Are Thornhill questionnaires standardised?
To date, Thornhill has preferred not to use standardized tests (although the Thornhill software can be used to offer any type of questionnaire online). Typically we offer non-standard behavioural questionnaires for two reasons. Firstly, we have worked with customised questionnaires, which by definition change every time they are altered, and so cannot be standardised in the sense that formal psychometric instruments are. Secondly, we have focused on behavioural descriptions of actual performance, rather than underlying traits. This is why our reports focus more on the individual item results than the dimensions in which they fall. Customised behavioural descriptors meet the requirements of performance-based management development better in most cases than do psychometric tests, or offer a complementary insight alongside psychometric tests. Ideally the kind of 360-degree feedback made possible by the Thornhill system should be used alongside other perspectives such as psychometric testi
