Search

This study aims to evaluate a number of procedures that have been proposed to enhance cross-cultural comparability of personality and value data. A priori procedures (anchoring vignettes and direct measures of response styles (i.e. acquiescence, extremity, midpoint responding, and social desirability), a posteriori procedures focusing on data transformations prior to analysis (ipsatization and item parcelling), and two data modelling procedures (treating data as continuous vs as ordered categories) were compared using data collected from university students in 16 countries. We found that (i) anchoring vignettes showed lack of invariance, so they were not bias-free; (ii) anchoring vignettes showed higher internal consistencies than raw scores where all other correction procedures, notably ipsatization, showed lower internal consistencies; (iii) in measurement invariance testing, no procedure yielded scalar invariance; anchoring vignettes and item parcelling slightly improved comparability, response style correction did not affect it, and ipsatization resulted in lower comparability; (iv) treating Likert-scale data as categorical resulted in higher levels of comparability; (v) factor scores of scales extracted from different procedures showed similar correlational patterning; and (vi) response style correction was the only procedure that suggested improvement in external validity of country-level conscientiousness. We conclude that, although no procedure resolves all comparability issues, anchoring vignettes, parcelling, and treating data as ordered categories seem promising to alleviate incomparability. We advise caution in uncritically applying any of these procedures. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated how response styles, personality traits, and values can be taken as manifestations of self-presentation styles in self-reports, and how self-presentation affects other self-report measures over time. Data on values and character traits at three time points across five years collected among a national representative sample in the Netherlands were utilized. A general response style factor consisting of extreme, socially desirable, and midpoint responding, a general factor of personality from the International Personality Inventory, and a general value factor from the Rokeach Value Survey were extracted, all of which showed scalar invariance across time. A latent self-presentation factor underlying the three general factors at each time point, and its stability and changes across time points was modeled. All three general factors loaded positively on the self-presentation factor. The latent mean of the self-presentation factor became smaller over time, yet effects of its impact on the relationships among various psychological variables remained small and stable over time. We conclude that survey respondents show a similar self-presentation style across domains and over time. Score corrections to deal with response styles are not recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the present study, teacher self-efficacy was examined in a cross-national setting. The cross-national generalizability of the scale and the meaning of cross-national variation in mean scores were investigated. Using data from TALIS involving 73,100 teachers in 23 countries, teacher self-efficacy was shown to have a similar unifactorial structure and equivalent positive correlations with teaching practices and job satisfaction across countries. At the country level, significant correlations were only found for job satisfaction; in addition, teacher self-efficacy was related to collectivism, modesty, and extremity scoring. Thus, mean score differences between countries mainly reflect cultural value orientations and response styles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]