Direct estimation: effect of methodological factors on scale tupe

Abstract.— An experiment was performed to investigate the importance of methodological differences between magnitude estimation and category rating. It was found that the form of a scale varied with (a) the range of responses used by the subject and (b) with his freedom of choosing a highest number. Other factors investigated played a minor role. A narrow range and fixed upper scale value yielded the typical category scale, a wide range with no restriction on the highest value the typical magnitude scale. The same factors that determined the form of the scale also affected the Weber functions.     

Development of abbreviated nine-item forms of the Raven's standard progressive matrices test

The Raven's standard progressive matrices (RSPM) is a 60-item test for measuring abstract reasoning, considered a nonverbal estimate of fluid intelligence, and often included in clinical assessment batteries and research on patients with cognitive deficits. The goal was to develop and apply a predictive model approach to reduce the number of items necessary to yield a score equivalent to that derived from the full scale. The approach is based on a Poisson predictive model. A parsimonious subset of items that accurately predicts the total score was sought, as was a second nonoverlapping alternate form for repeated administrations. A split sample was used for model fitting and validation, with cross-validation to verify results. Using nine RSPM items as predictors, correlations of .9836 and .9782 were achieved for the reduced forms and .9063 and .8978 for the validation data. Thus, a 9-item subset of RSPM predicts the total score for the 60-item scale with good accuracy. A comparison of psychometric properties between 9-item forms, a published 30-item form, and the 60-item set is presented. The two 9-item forms provide a 75% administration time savings compared with the 30-item form, while achieving similar item- and test-level characteristics and equal correlations to 60-item based scores.     

Revising the Competitiveness Index using factor analysis

The Competitiveness Index is a 20-item true-false measure designed to assess the desire to win in interpersonal situations. To develop a more psychometrically sound form of the scale, 213 undergraduates were administered the original form and a modified version containing a 5-point Likert-type scale. An initial principal component analysis using a varimax rotation of the modified version yielded a four-factor solution accounting for 54.5% of the explained variance. Based on a subsequent reliability analysis. six items were dropped from the modified scale. A second analysis produced a two-factor solution accounting for 54.1% of the explained variance. Both factors (Enjoyment of Competition and Contentiousness) formed reliable subscales. The 14-item Revised Competitiveness Index had high internal consistency and was positively correlated with the original Competitiveness Index, the competitiveness subscales of the Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire, the Sports Orientation Questionnaire, and the Nach Naff measure of Need for Achievement.     

Measuring mindfulness—the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI)

Mindfulness, a concept originally derived from Buddhist psychology, is essential for some well-known clinical interventions. Therefore an instrument for measuring mindfulness is useful. We report here on two studies constructing and validating the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI) including a short form. A preliminary questionnaire was constructed through expert interviews and extensive literature analysis and tested in 115 subjects attending mindfulness meditation retreats. This psychometrically sound 30-item scale with an internal consistency of Cronbach alpha = .93 was able to significantly demonstrate the increase in mindfulness after the retreat and to discriminate between experienced and novice meditators. In a second study we broadened the scope of the concept to 86 subjects without meditation experience, 117 subjects with clinical problems, and 54 participants from retreats. Reducing the scale to a short form with 14 items resulted in a semantically robust and psychometrically stable (alpha = .86) form. Correlation with other relevant constructs (self-awareness, dissociation, global severity index, meditation experience in years) was significant in the medium to low range of correlations and lends construct validity to the scale. Principal Component Analysis suggests one common factor. This short scale is sensitive to change and can be used also with subjects without previous meditation experience.     

The relationship between Eysenck's personality dimensions and Bem's masculinity and femininity scales revisited

A sample of 86 male and 93 female students in Wales completed the short form Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire together with the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The data indicate that high scores on the scale of masculinity are associated with high extraversion and low neuroticism, but unrelated to either psychoticism or the lie scale, while high scores on the scale of femininity are associated with low psychoticism, high neuroticism and high lie scale scores, but unrelated to extraversion.     

