Acquiescence response bias is the tendency to agree to questionnaires irrespective of item content or direction, and is problematic for both researchers and clinicians. Further research is warranted to clarify factors relating to the confounding influence of acquiescence. Building on previous research that investigated the interaction between…

This article investigates the motivations and strategies employed by respondents to a Likert-style course evaluation at a UK university. These attitude surveys, generating large amounts of quantitative data, are commonly used in quality assurance procedures across UK higher education institutions. Similar student survey results are now scrutinised…

The number of students taking at least 1 online course has surpassed 7.1 million and represents 33% (21.3 million) of all higher education students (Allen & Seaman, 2013). With the growing number of online courses, credibility may be questioned. Are there effective evaluation processes in place? This article will describe the results of a…

Attribution theory was applied to help predict the results of an experiment that examined the effects of three independent variables on students' ratings of their professors. The dependent variables were students' perceptions of whether the professor caused the students' grades and student satisfaction with their professor. The results suggest…

Intentional response distortion or faking among job applicants completing measures such as personality and integrity tests is a concern in personnel selection. The present study aimed to investigate whether eye-tracking technology can improve our understanding of the response process when faking. In an experimental within-participants design, a…

The identification of patterned responding in unmotivated test takers was investigated through the formation of a novel method. The proposed method relied on marginal proportions of answer choice options as well as the transitional proportions between responses on item pairs. A chi square analysis was used to determine the degree of significance…

This discussion constructs a survey data quality strategy for institutional researchers in higher education in light of total survey error theory. It starts with describing the characteristics of institutional research and identifying the gaps in literature regarding survey data quality issues in institutional research and then introduces the…

Semantic differential instruments are often used to assess fluent speakers' attitudes toward people who stutter (PWS). Such instruments are prone to response bias and often lack the power to explain respondents' general impressions of PWS. To address these concerns 149 fluent university students completed an open-ended questionnaire in which they…

This paper intends to construct a survey data quality strategy for institutional researchers in higher education in light of total survey error theory. It starts with describing the characteristics of institutional research and identifying the gaps in literature regarding survey data quality issues in institutional research. Then it is followed by…

Herman's Presatie Motivatie Test and Mehrabians's Resultant Achievement Motivation Test were found to be sensitive to systematic response bias. Results indicated that respondents could influence scores systematically on both measures and that the potential influence of external stimuli should be recognized by users of these tests. (Author/JKS)

Reports on an evaluation of answer changing on multiple choice tests. States that any change a student is inclined to make, no matter how low the confidence, was found to lead to a significant gain. Concludes that students who change answers are likely to benefit despite the widely held belief that "first impressions are best." (GEA)

The Basic Personality Inventory (BPI) was completed by 180 undergraduates who received faking instructions, 182 normal adults, and 404 psychiatric inpatients. The BPI was scored for measures of stylistic responding and for its 12 scales. Reports results of instructions to fake, incidence of stylistic responding, and detection of faking using three…

Examined responses on both state and trait scales of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory as a function of experimenter instructions, in a role-playing situation involving 185 students. Confirmed the hypothesis that subjects would respond consistently on the A-Trait scale, while demonstrating increased levels of A-state. (JAC)

Examined the relationships of Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory Scales for occupational choice, academic comfort, introversion-extroversion, and response style in a population of university students (N=2,113) who sought vocational counseling. Results showed that the scales were more interrelated than expected, and suggested that a smaller range…

Suggests that when a students' response style is greatly skewed, the occupational scales reflect the pattern of the test construction. Correlating that pattern with students' actual profiles showed the common variance may average 35 percent when a predominance of one response reaches 60 percent. (JAC)