Change and sameness in personality development: unwarranted conclusions.
A recent paper by Haan and Day reports personality characteristics displaying change and sameness during the course of a longitudinal study. The personality characteristics had been classified according to statistical criteria following which the personality qualities within each category were interpreted. Thus the usefulness of the interpretation depends upon the basis for classification of the personality characteristics. The present note calls attention to three fundamental statistical errors in the Haan and Day classification scheme, errors which influence dramatically and adversely the consequent interpretations.
D006801:Humans; D010553:Personality Development; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013997:Time Factors