Subjective awareness scale length influences the prevalence,not the presence,of graded conscious states

There is an ongoing debate about the graded or dichotomous form of visual consciousness. Studies involved in the disagreement have typically employed subjective awareness ratings in psychophysical experiments. Variations in scale length have made comparisons across studies difficult and have even been suspected of influencing conclusions about the form of consciousness. We tested the proposal that a 21-point awareness scale produces dichotomous awareness state reports. The experiment described in this article randomly assigned participants to use one of four scale lengths used in previous studies in a backward masking task. Our findings suggest that all scales indicate the presence of graded awareness states, but that the resulting proportion of degraded state reports differed across the scales. Consequently, we argue that the decision of whether the form of consciousness observed in a given study is dichotomous or graded is dependent on an interpretation of the relative degree of degradation.     

Development of a short form of the Treatment Evaluation Inventory for acceptability of psychological interventions

The Treatment Evaluation Inventory of Kazdin, French, and Sherick is a 19-item measure of the perceived acceptability of behavioural treatments. Development of two brief forms was based on data from two sources. For Study 1, data from 218 completed questionnaires were used to develop internally consistent brief scales. In Study 2 internal consistency and the validity of the brief forms were estimated for a set of 131 questionnaires. Item reduction was achieved by analysis of item-total minus item correlations. Brief forms with 3, 6, 9, and 12 items were proposed. Their internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) and construct validity were based on correlations of scores on each short form with the full scale scores and on comparing means of different forms. Discriminant validity was based on the difference between two groups (estimated effect size 0.7). Scores for all forms showed high internal consistency and correlated highly with total scale scores. Only the 12-item brief scale yielded mean scores similar to the full scale. The 3-item form could be used as a quick screen, and the 12-item form for more intensive purposes as it is most similar to the full-scale.     

On the practice of dichotomization of quantitative variables

The authors examine the practice of dichotomization of quantitative measures, wherein relationships among variables are examined after 1 or more variables have been converted to dichotomous variables by splitting the sample at some point on the scale(s) of measurement. A common form of dichotomization is the median split, where the independent variable is split at the median to form high and low groups, which are then compared with respect to their means on the dependent variable. The consequences of dichotomization for measurement and statistical analyses are illustrated and discussed. The use of dichotomization in practice is described, and justifications that are offered for such usage are examined. The authors present the case that dichotomization is rarely defensible and often will yield misleading results.     

Lie scales and the elderly

The results of 11 community-wide studies in which a short form of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale was administered are summarized. In seven Australian studies significant correlations (ranging from 0.20 to 0.42) were found between the scale and age. In one study having mostly male respondents, however, no significant correlation was found. This led to the data from a ninth study being dissected into males and females. A significant correlation was then found for females only. Two further studies from West Germany and India gave results similar to the Australian findings. The results were interpreted to mean that older women seek to compensate for ‘Loss of looks’ by promoting themselves as having other virtues. These highly meaningful findings from use of a social desirability scale among the elderly tend to rebut attacks on the validity of such scales among the elderly.     

Development and Validation of an Adjective Check List to Assess the Millon Personality Types in a Normal Population

A 405-item experimental Personality Adjective Check List (PACL) was refined into a 153-item form to assess the personality types outlined by Millon (1969, 1981) in a normal population. Scale construction and validation followed a method outlined by Loevinger (1957, 1972). Nine scales were developed based on the responses of 459 men and women, one for each of Milton's eight basic personalities plus an Experimental scale measuring aspects of his three more severe types. Extensive reliability and validity analyses were conducted involving over 2,200 men and women from across the United States, including a factor analysis of scales. These revealed good internal consistency for each scale, good test-retest reliability over a 3-month period, adequate factor structure, and good convergent and discriminant validity based on self-report data. Results indicated that Millon's basic types exist in normal form much as they are postulated to exist as disorders. Research efforts focusing on Millon's theory as it applies to normals may bring a more complete understanding of the entire spectrum of personality.     

