The Intercultural Development Inventory at Purdue University

Purdue University has invested in intercultural development for its faculty and staff through IDI Qualifying Seminars each fall and spring from Fall of 2015 until the Spring of 2019.  With the Qualified Administrators' (QAs') permission, CILMAR has organized a contact list for those who are interested in finding a QA in their college or department.

Updates for Debriefers: COVID-19

In view of Purdue's response to the COVID-19 global outbreak, all units reporting to the Office of the Dean of International Programs (IP)--International Students and Scholars, Study Abroad, and CILMAR--will begin offering all individual or group debriefs of assessment instrument results to on-line delivery mode; or, in cases where the debrief is not time-critical (or a course requirement), postponed. 

The built-in online appointment option within the WCONLINE calendar software has been activated.  This means that IDI appointment seekers and debriefers will see a self-explanatory window that offers online consultation as a choice.  

Please see your inbox for additional instructions.

Why should I be interested in the IDI?

According to Intercultural Development Inventory® LLC, the IDI is the premier, cross-cultural assessment of intercultural competence that is used by thousands of individuals and organizations to build intercultural competence to achieve international and domestic diversity and inclusion goals and outcomes.

IDI research in organizations and educational institutions confirms two central findings when using the IDI:

  1. Interculturally competent behavior occurs at a level supported by the individual’s or group’s underlying orientation as assessed by the IDI.
  2. Training and leadership development efforts at building intercultural competence are more successful when they are based on the individual’s or group’s underlying developmental orientation as assessed by the IDI.

In contrast to many “personal characteristic” instruments, the IDI is a cross-culturally valid, reliable and generalizable measure of intercultural competence along the validated intercultural development continuum (adapted, based on IDI research, from the DMIS theory developed by Milton Bennett). Further, the IDI has been demonstrated through research to have high predictive validity to both bottom-line cross-cultural outcomes in organizations and intercultural goal accomplishments in education.

Taking the IDI and/or ICS

Are you interested in taking the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) or the Intercultural Conflict Style (ICS) inventory for yourself or your unit?

Please e-mail cilmar@purdue.edu. Your department may be willing to pay the fee for the IDI in order to invest in your intercultural development.

Before using the IDI

Anyone can request that their group be assessed using the IDI. There is a cost associated with the IDI, which needs to be taken into consideration (Faculty/Staff: $18.00, Students: $12.00). In order to receive assessment results, participants must be debriefed by a Qualified Administrator (QA) of the IDI (approximately 1 hour). A Group Debriefing is an option; however, this is restricted to groups of 12 or more and may last between 1 to 1 ½ hours. CILMAR manages a central calendar of QA appointments which is available to all Purdue groups upon approval of the usage application (see below).

What is the process?

  1. Request assistance from CILMAR in ordering the IDI by contacting cilmar@purdue.edu. Please indicate when the assessment should be sent to participants and when the debriefing phase should be completed.
  2. Provide CILMAR with a list of participants, including their email addresses and the account number to be charged for the purchase. Please provide email documentation of approval from an appropriate supervisor to use the indicated account number.
  3. Upon receiving the usernames and passwords, the program leader should assign the numbered usernames to the participants and then distribute the usernames and passwords. This record should also be shared with CILMAR for ease of retrieval as well as monitoring completion.
  4. If a group debrief is preferred (groups greater than 12 only), submit this request via email to cilmar@purdue.edu. If you would like to send participants to CILMAR’s IDI Debriefing Calendar, submit a completed Qualtrics application (see Sending participants to CILMAR’s IDI Debriefing Calendar section below) one semester in advance. Late submissions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
  5. For small groups and/or with support of other QAs, individual debriefings may be covered by the program leader. In this instance and in all cases in which the program leader is a QA, CILMAR will provide all reports and data upon request.

IDI Qualifying Seminars

In the past CILMAR has hosted IDI Qualifying Seminars (QSs) for Purdue faculty and staff who have a passion for their own and others' intercultural learning and are well-suited and well-situated to debrief and coach others in their intercultural growth. At this time there is not a QS planned on Purdue’s campus. If you would like CILMAR to consider hosting another training, please contact Assistant Director Katherine Yngve.

According to IDI® LLC attendance at a QS and consent to a licensing agreement is required to use the IDI Assessment. Participants will receive IDI handouts and materials that include detailed interpretive guidelines, and written descriptions of procedures. During the seminar, participants will:

  • Receive training and access to use the Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory®
  • Gain proficiency in using the IDI for increasing intercultural competence for individuals, teams, and organizations
  • Learn how the IDI differs from traditional measures of intercultural competence
  • Learn how to interpret individual and group IDI profiles of intercultural competence
  • Practice giving IDI feedback in supportive, role-play scenarios

To learn more about the IDI, please go to here. 

In the event that a QS is scheduled, those wishing to participate would need to complete and submit an application. To apply for an IDI QS on the Purdue campus in order to become an IDI QA, please fill out the application here.  

Sending participants to CILMAR’s IDI Debriefing Calendar

Individual Debriefing appointments for IDIs are administered through a central calendar, which can be accessed by going to https://www.purdue.edu/apps/account/IPPUWCOnline.

We are piloting a new debriefing calendar for TECH 330 students only here.