In this paper the results of a validation study of the Dutch and Norwegian versions of the Illegal Aliens (IA) Scale are discussed. The main objective is to evaluate the usefulness of the Three-Step Test-Interview (TSTI) as a pre-testing method in a validation study. The TSTI is a new technique specifically developed to detect problems with self-completion questionnaires. The study's aims were twofold: (1) to evaluate the usefulness of the TSTI for detecting problems regarding attitude measurement; and (2) to identify potential problems with the IA Scale. The IA Scale is a Likert-type attitude scale consisting of 20 parallel interval items. Its main purpose is for large comparative sample studies of political and ideological attitudes, for example between subgroups within populations or between countries. The TSTI procedure appeared to be very productive in terms of the number and kind of problems that were found regarding the Dutch and Norwegian versions of the IA Scale. It is concluded that the TSTI is useful as a diagnostic tool in validation studies of instruments that are aimed at measuring attitudes.
In the U.S. media, unauthorized immigrants are often interchangeably referred to as "illegal aliens," "illegal immigrants," and undocumented immigrants." In spite of formal equivalence, these terms carry different connotations, but the effects of these labels on people's attitudes toward immigrants are not well documented. In this replication study, 274 undergraduate students in psychology responded to one of three randomly distributed versions of a 20-item scale measuring attitudes toward unauthorized immigration. The items in the three scale versions varyingly referred to immigrants using the three terms. Results showed differences in attitudes toward unauthorized immigration between all experimental conditions. The label "illegal immigrants" yielded significantly less positive attitudes compared to the label "undocumented immigrants," and respondents exposed to the label "illegal aliens" showed the most positive attitudes. Furthermore, the effects of the experimental conditions were not moderated by the respondents' patriotism, sex, or own immigrant background.
To apply a Mokken Scale Procedure in developing a hierarchical cross-national scale to measure xenophobia, a pool of 30 xenophobia-related items was collected from several sources and modified using established unidimensional criteria. The survey was administered to 608 undergraduate students in the USA, 193 undergraduate students in The Netherlands, and 303 undergraduate students in Norway. 14 items measuring perceived threat or fear and meeting the criteria of the Stereotype Content Model were selected for further analysis. A separate item analysis and, subsequently, Mokken Scale Procedure yielded a cumulative scale with the same five items for each of the three samples. The items and the total scale met criteria for homogeneity in all samples with H > .40.
The present study is based on the premise that the integration of ethnic minorities may involve more than the majority's expression of tolerance. In order to promote inclusion, the majority may have to play a more active role in the integration process. We describe the development and validation of a new psychometric scale which assesses majority members' attitudes toward their own proactive contribution to the integration of immigrants within three domains: cultural and structural efforts, and openness to diversity. The scale is investigated by analyses of internal structure and exploration of construct validity in relation to relevant social psychological and personality constructs in a sample of 486 Norwegian university students (28% male, mean age = 26.5, SD = 6.08). Factor analyses supported a unidimensional structure and the estimated reliability of an additive scale was satisfactory (Cronbach's α = 0.91). The scale correlated negatively with measures of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, and positively with global identity. It was weakly related to the personality traits agreeableness, intellect, extraversion, and conscientiousness. The potential utility of the scale in both applied and experimental social psychological studies are discussed.
The article reports the results of a Mokken Scale Procedure (MSP) developing a hierarchical cross-national scale to measure xenophobia, and a qualitative validation of this scale. A pool of 30 xenophobic scale items were collected from several sources and edited according to established unidimensional criteria. The survey was administered to 608 undergraduate students in the USA, 193 undergraduate students in the Netherlands, and 303 undergraduate students in Norway. Fourteen scale statements measuring perceived threat or fear and meeting the criteria of the Stereotype Content Model (e.g., Fiske et al. in Trends Cogn Sci 11:77-83, 2006) were selected for further analysis. A separate item analysis and subsequently MSP analysis yielded a cumulative scale with the same five items for each of the three samples meeting criteria for homogeneity in all samples with H >.40. The result, a cross-national 5-item scale measuring fear-based xenophobia, was tested by means of the Three-Step Test-Interview (Hak et al. in Surv Res Methods 2:143-150, 2008) with 10 students in The Netherlands and 10 students in Norway. The analysis of these qualitative interviews shows that individual respondents' criteria for the ranking of the scale items strongly depend on the way immigrants are framed. Ranking according to different levels of fear turned out to be only one criterion out of several possible ones used by individual respondents.
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