FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

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I can't log in, Facebook says there is a problem

This can happen when Facebook and metarasa.com cookies get out of sync. For example, Facebook may think something suspicious is happening if you are trying to login to the site when you are already logged in. Try going to the Facebook website in your browser and then logging out of Facebook. Then return to metarasa.com and login. If that doesn't work, please delete the cookies for the two sites in your browser (or delete all cookies if you are happy to do so) and then try to log in again at the metarasa.com website.

How do I save my personality questionnaire results?

If you are logged in when you complete any questionnaire (or 'choose your results', or 'recover lost report'), your results are saved automatically.

How do I view saved MMDI results?

There is a list of your MMDI results at the bottom of the home screen.

Click on the Home link at the top of the screen.
Scroll to the bottom of the home screen and click on the bar chart for the results you want to view.
This will take you to the report page. If you have purchased optional reports for those results, they will appear at the bottom of the screen.

How do I view saved results from the JDQ or THC questionnaires?

You can view the results of the MMDI and other questionnaires via the Admin panel:

Click on the Admin link at the top of the screen. This lists all your 'projects'.
Click on the Responses button under one of the projects for "your own records".
Click on your name or the label of the response.

Can my personality type change?

Yes it can. Isabel Briggs Myers noted, in her book Gifts Differing (p. 168), that it is possible to transcend one's type . The originator of the theory, C.G. Jung, when a little further and said it could undergo change before it is transcended, e.g.:

"Type is nothing static. It changes in the course of life"
(p435, C.G.Jung Speaking, taken from the 1959 BBC Interview Face to Face)
"Even though assignment to a particular type may in certain cases have lifelong validity, in other very frequent cases it is so dependent on so many external and internal factors that the diagnosis is valid only for certain periods of time."
(p. 347, Letters II)

In other words, yes your type can change. There can be many reasons, such as changing life circumstances or the natural process of maturity (which Jung called "individuation").

Bear in mind that it can sometimes be the results of a questionnaire that can change, and not your personality. (See the FAQ on "I disagree with the result").

Why isn't the report pack free?

As stated at the top of the questionnaire, this online report is free but there is optional additional information that has a cost.

With most competitor commercial questionnaires, such as the MBTI® instrument, nothing is available free - you have to pay even for completing the questionnaire. However, with the MMDI the following facilities are available without cost:

Completion and scoring of the questionnaire
Online report
One page printable summary

There are 300 pages of optional materials, available at a substantially lower price than competitors. For example, most career reports cost between £20 and £50 ($30-$75], even though they don't include the sophistication of our unique stretch diagrams. The MMDI report is available for a fraction of that price.

I disagree with the result

If you think the results of the MMDI are incorrect, or you disagree with its conclusions, there can be several reasons. Some of the major ones are:

The accuracy of the questionnaire
Our research suggests the MMDI™ produces a correct personality type in 81% of cases. This compares favourably with the MBTI® instrument, which is correct in 75% of cases. However, you may be one of the 19% for whom the MMDI result is incorrect.
Preference vs. Role
Context can affect the results. E.g., if you were thinking primarily about your work self whilst you completed the questionnaire, the result can reflect the role you perform rather than the real you.
Training/Upbringing/Social expectations
If you have had an upbringing or training that conflicts with your natural personality, this can result in "type falsification" - i.e., your personality is more focused on being what other people expect you to be, rather than reflecting who you really are.
Life changes
Your personality type can change, for various reasons. For example, your personality changes significantly during midlife.

I (dis)agreed with both statements in some of the questions

This is taken into account in the design of the MMDI's scoring algorithm. The instructions at the top of the questionnaire say, if you agree or disagree with both, you should choose a button near the middle.

The questionnaire measures "differentiation" of functions, i.e., the difference between the two sides. The reason for the difference - i.e., whether you agree or disagree - does not affect the result. The concept of differentiation is discussed in detail by C.G. Jung in his book Psychological Types and it forms a fundamental part of his theory.

There are spelling errors in the questionnaire or report

We use U.K. spelling and punctuation. For example, it is correct to use an "s" and put the full stop after the quotes when ending a sentence with "organisation".

If there are any errors under the rules of U.K. English, we would appreciate you telling us which word is spelt incorrectly, and which page the error is on. Please use the contact page to let us know.

The report is difficult to understand

When measured by the Flesch-Kincaid system, most of our pages are suitable to be read by those in 10th grade and above.

Some of the concepts discussed in the report are complex because your personality is complex. The degree of sophistication we have included in the report is suitable for most adults.

Why are there so few questions in the MMDI questionnaire?

The questionnaire has been designed using one of the most robust statistical techniques available - factor analysis. We only need this many questions to produce the four factors that are predicted by the theory.

Why doesn't it just tell me my personality type?

The practice of telling someone their type based on the result of the questionnaire is referred to in the industry as "test and tell". It is frowned upon by leading consultants because:

it gives the misleading impression that your personality is simple,
the results of a questionnaire are not always correct,
you might be between two or more types,
you build self-awareness by exploring what the scores mean, not by being told the result.

Exploring the complexity of the results helps you to build greater self-awareness and make better-informed decisions about your future.

What career is best for me?

