PSY 3307 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Social Desirability Bias, Face Validity
24 Oct 2016
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Scales should be meaningful to respondent: make sure that response options match the question. Intensity: none, very mild, mild, moderate, severe more than others, somewhat more than others. Balance all responses: make sure that there is as many negative choices as there are positive ones, even out the yes and no options. Neutral category: use neutral response category only when it is valid. Eliminating middle point may reduce social desirability bias. The social desirability bias: when people want to do what is normal, what other people would do, so they may chose the neutral option to not seem to extreme or to not stand out. But, some people may have a genuinely neutral attitude. Do(cid:374)"t put a n/a (cid:272)hoi(cid:272)e, u(cid:374)less really (cid:374)eeded. It allows people a way out of really thinking about the question. How many points: use 4 to 7 point rating scale. Do(cid:374)"t go (cid:271)eyo(cid:374)d 7 (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause the differe(cid:374)(cid:272)es (cid:449)ould (cid:271)e so su(cid:271)tly a(cid:374)d you (cid:449)ould i(cid:374)(cid:272)rease.
