Abstract:

When developing a self-report instrument, negatively worded items were often included in a questionnaire with positively worded items to prevent response biases, such as acquiescence, affirmation, and agreement bias. Yet this strategy might interfere with examinations of the latent structure of self-report instruments and the relations with other psychological constructs. As a result, a new response bias occured, which was caused by the difference between the positively item wording and negatively item wording, so researchers named it as the method effect associated with item wording. Taking the Chinese version of Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) as an example, this study aims to explore whether the method effects associated with item wording exist in the Chinese version personality rating scales and whether they are influenced by the perfectionism and social desirability. Both CTCM (Correlated-Trait Correlated-Method) and CTCU (Correlated-Trait Correlated-Uniqueness) methods are used in model building and testing. A questionnaire including the Revised Life Orientation Test（LOT-R）, the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) and the Common Social desirability Scale (CSDS) is administered to 334 college students. The results show (1) that the method effects associated with item wording do exist in the Chinese version of LOT-R and they are reflected in the negatively worded items. (2) that when the method effects associated with negatively worded items are separated from the trait effects, there is only the optimism factor left in the Chinese version of LOT-R, which indicates that optimism and pessimism belong to the same personality trait instead of two different ones. (3) that the method effects associated with negatively worded items are negatively and significantly correlated with two dimensions of the perfectionism, namely the concern over mistakes and the parental expectations, but not with social desirability. Most importantly, this study finds that the method effects associated with negatively worded items can be interpreted as the Langage Labeling Effect (LLE). When you are asked, “ are you very short？” (the negatively worded item), you may feel that you are labeled as short, negative and inactive，then you may unconsciously be unpleasant. In the contrary, this Langage Labeling Effect won’t exist in the positively worded items, for example, when you are asked, “ are you very tall？” (the positively worded item), you won’t feel that you are labeled as tall, positive and active. So our understanding of the positively worded items is more realistic and neutral. The implications of this study are as follows: when developing psychological scales, the agreement bias, disagreement bias and the method effects associated with negatively worded items should be taken into account at the same time. One feasible method may be that the negatively worded items could be interpreted as filler items, but not included in the total scores. In addition, to study the essence of the personality structure, it’s necessary to separate the method effects associated with negatively worded items from the trait effects. Finally, the asymmetry of the Langage Labeling Effect is worthy of further study.

Key words: the method effects associated with item wording, the Chinese version LOT-R, CTCM method and CTCU method

摘要：

本研究以中文版生活定向测验（LOT-R）为例，使用CTCM和CTCU方法进行建模，旨在探讨中文表述的量表中是否存在项目表述效应以及影响项目表述效应的特质因素。采用中文版生活定向测验等量表组成的问卷对334名大学生进行测试。结果表明，中文版LOT-R存在项目表述效应，是一种反向题的项目表述效应，也可称为语言标签效应；在分离了反向题项目表述效应后，发现中文版LOT-R只存在乐观因子，而不再有悲观因子。这表明乐观—悲观同属于一种人格特质，而非两种不同的人格特质；反向题项目表述效应是一种结构性误差，会导致量表结构的扭曲。研究还发现担心错误和父母期望与反向题项目表述效应存在显著的负相关，表明越是担心错误或父母期望水平越高的被试，他们对反向题的项目表述效应（语言标签效应）越小。社会赞许性对反向题项目表述效应没有影响。

关键词: 项目表述效应, 中文版LOT-R, CTCM和CTCU方法