Development and validation of an adjective check list to assess the Millon personality types in a normal population

A 405-item experimental Personality Adjective Check List (PACL) was refined into a 153-item form to assess the personality types outlined by Millon (1969, 1981) in a normal population. Scale construction and validation followed a method outlined by Loevinger (1957, 1972). Nine scales were developed based on the responses of 459 men and women, one for each of Millon's eight basic personalities plus an Experimental scale measuring aspects of his three more severe types. Extensive reliability and validity analyses were conducted involving over 2,200 men and women from across the United States, including a factor analysis of scales. These revealed good internal consistency for each scale, good test-retest reliability over a 3-month period, adequate factor structure, and good convergent and discriminant validity based on self-report data. Results indicated that Millon's basic types exist in normal form much as they are postulated to exist as disorders. Research efforts focusing on Millon's theory as it applies to normals may bring a more complete understanding of the entire spectrum of personality.     

The structure of infant temperament: Factor analysis of the revised infant temperament questionnaire

Factor analyses of the Carey and McDevitt (1978) Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (RITQ) with a representative sample of 2,443 Australian infants provided limited empirical support for its 9-dimension structure and indicated considerable redundancy in the scale. Of the 9 dimensions, only Rhythmicity and Persistence emerged as relatively pure factors. The other factors were formed from various combinations or divisions of the dimensions. Five infant temperament factors, Approach, Rhythmicity, Cooperation/Manageability, Activity/Reactivity, and Irritability, were chosen for the development of a short form (SITQ). This short form showed good internal consistency and replicability across subsamples of the total group, A 3-factor composite scale was also developed that allowed measurement of an easy to difficult continuum that was strongly related to concurrent behavior problems. Good test-retest reliability was demonstrated for both the 5 separate scales and the composite scale. Although similarities can be shown between the SITQ and various other infant temperament scales, the SITQ has the advantages of parsimony and a firm empirical basis.     

A change of mind: The Conners Abbreviated Rating Scales Reconsidered

A cutoff score of 15 on the Conners 10-item Abbreviated Teacher Rating Scale (ATRS), based on a study from this laboratory, has been widely used by investigators for diagnosis of the syndrome known now as Attention Deficit Disorder with or without Hyperactivity. A replication of the original research employing a larger norm sample indicates that the suggested score of 15 is too low. Comparing the norm sample with hyperactive subjects selected by cutoff of 15 on the ATRS showed that the groups differed greatly on hyperactivity but not on inattention. The abbreviated form of the Conners scale does not effectively select children with attention deficits. Numerous problems with both the 39-item teacher scale and the abbreviated form suggest strongly that they be abandoned as research tools.This research was supported in part by research grant No. MH18909 from the National Institute of Mental Health.     

The development of children's rule use on the balance scale task

Cognitive development can be characterized by a sequence of increasingly complex rules or strategies for solving problems. Our work focuses on the development of children's proportional reasoning, assessed by the balance scale task using Siegler's (1976, 1981) rule assessment methodology. We studied whether children use rules, whether children of different ages use qualitatively different rules, and whether rules are used consistently. Nonverbal balance scale problems were administered to 805 participants between 5 and 19 years of age. Latent class analyses indicate that children use rules, that children of different ages use different rules, and that both consistent and inconsistent use of rules occurs. A model for the development of reasoning about the balance scale task is proposed. The model is a restricted form of the overlapping waves model (Siegler, 1996) and predicts both discontinuous and gradual transitions between rules.     

Weber laws,the Weber law,and psychophysical analysis

In failing to define the units in which the stimulus is to be measured, the Weber law might seem to make no definite assertion, and indeed, it is shown that any single empirical function, supposed to relate a given stimulus intensity with that intensity which is just noticeably greater, can be put into the Weber form by a suitable change of scale in which the stimulus intensity is to be measured. Nevertheless, it turns out that if different individuals have different Weber functions, when the intensities are measured on a given scale, then it is by no means always possible to transform the scale so that all of the functions can take on the Weber form. Some necessary conditions are given for the possibility of such a transformation when there is at hand a finite number of functions, and when the functions depend upon a single parameter the necessary and sufficient condition is easily derived. The same discussion leads to a generalization of Thurstone's psychophysical scale and shows that such a scale is always possible.     

