ipsative measurement, type of assessment used in personality questionnaires or attitude surveys in which the respondent must choose between two or more equally socially acceptable options. Developed by American psychologist Paul Horst in the early 1950s, ipsative measurement tracks the progress or development of single individuals over time and has routinely served as an alternative to normative measurement, which gauges the differences in feelings and perceptions on certain topics between individuals.

A major underlying assumption in ipsative measurement is that the one option that is most true will tend to be perceived as more positive. Similarly, when forced to choose one option that is either less true or less applicable, the selection will tend to be perceived as less positive. All options in the assessment, however, are considered to be equally socially acceptable, and, thus, faking or distorting feelings and perceptions is more difficult in ipsative assessments than it would be in normative assessments or other assessments based on the Likert scale.

The scoring of an ipsative scale is not as intuitive as a normative scale. There may be several options for each item, and each option belongs to a specific scale. (For example, a four-option assessment may consider how the respondent’s selections represent scales of independence, social confidence, introversion, or optimism). Each option chosen as most true might earn two points for the scale to which it belongs, with the least true option receiving zero points and the unchosen options each receiving one point.