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Careless and inconsistent responding is a common issue with self-reported instruments, observed in approximately 10% of respondents. The purpose of this study was to develop an Inconsistency Responding Scale (IRS) for the Durand Adaptive Psychopathic Traits Questionnaire (DAPTQ). First, a derivation sample (N = 525) was used to develop the IRS-DAPTQ, a scale generating a total score from the absolute difference of 12 pairs of items with high intra-correlation. Second, the validity of the IRS-DAPTQ was assessed using human (N = 943) and randomly generated (N = 1,000) data. The IRS-DAPTQ successfully differentiated human data from randomly generated data. The IRS-DAPTQ scores showed a negative association with conscientiousness and had higher specificity for a sample of the general population recruited online than for a sample of undergraduate students. These findings support the usefulness of the IRS-DAPTQ for identifying individuals displaying an inconsistent responding style., Las respuestas descuidadas e inconsistentes son un problema común en los instrumentos de autoinforme, observado en aproximadamente el 10% de los encuestados. El propósito de este estudio fue desarrollar una Escala de Respuesta Inconsistente (IRS) para el Cuestionario de Rasgos Psicopáticos Adaptativos de Durand (DAPTQ). En primer lugar, se utilizó una muestra de derivación (N = 525) para desarrollar el IRS-DAPTQ, una escala que genera una puntuación total a partir de la diferencia absoluta de 12 pares de ítems con alta intra-correlación. En segundo lugar, se evaluó la validez del IRS-DAPTQ utilizando datos humanos (N = 943) que se generaron aleatoriamente (N = 1.000). El IRS-DAPTQ diferenció con éxito los datos humanos de los generados aleatoriamente. Las puntuaciones del IRS-DAPTQ mostraron una asociación negativa con la concienciación y tuvieron una mayor especificidad para una muestra de la población general reclutada en línea que para una muestra de estudiantes universitarios. Estos resultados apoyan la utilidad del IRS-DAPTQ para identificar a los individuos que muestran un estilo de respuesta inconsistente.

Careless responding by mental health patients on self-report assessments is rarely investigated in routine care despite the potential for serious consequences such as faulty clinical decisions. We investigated validity indices most appropriate for detecting careless responding in routine outcome monitoring (ROM) in mental health-care. First, we reviewed indices proposed in previous research for their suitability in ROM. Next, we evaluated six selected indices using data of the Brief Symptom Inventory and the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire from 3,483 outpatients. Simulations showed that for typical ROM scales the Lmax index, Mahalanobis distance, and inter-item standard deviation may be too strongly confounded with the latent trait value to compare careless responding across patients with different symptom severity. Application of two different classification methods to the validity indices did not converge in similar prevalence estimates of careless responding. Finally, results suggest that careless responding does not have a substantial biasing effect on scale-score statistics. We recommend the lpz person-fit index to screen for random careless responding in large ROM data sets. However, additional research should further investigate methods for detecting repetitive responding in typical ROM data and assess whether there are specific circumstances in which simpler validity statistics or direct screening methods perform similarly as the lpz index.

