Using the Internet for psychological research: Personality testing on the World Wide Web

Abstract

The Internet is increasingly being used as a medium for psychological research. To assess the validity of such efforts, an electronic version of Gangestad & Snyder's (1985) revised self‐monitoring questionnaire was placed at a site on the World Wide Web. In all, 963 responses were obtained through the Internet and these were compared with those from a group of 224 undergraduates who completed a paper‐and‐pencil version. Comparison of model fit indices obtained through confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the Internet‐mediated version had similar psychometric properties to its conventional equivalent and compared favourably as a measure of self‐monitoring. Reasons for possible superiority of Internet data are discussed. Results support the notion that Web‐based personality assessment is possible, but stringent validation of test instruments is urged.