Methodology and sources
This page explains which open materials the test is based on, what SelfSonar adds, and where the interpretation boundaries are. It is written for users, partners, legal review, and future product localisation.
SelfSonar Big Five IPIP-120 is based on open materials from the International Personality Item Pool and the Johnson IPIP-NEO-120 structure. IPIP items are published as public-domain materials: they may be copied, edited, translated, and used without separate permission or payment.
The test contains 120 items, 5 Big Five / Five-Factor Model factors, and 30 facets: 6 facets for each factor. The format is self-report: the user answers statements about themselves, so the result depends on attention, honesty, and current context.
SelfSonar preserves the 5-factor, 30-facet, 120-item structure. Each facet contains 4 items. Reverse scoring, completion rules, and low/medium/high thresholds are fixed in the backend and covered by tests. Scoring must not be changed without a separate methodology audit.
In the source five-factor tradition, some items belong to Neuroticism. In SelfSonar, the user sees the opposite pole: Emotional Stability. ES therefore intentionally reverses neuroticism-positive items: a high answer on an anxiety item lowers Emotional Stability rather than increasing it.
SelfSonar is a multilingual environment, but translating the interface or items does not automatically create national psychometric validation. A full local adaptation requires translation and back-translation, a pilot study, reliability checks, factor analysis, measurement invariance, and local norms.
Comparison with the open online IPIP-NEO-120 sample is an approximate reference background. It is not a medical, hiring, or nationally representative norm, and it is not a “better/worse” judgement.
SelfSonar is not the official IPIP website, not an official adaptation of Johnson IPIP-NEO-120, and is not affiliated with IPIP, Lewis Goldberg, John A. Johnson, NEO PI-R, Hogan, HEXACO, or other commercial psychometric providers.
The result describes likely tendencies based on user answers. It is an educational self-report interpretation, not a diagnosis, medical opinion, psychotherapy, hiring decision, or professional assessment.
These links make the methodology checkable: a user or auditor can review the source IPIP context, legal status, and guidance on cautious interpretation of scale scores.
Big Five factor map
Each page explains one broad factor, how high and low scores can appear, and which six IPIP-120 facets sit underneath it.
How strongly a person is drawn to ideas, imagination, aesthetics, learning, and change.
Read factor → C ConscientiousnessHow a person plans, prioritizes, keeps promises, regulates effort, and finishes what they start.
Read factor → E ExtraversionHow a person uses contact, pace, assertiveness, stimulation, and positive emotion.
Read factor → A AgreeablenessHow a person balances trust, empathy, directness, cooperation, and self-protection.
Read factor → ES Emotional StabilityHow a person tends to stay balanced, recover from stress, and avoid getting stuck in threat signals.
Read factor →