A Survey on Personality and Stress Management for

Research Questionnaire 2005

Dear Research Participant:

I am asking for your help and cooperation in a research project focusing on relating the different personalities of humans and how to bridge the gap between personalities of humans (using the Enneagram) and the area of affective computing. The idea behind this topic is to share knowledge with others especially for those in the IT environment on how to manage stress based on their personality type. Thus in this way, each method of stress management will be unique for each personality type. The main objectives of this research are to understand and manage stress through the knowledge of the Enneagram, and to build a theoretical framework for affective computing that recognizes and deals with stress in the workplace.

If you have any questions or concerns about the nature of this study, please contact Marianne Too Shing Mei, Faculty of Information Science & Technology, Multimedia University (Malacca Campus), [email protected]. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this research.

SECTION A

Biographical information and working conditions.

1. Age group

2. Gender

Male

Female

3. Highest level of education attained

4. Nature of employment

Full-time with tenure

Part-time with tenure

Full-time with permanent contract

Part-time with permanent contract

Full-time with fixed-term contract

Part-time with fixed-term contract

Casual or hourly paid

Other

5. Nature of profession

6. Working experience in your current organization (Either in months or years. Please specify)

7. Working experience in your current job position (Either in months or years. Please specify)

8. Average daily number of hours used to perform tasks at work using the computer

9. Experience in using computers (Either in months or years. Please specify)

10. On average, what level would you rate yourself on the usage of computers at work?

Low level usage: Only using a limited amount of computers, and computers are seldom used in the daily tasks. Examples of profession in this category are school teachers and marketing agents.

Moderate level usage: Computers are limited to automating administrative tasks and clerical operations only such as document processing, spreadsheets, presentation materials, printing, etc. Examples of profession in this category are clerks and lecturers.

Heavy level usage: Computers are used to facilitate integration and networking of applications and different technological platforms among department. Examples of profession in this category are system administrators and technicians.

Very heavy level usage: Computers are used for organization’s operations. End users are developing their own applications. There is a complex networking of personal computers throughout the organization. Information is dispersed over mainframe databases under the control of the system administrator. Examples of profession in this category are programmers and researchers.

SECTION B

Personality Types. The following questions (taken from RHETI Sampler Test) are forced-choice which requires you to choose one statement in each pair of statements that describes you best. For each pair of statements, select the statement that best describes you MOST OF YOUR LIFE. You may skip questions that really do not apply to you — but do not skip questions just because they are hard to answer.

1. I am basically

romantic and imaginative.

pragmatic and down to earth.

2. I tend to

take on confrontations.

avoid confrontations.

3. I have typically been

diplomatic, charming, and ambitious.

direct, formal, and idealistic.

4. I tend to be

focused and intense.

spontaneous and fun-loving.

5. I am basically a

hospitable person and have enjoyed welcoming new friends into my life.

private person and have not mixed much with others.

6. Generally, it has been

easy to make me eager about something.

difficult to make me eager about something.

7. I have been more of a

“street-smart” survivor.

“high-minded” idealist.

8. I have

needed to show affection to people.

preferred to maintain a certain distance with people.

9. When presented with a new experience, I have usually asked myself if it would be

useful to me.

enjoyable.

10. I tend to focus too much on

myself.

others.

11. Others have depended on my

insight and knowledge.

strength and decisiveness.

12. I have come across as being too

unsure of myself.

sure of myself.

13. I have been more

relationship-oriented than goal-oriented.

goal-oriented than relationship oriented.

14. I have

not been able to speak up for myself very well.

been outspoken – I have said what others wished they had the nerve to say.

15. It has been difficult for me to

stop considering alternatives and do something definitive.

take it easy and be more flexible.

16. I tend to be

hesitant and procrastinating.

bold and domineering.

17. Typically my

reluctance to get too involved has gotten me into trouble with people.

eagerness to have people depend on me has gotten me into trouble with them.

18. Usually, I have

been able to put my feelings aside to get the job done.

the need to work through my feelings before I could act.

19. Generally, I have been

methodical and cautious.

adventurous and taken risks.

20. I tend to be a

supportive, giving person who enjoys the company of others.

serious, reserved person who likes discussing issues.

21. I have often felt the need to

be strong so that others may depend on me.

perform perfectly.

