Our assessments
and questionnaires
The internet is full of career quizzes. What makes the Morrisby Profile different? It's built on robust psychological science, with assessments that are accessible and lead to results that anyone can understand and act on.
For assessments to provide meaningful results they need to be reliable (accurate and free from random error), valid (measuring what they claim to) and objective (free from subjectivity and bias). Here's how the Morrisby Profile holds up against these three and the other key elements of our science.
How do you know the Morrisby assessments are reliable?
Reliability is an essential part of any measurement. If a measurement is reliable, it is free from error and so accurate. No psychological assessment can ever be 100% accurate, as all contain some degree of error; the important point is that the amount of error is known and it is within acceptable limits.
The reliability of the Morrisby assessments is assessed using a statistic called Cronbach’s Alpha (or coefficient alpha). This statistic looks at how well all the questions in an assessment ‘hang together’ to provide a coherent measurement of the construct being measured. If reliability statistics are too low, it suggests that results are affected by too much random error. However, reliability can also be too high, often indicating that the test is simply repetitive and not adequately assessing the intended construct. Every Morrisby assessment meets established criteria for internal consistency, as set by the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA).
How do you establish validity?
Validity concerns what the assessments actually measure, and so the meaning that can be taken from the results they give. When used for careers guidance, the assessments must give a thorough understanding of a young person across a range of attributes. Those attributes must be relevant to the world-of-work and help them develop a better understanding of who they are; together these provide evidence-based career suggestions and allow young people to make informed career choices.
Validity starts with the design of the assessment and the models of attributes it is based on, the content of the assessment itself and then the statistical evidence and practical experience of the test in use. These considerations run through all the Morrisby assessments. They also have strong divergent validity. This means that each assessment measures a distinct area of aptitude, interests or other characteristics relevant to career exploration. As each measures a distinct area, together they provide a comprehensive understanding of the individual.
We also monitor results continuously, and have been for the past 50+ years, reviewing individual profiles and career suggestions every day to make sure the outputs remain accurate, meaningful, and useful in practice.
What does objectivity mean in practice?
The Morrisby assessments have been designed to give a fair and objective assessment of a person’s aptitudes and personal characteristics. Fairness and objectivity have been built into the development of the assessments, and continue with the regular review of how the assessments are performing.
The assessments are standardised, meaning that everyone receives the same instructions and questions, and completes the questions under the same conditions. Responses scored against established criteria and frameworks, removing anypossible subjectivity in the interpretation of results. These features are essential properties of good measurement, and are what makes results understandable – allowing us to place an individual's score meaningfully against a wider population.
How are the results put into context?
Even when scores result from an objective assessment process, they still need to be put into context to give them meaning. For example, a score of 8 out of 20 on a test may not sound that strong, but if a group of your peers all scored less than 8, you start to feel much better about how you did. By testing a representative sample of the target population to understand how results are typically distributed, a frame of reference for each individual's scores can be established.
Performance on assessments can also change over time, so it is important that data used for score interpretation is both representative and up-to-date. Our most recent exercise, conducted in 2026 and to be implemented in January 2027, drew on just under 60,000 school pupils across Victoria, Australia - extraordinary by any measure, given that EFPA standards classify samples greater than 1000 as ‘excellent’. The Victorian Department of Education mandated Morrisby for every eligible student in the state, and we used those results from the general population alongside over 28,000 UK individuals to build accurate age-related reference groups for each assessment.
Are the results fair?
Yes. The Morrisby aptitude assessments assume no prior knowledge and require no previous experience to complete them. Instructions are given at the start of each test to ensure everyone knows what to do. The aptitude assessments also have example questions with feedback at the start, and practice questions for these assessments are available here. We encourage users to complete the practice questions before completing the profile, as familiarisation with the question formats can help them work efficiently under timed conditions and so fully demonstrate their aptitudes. The language in the assessments is also kept brief and clear, so they are accessible to all with an age-appropriate level of English.
What does the Morrisby Profile actually measure?
The Profile has two parts: aptitude assessments, which measure ability and problem-solving skills, and attitudinal questionnaires, which explore individual differences relevant for choosing a career. The five aptitude areas are:
Verbal
verbal information
Numerical
Abstract
Spatial
Mechanical
The attitudinal questionnaires cover:
- Aspirations – career interests across 10 key areas, drawing on Holland's RIASEC model of vocational interests
- Personality – based on the original work of Carl Jung, subsequently developed by Myers and Briggs, producing 81 distinct personality types*
- Priorities – what matters most to an individual in a working context
- Study interests – for those considering university, mapping academic interests to potential subject areas
Together, the assessments also surface learning style preferences, workplace preferences, and work style insights.
*Unlike Myers and Briggs’ original work which categorises responses into opposites, the Morrisby Type Indicator allows for ‘balanced’ responses, resulting in 81 possible combinations.
Can I retake the assessments?
We don’t normally allow aptitude assessments to be retaken. Scores on these assessments tend to become stable around mid-adolescence*, and so don’t need to be retaken unless something went wrong in the original session. Scores are also affected through familiarity with questions, so retaking the tests shortly after having taken them before may lead to invalid results.
The attitudinal questionnaires are a different matter. Although some aspects such as personality can be fairly stable from a younger age, as young people develop and especially as they gain experience of the world of work and what careers may be open to them, areas such as interests and priorities can change. These areas can be worth revisiting at regular intervals to keep the results current and relevant, so the Morrisby Profile allows users to retake them when they want.
*Breit et al. (2024), The Stability of Cognitive Abilities: A Meta-Analytic Review of Longitudinal Studies. Psychological Bulletin, 150, 399-439. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000425
