which means you can create your personality attributes questionnaire from the comfort of your smartphone. 

Analytics and Reports

Do you want to know the total number of views on your questionnaire? With the report summary tool in the builder, you can generate custom visual reports for your form data. Once you select your preferred form field or data, the reports summary tool will automatically display the information in the form of a detailed graph or chart. 

Formplus allows you to gain valuable insights into your data collection process without any need for coding. You can access essential metrics such as the total number of form views, weekly and daily submissions plus the physical locations of form submissions in the form analytics dashboard. 

Conclusion 

As more organizations prioritize gender-inclusive policies, it is essential to understand how gender shapes your workforce’s individuals’ worldview, decisions, and behaviors. Sending out personality assessment questionnaires helps you understand the different participants’ unique preferences and experiences and best meet their needs. 

In this article, we’ve shared more than 30 questions you should add to your personality assessment to get the best results. You can create PAQs with Formplus and use the different sharing options to distribute the forms and gather more responses. To get started, sign up for a free Formplus account via our website. 


  • busayo.longe
  • on 8 min read

Formplus

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