What is the inductive-hypothetico-deductive spiral? How does this approach to the construction of personality theory differ from the hypothetico-deductive model used by most researchers?.

             The inductive-hypothetico-deductive spiral is a procedure by which personality theories are analyzed using an iterative process. Cattell considered personality as a dynamic system that can be changed by environmental and situational factors. To accurately analyze a personality theory, there are steps that can be used to refine the conclusions of the study. The general idea is to make use of empirical data to construct an initial hypothesis. From this hypothesis, an experimental method is generated which can then be used to validate or invalidate previous assumptions. This in turn generates a new hypothesis that can be refined as it passes through more and more cycles of observation, analysis, and conclusion. The process is ended when the conclusions converge to a single point, and new data behaves more and more in line with the current hypothesis. At this point, it can be said that the hypothesis is already precise since it has undergone a scientific method to filter out irregularities.

             To summarize, here are the major steps involved in Cattell's Inductive-hypothetico-deductive spiral:.

             1. Empirical observation and description.

             2. Generation of rough hypothesis.

             3. Experiment for testing the hypothesis.

             4. Resulting data generate more precise hypotheses.

             5. New experiments are designed to test these hypotheses, etc.

             (Cattell, 1978).

             The hypothetico-deductive method, on the other hand, is similar to the inductive-hypothetico-deductive spiral because it also aims to refine hypotheses based on a step-by-step process of observation and experimentation. However, it is different from Cattell's method because it begins with a number of hypotheses that are then eliminated one by one as a hypothesis fails to predict a specific scenario.