The functional method is a new test theory using a new scoring method that assumes complexity in test structure, and thus takes into account every correlation between factors and items. The main specificity of the functional method is to model test scores by multiple regression instead of estimating them by using simplistic sums of points. In order to proceed, the functional method requires the creation of hyperspherical measurement space, in which item responses are expressed by their correlation with orthogonal factors. This method has three main qualities. First, measures are expressed in the absolute metric of correlations; therefore, items, scales and persons are expressed in the same measurement space using the same single metric. Second, factors are systematically orthogonal and without errors, which is optimal in order to predict other outcomes. Such predictions can be performed to estimate how one would answer to other tests, or even to model one's response strategy if it was perfectly coherent. Third, the functional method provides measures of individuals' response validity (i.e., control indices). Herein, we propose a standard procedure in order to identify whether test results are interpretable and to exclude invalid results caused by various response biases based on control indices.Keywords: functional method, exploratory factor analysis, psychometrics, response reliability, response validity, self-rated questionnaires IntroductionFor about a century, psychological testing has become an important aspect of psychologists' activity with an ever-growing importance. Nonetheless, despite formidable developments in psychometrics during the last several decades, most clinical and scientific practices covering psychological assessment continue to refer to the nearly unchanged method inherited from classic test theory (CTT). Many critics have been raised against the classic method: In particular, it is too often assumed that items have no second loadings, and that each item has the same weight, which is optimal for confirmatory factor analysis, but it also leads to a loss in reliability. Furthermore, though CTT assumes requirements in test validity (e.g., satisfactory reliability, concurrent validity), few requirements have been formulated concerning individuals' ways of responding to self-administered questionnaires.The functional method is a new method that improves test reliability and provides indices of one's response validity to self-administered tests. First, three major issues of classic testing are Dupuis et al. Introduction to the functional method examined; then item response theory (IRT) is presented as the main alternative to CTT. Last, the functional method is presented with a focus on how it deals with these problems and compared with CTT and IRT. The Problem of Response Intrinsic QualityIt is well known that psychological tests can be biased both intentionally and unintentionally; this can invalidate one's test results, but can even invalidate an entire test validation (Caldwell-Andrews et...
Differences in personality scores between subjects with and without mood disorders might result from response biases rather than specific personality traits per se. The aim of this study was to compare subjects with bipolar disorders (BPD) to non-bipolar subjects in terms of response quality to the NEO-FFI. Using data from the population-based cohort study PsyCoLaus, subjects were compared in terms of responses to the NEO-FFI, and indices of response quality were calculated. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed and controlled for sociodemographic factors, depressive episodes, dysthymia, anxiety disorders and substance use disorders. Consistent with the literature, subjects with BPD had higher scores in neuroticism and openness, and lower scores in conscientiousness. However, significant differences were measured for response reliability and validity. In particular, the indices of response quality including response reliability were lower in subjects with BPD suggesting that bipolar subjects might have more difficulty in providing consistent answers throughout questionnaires. However, regression models resulted in small associations between mania/hypomania and response quality, and showed that differences in response quality were mainly attributable to correlates of BPD instead of the presence of mania/hypomania itself. The current findings suggest that bipolar subjects' responses to questionnaires are biased, making them less reliable.
Despite the fact that research has demonstrated consistent associations between self-rated measures of personality dimensions and mental disorders, little has been undertaken to investigate the relation between psychiatric symptoms and response patterns to self-rated tests. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between psychiatric symptoms and response quality using indices from our functional method. A sample of 1,784 participants from a Swiss population-based cohort completed a personality inventory (NEO-FFI) and a symptom checklist of 90 items (SCL-90-R). Different indices of response quality were calculated based on the responses given to the NEO-FFI. Associations among the responses to indices of response quality, sociodemographic characteristics and the SCL-90-R dimensions were then established. Psychiatric symptoms were associated with several important differences in response quality, questioning subjects' ability to provide valid information using self-rated instruments. As suggested by authors, psychiatric symptoms seem associated with differences in personality scores. Nonetheless, our study shows that symptoms are also related to differences in terms of response patterns as sources of differences in personality scores. This could constitute a bias for clinical assessment. Future studies could still determine whether certain subpopulations of subjects are more unable to provide valid information to self-rated questionnaires than others.
■ Roland Capel, Denis Monod, Jean- Pierre Millier: De l'usage perverti des tests inférentiels en sciences humaines Les tests d'hypothèses sont très largement utilisés dans la recherche en sciences humaines, mais leur usage est cependant souvent jugé abusif, sinon . perverti, par de nombreux méthodologues dont les critiques restent pourtant sans effet depuis des décennies. Les . auteurs proposent diverses explications . de l'étonnante persistance de telles pratiques. L'étude du contexte historique et théorique dans lequel celles-ci ont pu se développer conduit à mettre en évidence les graves confusions liées à la notion de significativité. très prisée en sciences humaines.
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