the 16pf questionnaire was created from a fairly unusual perspective among personality tests. most personality tests are developed to measure just the pre-conceived traits that are of interest to a particular theorist or researcher. the main author of the 16pf, raymond b. cattell, had a strong background in the physical sciences, especially chemistry and physics, at a time when the basic elements of the physical world were being discovered, placed in the periodic table, and used as the basis for understanding the fundamental nature of the physical world and for further inquiry. from this background in the physical sciences, cattell developed the belief that all fields are best understood by first seeking to find the fundamental underlying elements in that domain, and then developing a valid way to measure and research these elements (cattell, 1965).