Minimization of answer distortion in personality questionnaires: Does the ipsative OPQ32i capture normative variances?

Ipsative personality questionnaires can reduce the effects of social desirability. However, the answering‐format induces artificial dependencies, which raises questions about its normative interpretability. In a field study 145 German speaking expatriates were assessed with the ipsative OPQ32i (SHL, 1999) and the normative NEO‐PI‐R (Ostendorf & Angleitner, 2004) in seven countries. A significant set correlation shows that the OPQ32i captures normative variances (R2shrunk= 0.99). According to a multi‐trait‐multi‐method matrix relationships between scales and factors of both instruments are interpretable conceptually. Therefore, ipsative questionnaires seem to be applicable for inter‐individual comparisons if some specific conditions are met.