IMO this is a suggestion that we depersonalize a process where we look at personality traits, approach to the task, resourcefulness, creativity, diligence, etc. If applicant would write some information about them in a free form, it will give more information about them, then if they will just answer the questions. There's no spirit in it, you know

There is no such thing as "wrong application" or "correct application", this is about getting to know the applicant.

This is all my opinion tho, for those, who may interprete this as an official statement of the staff members - it's not.