A psychological test may be defined as an objective and standardized measure of a sample of behaviour. The interpretation of test results is usually based on comparing an individual’s performance to norms based on a representative sample of the population. The present study examined the norms of popular adult tests. The validity of the Wartegg drawing test (WZT) was studied using two rating scales, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory as criterion tests. Weak to moderate correlations were found. It is concluded that the WZT has some validity in the assessment of Alexithymia. Efforts to develop a psychometrically valid and reliable method of interpreting the WZT should be continued. Cross-national and historical analyses of the norms of Wechsler’s adult intelligence scale (WAIS) were performed. The results show that the Finnish WAIS III test norms are distorted in the younger age groups. Significant cross-national and cross-generational differences in relative subtest scores, test profiles were also observed. Differences in general intelligence cannot explain such variations, and educational and cultural factors probably underlie the observed differences. It is suggested that the concept of a national IQ profile is useful for cross-national test validation studies. The validity of a validity scale, the Chapman Infrequency Scale, was studied in the context of a survey study. Results showed that careless responding is significantly more frequent among psychiatric patients relative to healthy respondents. The common procedure of excluding careless responders from final samples may affect the results of survey studies targeting individuals with psychiatric symptoms. Cut-off scores for exclusion should be flexible and chosen according to the demographic and health characteristics of the sample. In conclusion, the results of this study underscore the need for up-to-date and representative test norms for valid test interpretation., Tiivistelmä Psykologiset testit voidaan ymmärtää otoksiksi tutkittavan käyttäytymisestä. Mittauksen tulosta tulkitaan yleensä vertaamalla sitä tavalliseen tai keskimääräiseen tulokseen eli testinormeihin. Väitöskirjatutkimus tarkastelee suosittujen aikuistestien normien pätevyyttä. Warteggin piirrostestin validiteettia aleksitymian ja depression mittarina tutkittiin käyttämällä vertailukriteerinä kahta lomaketestiä, Toronton aleksitymia-asteikkoa ja Beckin depressioasteikkoa. Mitatut korrelaatiot olivat melko matalia. Tutkimuksen johtopäätöksenä oli, että Wartegg-testi saattaa olla hyödyllinen menetelmä aleksitymian toteamisessa ja että empiiriseen tutkimukseen perustuvaa tulkintamenetelmien kehittämistä pitäisi jatkaa. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin myös Wechslerin aikuisten älykkyystestien (WAIS) eri versioiden osatestien kansallisten normien välisiä eroja ja eroja ikäkohorttien välillä. Tulokset osoittivat, että suomalaiset WAIS III testinormit ovat vinoutuneet nuorempien ikäryhmien osalta. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin merkitseviä eroja osatestien keskiarvojen suhteissa eli testiprofiileissa eri maiden ja ikäkohorttien välillä. Kyseisiä eroja ei voida selittää älykkyyden yleisellä faktorilla, vaan niiden taustalla on luultavasti koulutukseen ja kulttuuriin liittyviä tekijöitä. Osa eroista kansallisissa testiprofiileissa näyttää olevan luonteeltaan pysyviä, ja tätä tietoa voidaan käyttää hyväksi testinormien pätevyyttä arvioitaessa. Chapmanin vastaustapa-asteikon (CIS) validiteettia tutkittiin Pohjois-Suomen vuoden 1966 syntymäkohortin kyselytutkimusaineistolla. Psykiatrisista oireista kärsivät henkilöt saivat korkeampia pistemääriä kuin terveet vastaajat. Johtopäätöksenä oli, että vastaustapamittarit voivat karsia psykiatrisia potilaita liian herkästi ulos tutkimusjoukosta, mikä voi vääristää tutkimusten tuloksia. Kriteeripistemäärän pitäisi olla joustava ja sen määrityksessä pitäisi ottaa huomioon tutkimusjoukon ominaisuudet. Tutkimukset osoittavat, että testituloksen l

Ambulatory assessment (AA) is becoming an increasingly popular research method in the fields of psychology and life science. Nevertheless, knowledge about the effects that design choices, such as questionnaire length (i.e., number of items per questionnaire), have on AA participants’ perceived burden, data quantity (i.e., compliance with the AA protocol), and data quality is still surprisingly restricted. The aims of this dissertation were to experimentally manipulate aspects of an AA study’s sampling strategy - sampling frequency (Study 1) and questionnaire length (Study 2) - and to investigate their impact on perceived burden, data quantity, and aspects of data quality in three papers. In Study 1, students (n = 313) received either 3 or 9 questionnaires per day for the first 7 days of the study. In Study 2, students (n = 282) received either a 33- or 82-item questionnaire 3 times a day for 14 days. Paper 1 described that a higher sampling frequency (Study 1) led to a higher perceived participant burden, but did not affect other aspects of data quantity and quality. Furthermore, a longer questionnaire (Study 2) did not affect perceived participant burden or data quantity, but did lead to a lower within-person variability, and a lower within-person relationship between time-varying variables. Paper 2 investigated the effects of the sampling frequency (Study 1) on careless responding by identifying careless responding indices that could be applied to AA data and by extending the multilevel latent class analysis model to a multigroup multilevel latent class analysis model. Results indicated that a higher sampling frequency did not affect careless responding. Paper 3 investigated the effects of questionnaire length (Study 2) on (the relative impact of) response styles by extending the item response tree (IRTree) modeling approach to a multilevel data structure. Results indicated that a longer questionnaire led to a greater relative impact of RS. Although further valida