RHETI: Enneagram glossary definition

A forced-choice questionnaire

Forced choice means the test never asks you to rate a statement on its own. Instead it presents two statements, each linked to a different type, and you choose the one that fits you better. Each choice adds to one type's tally. The approach was popular because it limits a common problem with rating scales, the tendency to agree with almost everything. The best-known version uses 144 paired statements, and the publisher also developed rating-scale variants.

Full name

Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator

Authors

Don Riso and Russ Hudson

Format

Forced choice between paired statements

Output

Scores for all nine types, highest suggested as type

Status

Proprietary, published commercially by its authors' organization

Background

How the term is used

"RHETI" usually comes up in two places. In everyday conversation people mention it to say which test gave them their result. In research it appears as one of the standard instruments, so many findings about Enneagram reliability are really findings about this questionnaire. EnneaFox does not use, adapt or reproduce its items, and is not affiliated with its publisher.

A short example

A graduate student in counseling takes the RHETI for a class assignment and gets a top score for Six, with Nine and One close behind. Because the profile is fairly flat, her instructor suggests reading all three descriptions and comparing them with a rating-scale test before settling on anything.

The instructor's point is about format as much as content. A forced-choice result tells you which statement you preferred in each pairing, which is not the same as telling you how strongly you identify with any single statement. A flat forced-choice profile can hide a clear preference that a rating scale would show, and the reverse can happen too.

What research found

Related terms: Enneagram test, typing, mistyping and alignment score.

• Enneagram test: glossary definitionWhat an Enneagram test is: a questionnaire that estimates a best-fit type, the main formats (rating scale and forced choice), its limits, and the research.
• Typing: Enneagram glossary definitionEnneagram typing, defined: the process of finding a best-fit type through reflection, tests, interviews and reading, its pitfalls, and what research says.
• Mistyping: Enneagram glossary definitionEnneagram mistyping, defined: settling on a type that is not your best fit, the usual causes, the most commonly confused pairs, and how to double-check.
• Alignment score: EnneaFox glossary definitionWhat the EnneaFox alignment score is: a descriptive 0 to 100 summary of how strongly you endorsed each type's statements, how it works, and what it is not.