Forced-Choice vs Free-Response in Personality Assessment

Two self-rating adjective check lists (ACL) were administered to 44 students in a course on psychological measurement. The first ACL administered was the regular free response list, followed immediately with a forced-choice version in which the adjectives were arranged into tetrad sets. Ipsative scoring was used and profiles compared. The correlations between the profiles ranged from −1.00 to 1.00, more than 40% falling in the negative range. Ss gave their impressions and reactions to both inventories, and evaluated the relative validity of the results. A majority favored the free-response technique and felt that it would yield a more accurate description of their self-concepts and personality structures. General consensus was that the forced-choice instructions led to frustration, increased irritability, and decreased motivation. Ss felt that the free-response instrument presented a more relaxing situation and was even enjoyable to take. Ss' verbal reactions were consistent with the statistical results. The findings suggest that the forced-choice method is likely to be inappropriate for use with adjective check lists in self-concept assessment and analysis, and may lead not only to distortion in the personality profiles, but also to reversals.

Verification of Some Short-Cut Formulas for Determining Reliability

A comparison was made of the reliability estimates given by four methods: Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 and 21 (KR20, KR21), and new short-cut estimates of KR20 given by Saupe (1961) based on previous empirical studies by Lord (1959). The tests used for the comparisons consisted of achievement examinations (Cancer Knowledge Examination and classroom tests) and tests of the attitude or personality type purporting to measure anxiety, somatization, repression, unconventionality, social desirability, dogmatism, authoritarianism, and tendency toward variety. The results indicate that the new estimates, r20* and r20′ were better estimates of KR20 than was KR21. The estimate, r20′ is on the average very close to KR20 and can be considered an accurate short-cut alternative to this coefficient. Caution should be exercised, however, in the use of the new estimates for very easy or very difficult tests since for these tests they appear to underestimate KR20.

A Third Comparison of Two Short-Form Derivatives of the Taylor MAS, Using Psychiatric Patients

Earlier studies in this Journal failed to adduce convincing evidence that Christie and Budnitzsky's 20-item forced-choice anxiety scale reduces social desirability effects otherwise assumed to be present in Bendig's 20-item (True-False) version of Taylor's Manifest Anxiety Scale. Using 70 heterogeneous psychiatric patients as Ss, this research shows a correlation of .92 between test scores on the two scales, which value is significantly larger than twice observed for normal control Ss. Our earlier impressions remain unchanged.