Item Features and Inconsistent Responding to Questionnaire Items Across Two Assessments: A Question of Language

• In Event: 49.085 - Instrument Development and Validation

Abstract

In a number of settings (e.g., pre-post tests, longitudinal studies), people complete the same items more than once. Item features, such as topic and readability, have been associated with participants’ responses to items. The present paper examines features of items that are associated with consistent responses across time when identical responses are expected due to the research design. Nine hundred and forty university students completed a twenty item measure of depressive symptomology twice in immediate succession. Items with a higher reading level, reverse coded items, items asking about feelings, items asking about the perceptions of others, items referring to others, and items on the somatic subscale had a higher likelihood of participants providing different responses between the two assessments.

Authors

• Rachel T. Fouladi, Simon Fraser University

• Patricia Wallis, Simon Fraser University