Journal
ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Volume 35, Issue 1, Pages 117-134Publisher
ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/02602930802618344
Keywords
survey; negative phrasing; Cronbach's alpha; artefactual factor; Likert scale
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
A questionnaire used in student evaluations of interdisciplinary courses during six semesters contained two Likert items stated in a direct negative mode which were embedded in a questionnaire (14-18 items) in which the remaining items were phrased in a direct positive mode. In the seventh semester and thereafter, the two negative items were restated as direct positive stems. Item-analysis demonstrated that in the direct negative mode, the two items had low item-to-total correlations and that the internal consistency reliability of the sum score could be improved by eliminating the two negatively phrased items. Also, the two negatively worded items defined a separate factor. After they were reworded into a direct positive mode, these two items showed markedly improved item-to-total correlations. Moreover, the unique factor disappeared, which suggests that it was a methodological artefact probably attributable to respondent carelessness. Including a few negative items in an otherwise positively stated questionnaire leads to ambiguity of results rather than controlling for response sets. We therefore recommend against the practice.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available