Big Five (OCEAN) Personality Test: What It Is and How to Use It
The Big Five, often called OCEAN, is a widely used model in academic personality research. This guide explains the five domains, how the open IPIP item bank fits in, and how to use a Big Five result responsibly in hiring and development.
The five domains
The Big Five describes personality along five broad dimensions, each running from low to high. Neither end is good or bad in itself; what matters is fit with the role.
- Openness: curiosity, imagination and preference for new ideas.
- Conscientiousness: organisation, dependability and self-discipline.
- Extraversion: sociability, energy and assertiveness.
- Agreeableness: cooperation, trust and consideration for others.
- Neuroticism (reversed as emotional stability): the tendency to experience stress and negative emotion.
Facets give the detail
Each domain is made up of narrower facets. A person high in Conscientiousness may be strong on orderliness but average on achievement-striving. The AXIS360 Big Five assessment reports 30 facets across the five domains from 120 items, in about 20 minutes, so the report can describe more than five numbers.
What the IPIP item bank is
The International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) is a large collection of personality items and scales created by Lewis Goldberg and colleagues. The IPIP website states that the items and scales are in the public domain and can be used for any purpose, including commercial use, without permission or fee. That is why a vendor can build a Big Five assessment on IPIP items without licensing a commercial inventory. AXIS360's Big Five assessment is built on IPIP items.
What personality tests can add to hiring
Meta-analyses of personality and job performance generally find modest relationships, with Conscientiousness the most consistent personality predictor across jobs (for example Barrick and Mount, 1991). In practice a Big Five result is most useful for structuring interview questions, understanding working style, and in development, rather than as a pass/fail filter.
Common mistakes
These are the problems that most often make personality results misleading.
- Treating a profile as a verdict. Self-report describes how a person sees themselves, not a measured outcome.
- Ignoring faking. In high-stakes settings candidates may answer to look suitable; compare with interview evidence.
- Using the wrong comparison group. Percentiles depend on the norm group; state who the person is compared with.
- Over-reading small differences. A few points between two people is usually noise.
- Making decisions without telling candidates how the result will be used.
Using the result
Pick the facets that matter for the role, discuss them in a structured interview, and keep the report for a development conversation after the hire. The AXIS360 Big Five report shows domain and facet scores with narrative; ask for a demonstration to see how it reads.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Big Five better than DISC?
They answer different questions. The Big Five is a broader and more detailed personality model with a large research base; DISC is a simpler behavioural style language that is easy to use in workshops. Many organisations use both for different purposes.
Can the Big Five predict job performance?
The research suggests modest relationships, strongest for Conscientiousness. It is a useful input, not a prediction on its own. The research concerns Big Five measures in general; it is not a validation study of any single vendor's test.
Is the IPIP free to use?
The IPIP items and scales are in the public domain, per the IPIP website. A vendor still has to build, norm and report a test from them, which is where the value and the cost lie.
Related
Assessments: Big Five OCEAN Assessment · DISC Personality Assessment · Assess BeFit Assessment · ASSESS Competency Survey
Solutions: Manager Selection Solution · Leadership Development Solution
More guides: DISC assessment guide · How to interpret psychometric test results
Sources
- Goldberg, L.R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public-domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. Personality Psychology in Europe, 7, 7-28.
- Goldberg, L.R. et al. (2006). The International Personality Item Pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(1), 84-96.
- Barrick, M.R. & Mount, M.K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44(1), 1-26.
- International Personality Item Pool: ipip.ori.org.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Questions or corrections: nizam@nonverbals.com.