A MODEL FOR THE USE OF ATTITUDE SCALES ACROSS CULTURES

To minimize the verbal content of the attitude measurement situation with Papua New Guinea students, a set of pictorial items was selected for use in the place of verbal items. Initially, 150 pictures related to concepts in the Wilson-Patterson Attitude Inventory (WPAI) were described by a group of 50 students. Seventy of these items, those which were described in a consistent way, were presented to 227 students along with a Papua New Guinea version of the WPAI. A final set of 25 pictures was selected on the basis of their discriminative power, internal consistency, and their content validity. Reliability and validity measures and the rotated factor structure of the 25 item pictorial scale were consistent with the WPAI.     

AN EXTENSION AND FIELD TEST OF THE RETRANSLATION METHOD FOR DEVELOPING RATING SCALES

The retranslation method for rating scale development was used to develop a scale to evaluate an educational television series designed to teach basal reading skills. This extension of the method, outside the context of job performance rating, was evaluated using both developmental and actual field use data. The results during the developmental stage of the method are generally supportive of the use of the technique in this situation; the results from the field test yielded mixed support.     

THE PRACTICALITY OF BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATION SCALES, BEHAVIORAL EXPECTATION SCALES, AND TRAIT SCALES

The practicality of three appraisal instruments were measured in terms of user preference, namely, behavioral observation scales (BOS), behavioral expectation scales (BES), and trait scales. A questionnaire containing items pertaining to differentiating good from poor performers, objectivity, providing feedback, suggesting training needs, and ease of use was administered to managers and their subordinates. In all instances, BOS were preferred to BES, and in all but two instances, BOS were viewed as superior to trait scales. Trait scales were felt to be as good if not better than BES. A second questionnaire administered to attorneys indicated that BOS would be easier to defend in the courtroom than either BES or trait scales.     

真实自豪与自大自豪倾向量表的修订及适用

对Tracy和Robins编制的真实自豪与自大自豪倾向量表进行中文版修订并初步考察我国大学生自豪感的特点,分别选取202名和484名大学生进行问卷预测和正式施测。验证性因素分析表明修订后量表仍保持英文版的双维结构,两分量表的α系数为0.785和0.743,重测信度为0.978和0.952。修订后量表具有良好的心理测量学指标,可以用于我国大学生的测试。进一步发现我国大学生的真实自豪显著高于自大自豪,大学生自豪感不存在性别差异,自大自豪存在显著的年级差异。     

THE EFFECT OF GAMING ON ATTENDANCE AND ATTITUDE

Gaining, as an approach to reducing absenteeism and tardiness, has been used successfully by a number of firms. Our research has shown that the impact of gaming on these two areas may be minimal. However, statistically significant improvement in employee attitude and cooperation has resulted when gaming was used as a vehicle for employee communication.     

A FACTORIAL STUDY O F THE ATTITUDE SCALES ON THE COLLEGE STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE WITH STUDENTS AT A PREDOMINANTLY BLACK UNIVERSITY

The study examined the dimensionality of attitudes on the College Student Questionnaires (CSQ). The sample consisted of 772 entering freshmen at a predominantly black liberal arts university. The correlation matrices for the 66 attitude items were factor analyzed using a principal axes factor analysis with an oblique rotation. Among the eleven factors, which accounted for 37% of the variance, the following were interpreted: Family Independence vs. Cohesiveness; Autonomy vs. Influenceability from Peers ; Non-Affiliative vs. Affiliative Peer Orientation; Concern for Social Problems; Aesthetic Interest; and Interest in Politics and World Affairs. These factors were compared with the original CSQ Attitude Scales, and a number of similarities and differences were noted. The items from the CSQ Liberalism Scale did not form any general interpretable factor and the items from the CSQ Peer Independence Scale formed two distinct factors. The findings implied that special scales- corresponding with the factors found in the study-should be considered when studying attitudes of students attending predominantly black colleges and universities.     

THE PROBLEM OF MAGNITUDE AND CATEGORY SCALES: INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS

J unge , K. The problem of magnitude and category scales: interpretation of results. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1962, 3 , 215–218.—It is proposed that three main factors are responsible for the relation between magnitude and category scales: (1) ratio judgments on a transformed category scale, (2) interval judgments, and (3) hybrid judgments. The last term refers to the tentative explanation that magnitude judgments are a cross between pure ratio and interval judgments.     

ISSUES AND STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING THE LENGTH OF SELF-REPORT SCALES

Greater understanding of the complex interrelationships among work-relevant constructs has increased the number of constructs on organizational surveys. Good psychometric practice also dictates the use of multiple items per construct. The net result has been longer surveys. Longer surveys take more time to complete, tend to have more missing data, and have higher refusal rates than short surveys. Arguably, then, techniques for reducing the length of scales while maintaining psychometric quality are worthwhile. Little guidance exists on how to reduce the length of a multi-item scale and we argue that the most common technique, maximizing internal consistency, is problematic and should be avoided. We present a set of item "quality indices" to help conceptualize the competing issues that influence item retention decisions. Statistical analysis of an example case using these indices suggested that there are 3 key aspects of item quality to consider when reducing a scale. We describe strategies that can assist scale developers in using these 3 aspects of item quality when making scale reduction decisions.     

BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATION SCALES AND THE EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL EFFECTIVENESS

An earlier article by the present authors (Bernardin and Kane, 1980) pointed out a serious flaw in the conceptual basis of Behavioral Observation Scales (BOS). The present article explains this flaw in more detail and shows that its solution would make BOS indistinguishable from other methods already in existence. The focus then shifts from the conception of appraisal methods to their evaluation with the presentation of a discussion of the special problems of error capitalization that arise in the use of item analysis in the development of multi-item rating scales. This discussion proceeds to describe the correct approach to removing the effects of error capitalization in the evaluation of the psychometric properties of such rating scales.     

SIMPLE STRUCTURE AND THE NUMBER OF FACTORS PROBLEM

If the varimax criterion values. for rotations of successively greater numbers of principal axes of the image covariance matrix G are listed, they may be examined for two features: the unimodality of the distribution reflects the clarity of latent structure; and the peak value indicates the number of common factors present. The procedure is applied to nine published example problems and compared to other rules of thumb for determining the rank of a factor matrix.     

学习态度与学习行为的相关性研究

按照态度的结构理论,态度包含认知、情感和意向三种成分。该研究采用问卷测查的方式,考察了学习态度中的三种成分与学习行为的关系。结果表明,影响学习行为最主要的因素不是认知,而是意向和情感。所以要使学生真正形成一种能够促进学习行为的积极的学习态度,关键在于使他们产生对学习的愉悦体验和强烈的投入意愿。     

老虎保护公众意识态度变化研究

本研究以问卷调查的方式对上海市中学生,中医药大学生、和普通公众的老虎保护意识进行了对比调查和纵向调查,以评估国际野生生物保护协会亚洲保护交流项目的“拯救虎虎”公众意识宣传教育活动的效果。     

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL OF BEHAVIOR-BASED COMPETENCIES: A RELIABLE AND VALID PROCEDURE

A new performance appraisal system, developed for promotions in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police non-commissioned officer ranks, fairly differentiated among candidates. Members ( N = 6,571) illustrated their performance on core competencies with behavioral examples. Supervisors and then review boards used a BARS procedure to reliably rate performance. Both candidates and supervisors supported the system. The performance appraisal scores predicted career advancement in the organization.