22. In general, I have typically been interested in

asking tough questions and maintaining my independence.

maintaining my stability and peace of mind.

23. I have been too

hard-nosed and skeptical.

soft-hearted and sentimental.

24. I have often worried that

I’m missing out on something better.

if I let down my guard, someone will take advantage of me.

25. My habit of

being arrogant has annoyed people.

telling people what to do has annoyed people.

26. Usually, when troubles have gotten to me, I have

been able to “tune them out”.

treated myself to something I have enjoyed.

27. I have

depended upon my friends and they have known that they can depend on me.

not depended on people; I have done things on my own.

28. I tend to be

detached and preoccupied.

moody and self-absorbed.

29. I have liked to

challenge people and “shake them up”.

comfort people and calm them down.

30. I have generally been an

outgoing, sociable person.

earnest, self-disciplined person.

31. I have usually

been shy about showing my abilities.

liked to let people know what I can do well.

32. It is more important to me to

pursue my personal interests rather than having comfort and security.

have comfort and security rather than pursuing my personal interests.

33. When I have had conflict with others, I have

tended to withdraw.

rarely backed down.

34. I have

given in too easily and let others push me around.

been too uncompromising and demanding with others.

35. I have been appreciated for my

unsinkable spirit and great sense of humor.

quiet strength and exceptional generosity.

36. Much of my success has been

due to my talent for making a favorable impression.

achieved despite my lack of interest in developing “interpersonal skills”.

SECTION C

Stressors. Given below are a number of statements which characterize a variety of job stressors in working with computers. For each statement, choose one level of how severe each stressor impacts you in working with computers.

SECTION D

Intended Behavior. The scenarios given in the following section illustrate real-life situations. For every given scenario, please state your choice – Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree, or Strongly Agree – for every option given
from a to f.

More than one options may share the same rating.

1. You are on a tight schedule, and your boss has been urging you for the document since this morning. While working on the important document, your mouse begins giving you problems. You found the movement of the mouse jerky. The faultiness of the mouse is bugging you and disrupting your work. Your first decision is to…

2. You have been searching for information on the Internet for the past few hours, and finally you have found the ultimate source. Unfortunately, when you tried clicking on the link, an indescribable error appears on your web browser. The error states that the page you are looking for cannot be displayed. Your first move is to…

3. You have been asked to do an analysis on your company’s profit growth for the past year, and there will be a meeting with your CEO on the next day for you to present the analysis. You get started as soon as you receive the task. Unfortunately, the program that you normally use for analyzing cannot be opened. What will be your first action?

4. You are typing a report for your presentation which is due in an hour’s time. You are almost done with the report when suddenly your word document file “hanged” causing an error message to pop out. You have not managed to save your report. This prompted you to first …

5. The server is down which causes networking problem. At the same time, your boss demands a very important and urgent document to be passed to him. Your computer is connected to a printer in the printing room via the network. Since the server is down, you cannot connect to the shared printer. Your first reaction is to …

6. You are doing a spreadsheet using MS Excel and you encounter a problem with creating a certain formula in the spreadsheet. You go to the Help document hoping to get a solution to your problem. After about half an hour, you are at your wits end, and obviously the Help document is not helping at all. Your first step is to …

7. You are typing an urgent meeting minutes which is due in 20 minutes time. You are halfway through with the meeting minutes when some of your keyboard keys get jammed. What is your first reaction to this?

8. It is nearly midnight, and you have just completed a summary report on a month’s long research on the company’s financial status. The report is due in two days time. As you are about to duplicate a copy of the report from your desktop, a message occur stating that the report is infected by virus. Your immediate reaction is to…

9. You are put in charge to ensure the smooth progress of a teleconference between your company’s top managers and the top managers of a client company in Japan. You had tested the visual, audio, and connection the day before the conference, and everything was ready for the conference. However, 15 minutes before the actual conference, the audio system on your side goes down. This prompted you to first …

10. You are to print out an important document that you have created prior to the coming annual meeting this afternoon. You know you have saved the document in your computer, but you just cannot locate the file now. On top of that, your superior wants to have a preview of the document in 10 minutes time. What would you do first?

Please contact Marianne Too at [email protected] if you have any questions regarding this survey.