Fraternity Membership, the Display of Degrading Sexual Images of Women, and Rape Myth Acceptance

The present study was conducted to learn more about the association between fraternity membership and attitudes and behaviors associated with sexual aggression against women. A male experimenter took digital pictures of all of the images of women displayed in the rooms of 30 fraternity men and 30 non-fraternity men on a residential, small, liberal arts college campus. The men also filled out a rape myth acceptance scale. A total of 91 images were found in the form of posters, “pin-ups,” advertisements, or computer screen savers. It was found that fraternity men had significantly more images of women displayed in their rooms and that the images were rated significantly more degrading than those in the rooms of non-fraternity men. Fraternity men were found to have significantly higher scores on a rape supportive attitude scale (RSA). RSA scores were positively related to the amount of degradation in the images found in men's rooms. The possible purposes and consequences of the display of degrading sexual images are discussed.     

A new estimator of the uniqueness in factor analysis

A closed form estimator of the uniqueness (unique variance) in factor analysis is proposed. It has analytically desirable properties—consistency, asymptotic normality and scale invariance. The estimation procedure is given through the application to the two sets of Emmett's data and Holzinger and Swineford's data. The new estimator is shown to lead to values rather close to the maximum likelihood estimator.     

Culture-specific approach to the study of individualism/collectivism

Studies in individualism/collectivism (Triandis, McCusker & Hui, 1990) have revealed a considerable cultural connotation of the phenomena. The aim of our investigation was to develop a cross-culturally equivalent psychometric instrument for measuring individualistic versus collectivistic orientation on the basis of the shared representation of individualism/collectivism among Bulgarians. By applying the psychosemantic methodology we extracted seven concepts which form the individualism/collectivism dimension. The proposed instrument, labelled Bulgarian individualism/collectivism (BIC) scale, consists of a preference choice between the two words in every possible pair of the seven words. Validation studies included investigation of the relationship between the BIC scale and value orientation, between the BIC scale and general views of society and political preferences, and between the BIC scale and behavioural intentions such as the intention to start a business of one's own, the intention to emigrate, and the choice of professional vocation. Results were compared with the relationship of these variables to other measures of individualism/collectivism (scales of Triandis and Brown). The results suggest that the BIC scale reveals a more global orientation, whereas the other scales are concerned with specific everyday behaviours. A comparison between Bulgarian and American samples revealed some specificity in the Bulgarian social representation of individualism/collectivism, which can be explained by the extremely collectivistic norms of the former communist society in Bulgaria.     

The role of dissimulation and social desirability in the measurement of moral reasoning

A series of studies investigating the psychometric and conceptual properties of the Survey of Ethical Attitudes (SEA), a paper-and-pencil measure of moral reasoning, is reported. The results of these studies indicate that the scale is clearly susceptible to the influence of response dissimulation in the form of both role-playing and impression management, and is also confounded with sources of stylistic variance in the form of social desirability. Previous proposals concerning the relationships among moral development, moral reasoning, and personality structure are reviewed in light of these findings, and an alternative conceptualization of the measure in terms of political and social attitudes is offered.     

Measuring the phenomenology of autobiographical memory: A short form of the Memory Experiences Questionnaire

The Memory Experiences Questionnaire (MEQ) is a theoretically driven and empirically validated 63-item self-report scale designed to measure 10 phenomenological qualities of autobiographical memories: Vividness, Coherence, Accessibility, Time Perspective, Sensory Details, Visual Perspective, Emotional Intensity, Sharing, Distancing and Valence. To develop a short form of the MEQ to use when time is limited, participants from two samples (N = 719; N = 352) retrieved autobiographical memories, rated the phenomenological experience of each memory and completed several scales measuring psychological distress. For each MEQ dimension, the number of items was reduced by one-half based on item content and item-total correlations. Each short-form scale had acceptable internal consistency (median alpha = .79), and, similar to the long-form version of the scales, the new short scales correlated with psychological distress in theoretically meaningful ways. The new short form of the MEQ has similar psychometric proprieties as the original long form and can be used when time is limited.