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The Need for a new perspective for viewing Jung's typology was suggested by the results of the Loomis and Singer study which questioned the validity of Jung's bipolarity assumption (LOOMIS, SINGER 9). That study indicated that more accurate profiles could be obtained if the functions which Jung described in his theory of psychological types were measured independently instead of by forced-choice items. Metzner, Burney and Mahlberg in their reformulation of Jung's typology also recognised the need to assess independently the four functions (METZNER et al. 12). In addition, Metzner et al. noted what has been evident to a variety of researchers and theorists, namely the paradox that while Jung's types have been useful clinically in providing a framework for understanding individual differences in behaviour, empirical support for his constructs has not been evident. A new perspective could lead to the development of an instrument to assess Jung's typology—one that would be useful clinically and also would be empirically sound. It was in an effort to develop such a valid instrument that the Singer-Loomis Inventory of Personality (SLIP) was constructed (SINGER, LOOMIS 17).
The most critical step in obtaining support for the validity of an inventory, and for the theory upon which it is based, is to have factors emerge from a factor analysis which substantiate the underlying constructs (18). All other evidence rests on this foundation. Factor analyses of previous inventories which were designed to measure Jung's typology failed to substantiate that the instruments were measuring what they purported to measure (MENDELSOHN 11; WOZNY, 20). This failure is critical not only in a research setting but in a clinical setting as well. If a therapist is trying to assess the typology of a patient by administering a test, the test must be valid; that is, it must measure what it says it is measuring. Previous inventories have been used in research and have indicated the utility of Jung's