ABSTRACT
Biodata, biographical accounts of past events, are information concerning an individual's personal life history and experience. There are various reasons why biographical research has never been a popular research activity in psychology. These include the questions of biodata objectivity, reliability and validity, and most researchers have suggested too many sources of error and bias in this type of data. Biodata have a long history of use in industry, but it was not until the 1950s that they became widely used as part of employee selection systems. Typically, biodata were collected from job candidates via written application forms, or special biographical inventories. Biodata have been used in a variety of industrial and business settings since the early part of this century. Most psychological theories emphasize how developmental experiences shape the personality of individuals. Any theory of development must describe the process through which development occurs and must outline the reasons for various patterns of growth.
