Methods for the Control of Extreme Response Styles in Self-Report Instruments: A Review

Abstract

Response styles are systematic ways of responding to self-report items that may impact the validity and the precision of scores from instruments. One of these biases is extreme responding (ER), which occurs when a person tends to use only extreme rating categories from a response scale (e.g., totally disagree or totally agree), irrespective of item content. Many diff erent methods were developed that aim to identify and control extreme responses to provide a more accurate assessment of an individual's trait. The aim of this study is to perform a systematic review of these main techniques for statistical control of extreme responses in psychometric instruments of self-report. We identifi ed several analytical approaches, which we organized into seven clusters, from simple count of the numbers of extreme response to the use of modern statistics methods, as Item Response Theory uni and multidimensional. Advantages and limitations of each method are discussed. We also present a general diagram that summarizes the distinct available methods we found.

“All or nothing”

“…Palabras clave: construcción de test, procesos cognitivos, tests psicológicos Response biases are a fundamental issue in the study of psychometric properties of self-report instruments. Researchers have been increasingly interested in the understanding of why and when do such biases occur, as well as how they can be minimized (e.g., Batchelor & Miao, 2016;Costa & Hauck Filho, 2017;Costa & Hauck Filho, 2019;Vaerenbergh & Thomas, 2012;Wetzel et al, 2015;Ziegler, 2015). In brief, evidence indicates that response styles are due to features of the test (e.g., the required cognitive load to respond to the item, the scale format), the testing situation (e.g., interviewer effects, the availability of incentives to respond), and the test taker (e.g., engagement in the testing, overall motivation; Vaerenbergh & Thomas, 2012).…”