Your choice of career is probably the most important decision you will ever make. If you choose an inappropriate career, by the time you realise that it doesn't suit you, it may be too late to change. To make a better-informed decision, you need to learn as much about yourself as possible, and about potential careers.

The best way to choose a career is to identify your needs and aspirations in a career, and see how well different careers meet them. The Career Analysis Tool (available as an optional report) helps you do that by matching your personality to the demands of each career.

Can I buy the optional reports later?

Save your results by logging in. You will then have the option of buying them at any time in the future.

What is the difference between the questionnaires?

There are currently three questionnaires at this site:

The MMDI (Mental Muscle Diagram Indicator) helps you identify your current personality preferences.
The JDQ (Job Demand Questionnaire) helps you identify the behavioural demands of your job, so you can compare it with your preferences.
The THC (Team Health Check) is a team questionnaire that helps team members to share their views on how well the team is doing.

What are 'projects'?

You can set up projects to administer multiple questionnaires. Projects are designed primarily for use by career or team consultants, or similar professionals. Each person gets a copy of their own results. The administrator can also see these reports, and produce a summary report.

What can projects be used for?

There are some ethical and legal restrictions on the use of questionnaires, which can vary by country. Please read the terms and conditions (via the link on the home page). If your use of the questionnaires meets the criteria, you can use projects in various applications, such as:

Career Counselling (MMDI)
You can give clients access to MMDI reports and the Career Analysis Tool to help them learn about their own preferences and consider which careers might best suit their personality.
Team Building (THC)
You can plan team building intervention, and/or initiate a productive workshop dialogue, by getting views before the even from team members on how well the team is doing. This facility is particularly useful when a team cannot afford to pay for face-to-face preparatory interviews, or is geographically spread making it difficult to see everyone. You can also get views from people outside the team which, if you set up as a separate project, you can compare with the views of team members.
Managing performance and expectations (JDQ)
If several people complete the JDQ thinking about one particular person or team, it can help to identify the expectations of clients, peers, management, staff, etc. If each group is set up as a different projection, you can also compare their differing expectations to identify potential causes of stress and to help plan how to meet the differing needs of each group.

How do I administer a project?

It is very easy to administer a project, involving four main steps:

You need some credit first. Click on the Credit link at the top of the page and follow the prompts to calculate the amount of credit you need. The purchase is administered securely at PayPal's website and, when you return, the credit will automatically be added to your account.
Create the project. Go to the Admin link at the top of the page, enter a project name, select the questionnaire, click Create, enter the number of people, and click Create again.
Copy the project link and email to the people you want to complete the questionnaire. You can monitor who and/or how many people have completed the questionnaire by clicking on the Responses button for the project.
When everyone has completed the questionnaire, click on the Close button. This will release any unused credit back to you. If you need a project report, click on the Report button for the project.

You can also easily create one project for each person. When you create the project, enter the name of the first person as the project name, and enter "1" as the number of people. When you have copied that person's link, on that same screen enter the name of the second person and click "Duplicate". Copy the link that appears, and repeat the process for each person.

What is in the project reports?

When you have completed a project, you do not need to produce a project report. You can see the individual reports by clicking on the Responses button. The project reports are all printable web pages (not PDFs) that provide a summary only:

The MMDI project report provides a one-page summary of each person's personality results. It also makes some suggestions for various team workshop groupings, based on similarities between the results of different people. Some of the group suggestions are based on preferences, others are based on a more advanced interpretation of Isabel Briggs Myers'personality theory (function attitudes, dominant functions, etc.).
The JDQ report show the results of each individual report and a consolidated result. It also makes the average JDQ result appear in the 'compare'link at the top of the page. If the JDQ relates to your job, you can compare the consolidated result with your own personality by clicking on the link at the top of the page.
The THC report calculates the averages of all the scores for each question, and lists all the comments made by each person who responded to the questionnaire.

What is the Budget button for?

The budgeting system helps you control costs. When you create a project, budget is moved from your overall credit to that project. Once all the budget is used, no-one else can use the questionnaire link to complete a questionnaire.

You can use the budget button to increase the allocated budget for a project - for example if someone else joins a team. The number you enter in the box is the number of extra people (in addition to the original budget) that will be allowed to complete the questionnaire.

What happens when I close a project?

When you close a project, it enables you to produce a project report. It also releases any unused budget back into your overall credit. It also allows you to archive the project so it no longer appears on your admin screen.

If I archive a project, can I get it back?

When you archive a project, you can still view it by choosing the option (at the bottom of the Admin page)to include archived projects. You can then use the Restore button to unarchive it.

How do I find the project link if I forget to copy it after creating the project?

Go to your Admin panel (the link is at the top of the screen). Right click on the project name and select 'Copy link address'.

How do I remove a particular questionnaire result from a list of project responses?

When you are viewing the response for a project, if you press the Archive button it will move the response to an Archive list. You can include or exclude archived responses or projects by ticking a small box at the bottom of the list of projects or responses.

Can the diagrams be viewed by people who are colour blind?

We have tested most of our diagrams for most forms of colour blindness. They are readable for the vast majority of the population. In the very rare exceptions that colours are indistinguishable, the meaning of the diagram is still evident in the diagram. If you find a diagram where there is potential confusion over the colours, please contact us and include the link for the diagram.