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Advances in knowledge about personality will be fostered by improved research methods, but corresponding improvements in our theories will be needed also, better methods will not be enough. Theory itself can have methodological functions, and some methods provide strong impetus toward greater theoretical clarity and rigor. Distinctions between methodological developments in research design, measurement, and analysis need to be maintained, and we badly need more research directed specifically toward improving methodologies. Some papers in this volume point quite clearly to the need for all aspects of our research to be better rationalized and deliberate, casual and opportunistic decisions about how to carry out research simply will not do. These papers indicate, for example, that the trait vs situation controversy would likely never have occurred had the issues been addressed with greater methodological, and logical, rigor. This volume is not complete in its coverage of the potentially useful methods for personality research, and attention should ultimately be devoted to such methods as life histories and case studies and cross-cultural comparisons. In general, however, the papers in this volume offer an opportunity to raise the level of research in personality to a new plane of sophistication and revealingness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a nontechnical introduction to the use of structural equation models in personality research. Although such models can be fruitfully used to address a variety of important theoretical issues, the substantive focus in this article is on the use of such models for elucidating the construct validity of personality measures We include numerous more specific topics under our treatment of construct validity. First of all, we show how structural equation models can he applied to the issues of convergent and discriminant validity. Do our variables measure the constructs we want them to measure and not other constructs that we would prefer not to measure? Second, we show the utility of structural equation models for predictive validity. Do our variables reliably predict other constructs with which they are theoretically linked? Finally, we examine the stability of personality constructs through structural equation models. Throughout, our emphasis is on the particular advantages that structural equation models bring to these analytic tasks. Ultimately, such models must be used in the service of theory, and when used appropriately, they can help us to refine both our measures and our theories of individual differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]