Use of the Intercultural Development Inventory at Purdue University

Purdue University has invested in intercultural development for its faculty and staff through IDI Qualifying Seminars since the Fall of 2015. 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.

FAQs about the use of the IDI at Purdue Univeristy follow. 

Why should I be interested in the IDI?

The IDI is a well-known quantitative assessment that is used by thousands of individuals and organizations to build intercultural competence.

What does the research say about the IDI?

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.

Is there a cost for becoming an IDI administrator?

Purdue has trained about 250 faculty and staff as IDI Qualified Administrators (QAs). Information about the IDI Qualifying Seminar, including the cost, is available here. Your department may be willing to pay the fee for the QS in order to invest in your leadership development. Please email cilmar@purdue.edu if you or your department find the cost prohibitive - we may be able to costshare.

What are the cost and time constraints for the administration of the IDI?

There is a cost associated with the IDI, which needs to be taken into consideration (Faculty/Staff: $20.00, Students: $13.00). In order to receive assessment results, participants must be debriefed by an IDI administrator (45-60 minutes). A Group Debriefing is an option for groups of 10 or more and may last between 1 and 1 ½ hours. CILMAR at times has cost shared the fees for IDI administrations. Reach out if you would like to use the IDI with a group on campus and are exploring ways to fund the assessment.