Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Self-Report Tests of Personality

Self-Report Tests of Personality

Self-report inventories are objective personality assessments that use multiple-choice items or numbered scales, typically ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). They are often called Likert scales after Rensis Likert. These inventories are widely used due to their ease of administration and cost-effectiveness. One of the most prominent examples is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), initially developed in the 1940s to assess abnormal personality traits.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Not all screen time is sedentary: evidence from aligned smartphone sensing and accelerometry data in adults.

Journal of activity, sedentary and sleep behaviors·2026

Same author

Family matters: home characteristics related to dietary intake of fruit, vegetables and sugar-sweetened beverages in a national cross-sectional sample of school-aged children in the U.S.

BMC nutrition·2026

Same author

School's Out, Rules Out: Changes in parent rules and routines over summer from the What's UP (Undermining Prevention) with Summer Observational Cohort Study.

Research square·2026

Same author

Primary school physical activity culture in the UK: findings from a four-month rapid ethnography in three schools.

Frontiers in public health·2026

Same author

No Effect of Prepregnancy Weight Loss Intervention on Child Weight up to Age 5.

Childhood obesity (Print)·2026

Same author

Strength in numbers: Exploring the link between upper body muscular strength and academic achievement in youth.

Journal of science and medicine in sport·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 9, 2026

Physical Activity Measurement in Children Accepting Table Tennis Training

Physical Activity Measurement in Children Accepting Table Tennis Training

Published on: July 27, 2022

Creating a Physical Activity Self-Report Form for Youth Using Rasch Methodology.

Christine DiStefano¹, Russell Pate, Kerry McIver

¹Christine DiStefano, 138 Wardlaw Hall, College of Education, Columbia, SC 29208, USA, distefan@mailbox.sc.edu.

Journal of Applied Measurement

|December 24, 2016

Summary

This study created a new tool to measure children's physical activity. The best version uses a simple frequency scale, proving effective for large-scale youth activity monitoring.

More Related Videos

Visualization of Intensity Levels to Reduce the Gap Between Self-Reported and Directly Measured Physical Activity

Visualization of Intensity Levels to Reduce the Gap Between Self-Reported and Directly Measured Physical Activity

Published on: March 7, 2019

A Method for Quantifying Upper Limb Performance in Daily Life Using Accelerometers

A Method for Quantifying Upper Limb Performance in Daily Life Using Accelerometers

Published on: April 21, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 9, 2026

Physical Activity Measurement in Children Accepting Table Tennis Training

Physical Activity Measurement in Children Accepting Table Tennis Training

Published on: July 27, 2022

Visualization of Intensity Levels to Reduce the Gap Between Self-Reported and Directly Measured Physical Activity

Visualization of Intensity Levels to Reduce the Gap Between Self-Reported and Directly Measured Physical Activity

Published on: March 7, 2019

A Method for Quantifying Upper Limb Performance in Daily Life Using Accelerometers

A Method for Quantifying Upper Limb Performance in Daily Life Using Accelerometers

Published on: April 21, 2017

Area of Science:

Pediatrics
Public Health
Exercise Science

Background:

Accurate measurement of youth physical activity is crucial for assessing adherence to recommended guidelines.
Existing methods may have limitations in capturing the nuances of children's activity levels.
Developing a validated instrument is essential for reliable data collection in youth populations.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop and validate a reliable instrument for measuring physical activity levels in youth.
To explore different response formats and scales for assessing children's physical activity frequency and intensity.
To establish an optimal measurement tool suitable for both large-scale surveillance and smaller research applications.

Main Methods:

A mixed-method approach combining qualitative focus groups with quantitative validation.
Focus groups with children informed the initial item generation for the physical activity scale.
Three alternative forms with varying response formats were developed and tested on over 500 middle school children.

Main Results:

A three-point Likert frequency scale emerged as the optimal format for measuring physical activity in children.
The intensity of physical activity participation did not significantly enhance the measurement accuracy.
The developed instrument demonstrated suitability for use in diverse research settings, from surveillance to small studies.

Conclusions:

A validated, user-friendly instrument is now available for measuring youth physical activity.
The findings support the use of a frequency-based measurement, simplifying data collection.
This tool can aid in monitoring children's activity levels to ensure public health recommendations are met.