Postdoctoral Research Fellow: duties include• Design of new and innovative approaches to test design and evaluation of individual differences in applied environments• Proofing, editing and writing research papers for submission to academic journals• Reading and coding research papers using EPOC criteria, systematic review rules, manipulation of data from research papers using meta-analytic techniques• Conduct of high-level quantitative data analysis techniques including the application of Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Structural Equation Modeling and Item Response Theory• Preparing grant and ethics applications for submission• Data collection, entry, and high-level modelling and analysis of survey data• Conduct of focus groups with adults and minors, experience in transcription and extraction of common themes from focus group data.

The Big Five has been establised as the dominant paradigm in personality research, however it has commonly been criticised for failing to provide an adequate theory to integrate individual differences research (Mayer, 1998). The Five Factor Theory was put forward by McCrae and Costa (1996) to overcome this criticism. However, an empirical test of the model has yet to be conducted. The overall purpose of the current study is to test the predictive utility of the FFT in a workplace environment. Study 1 aims to sample the content domain of the Five Factor Theory, in order to construct a psychometrically rigorous measure that can effectively predict workplace behaviour. Students from the first year psychology cohort will be recruited to participate in the study. The anticipated outcome of study 1 is the reduction of predictor variables to a psychometrically sound instrument that will take no more the 30 minutes to administer, and predict the workplace behaviours included as relevant to university students. Once the psychometric properties of the FFT measure have been established in the undergraduate psychology student population, the aim of Study 2 is to test its ability to predict preference for both social and organisational work contexts in the wider undergraduate student body. It is expected that a particular personality profile, as measured by the FFT battery, will be associated with preferences for any given context. Following on from the expected outcome of Study 2, it is important to establish that the revised FFT measure has utility in an applied setting. As such, the aim of Study 3 is to examine the ability of the FFT to predict a person’s fit with their current workplace. A number of local organisations and their employees will be recruited to take part in the study. The FFT is expected to interact with the organisational situation in order to predict the included criterion variables, thereby providing further evidence for the criterion validity of the FFT.

Research Assistant: duties include• Proofing, editing and writing research papers for submission to academic journals• Reading and coding research papers according to EPOC criteria• Preparing grant and ethics applications for submission• Data collection, entry, and analysis of survey data

Administrator: duties include• Behavioural interviewing and reference checking of job candidates for volume recruitment clients• Administration of psychometric testing for job selection