Canonical Literature for "Big 5" Personality Theory I'm searching for a good reference on "Big 5" personality theory that explains the topic in detail beyond the level of a website. I am hoping to get a pointer to some of the "canonical" literature--i.e. the standard papers/texts/etc. where Big 5 and its connection to factor analysis are presented rigorously. 

I would also love a pointer to literature which discusses the psychometric theory underlying the typical Big 5 tests.
I quite like Saucier &amp; Srivastava (2015). They provide a very nice overview of the evidence for different trait models. They give you a good overview of how factor analysis and lexical studies relate to the Big 5.

You can see my own attempt at providing a primer on the Big 5 and trait measurement at Anglim &amp; O'Connor, 2018. You could look at some of the following key references from that paper:


  ... the most influential basis for a Big Five came from Goldberg (1981, 1990) who conducted factor analyses on comprehensive sets of trait adjectives. Over multiple studies Goldberg found support for the “Big Five” factors of personality. Strong support for a five-factor model was also obtained in various studies by McCrae and Costa (1987) who repeatedly found five dimensions across instruments and observers (self and peer- reports). On balance, lexical studies along with studies using large questionnaires tend to support the idea that personality can broadly be described using the Big Five dimensions of personality (Condon, 2017; Costa &amp; McCrae, 1995; Markon, Krueger, &amp; Watson, 2005).


References


Anglim, J., &amp; O'Connor, P. (2018). Measurement and Research Using the Big Five, HEXACO, and Narrow Traits: A Primer for Researchers and Practitioners. Australian Journal of Psychology. https://psyarxiv.com/a78g2/download
Saucier, G., &amp; Srivastava, S. (2015). What makes a good structural model of personality? Evaluating the Big Five and alternatives. Handbook of personality and social psychology, 3, 283-305. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~sanjay/pubs/structmodpersonality.pdf