Application Of Structural Equation Model In The Study Of Personality Characteristics Of Scientific Personnel

Objective: To discuss the personality characteristics of scientific personnel and to simplify the NEO-PI-R, so that to improve the efficiency and maneuverability in practical survey. In addition, to discuss how to use exploratory factor analysis and structural equation model properly and what can be noticed in the process of application.Methods: We survey the personality characteristics of scientific personnels in universities of Shan Dong Province with two-phase stratified cluster sampling in terms of grades of the university and the scientific personnel. The research tool is NEO-PI-R (Revised NEO Personality Inventory), which be compiled by Costa & McCrae and be revised by Yang Jian in 1996. NEO-PI-R consists of 5 divided facets, neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness, and each facet includes 6 stratums which composes 8 items in each of them, so there are 30 stratums and 240 items totally in NEO-PI-R. Each item is scored from 1 to 5, and the positive items are scored from "absolute unconformity" to "great conformity", Contrarily, the negative items are scored from "great conformity" to "absolute unconformity". As a result, the cumulated scores change from 48 to 240 for every facet, and the higher the score is, the clearer the personality tendency is.We discuss the personality characteristics with one way analysis. For testing the reliability of the questionnaire, we use Chronbach's a coefficient which is used most pravelently at present. And for testing the validity of the questionnaire, we use interior coincidence coefficient. In the process of simplifying the NEO-PI-R, we use exploratory factor analysis firstly, and then use structural equation model to confirm and adjust the initial model for the purpose of gaining the classic model. The whole process of statistic analysis is performed by SAS8.1, LISREL8.7 and SPSS11.5.Results: As a whole, for the scientific personnel, the score of conscientiousness is highest and the score of neuroticism is lowest, and there are significant differences between them (P<0.001) . In term of 0.05 significant level, the results of t-test indicate that there are no significant difference on 5 facets between men and women, but there are significant difference on neuroticism and conscientiousness between marriages. The results of one-way ANOVA indicate that they are significantly different on neuroticism, openness and conscientiousness between different universities.The results of testing the reliability and the validity: Chronbach's a coefficient of the general questionnaire is 0.83; coefficient of product-moment correlation between divided questionnaires and general questionnaire are statistically significant. So the questionnaire has good reliability and validity.The result of simplying: 105 items are selected from 240 ones of the initial questionnaires after exploratory factor analysis. Neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness consist of 21 items, 22 items, 21 items, 21 items, 20 items, respectively. The results of confirmation of the structural equation model indicate that it fit well.Conclusion: The personality characteristics of scientific personnel in universities are significant at conscientiousness and agreeableness. At the same time, the effects of sex on personality characteristics are no significant, but marriage and university can be thought as the effective factors.The questionnaire has good reliability and validity. In other words, NEO-PI-R is suitable for the investigation of the scientific personnel in universities. Besides, during the process of investigation, we discuss the proper application of exploratory factor analysis and structural equation model, which will offer instructive reference for similar scientific research work.