A self-report inventory is a type of psychological test in which a person fills out a survey or questionnaire with or without the help of an investigator.
Inventories are different from tests in that there is no objectively correct answer; responses are based on opinions and subjective perceptions.
[7] Self-report personality inventories include questions dealing with behaviours, responses to situations, characteristic thoughts and beliefs, habits, symptoms, and feelings.
Test items are often transparent, and people may "figure out" how to respond to make themselves appear to possess whatever qualities they think an organization wants.
For this reason, self-report inventories are not used in isolation to diagnose a mental disorder, often used as screeners for verification by other assessment data.
[12] These tools enable researchers to gather subjective data efficiently from large samples, making it possible to compare the response of diverse populations to psychotherapy and track symptom changes over time.