On dimensionality, discriminant validity, and the role of psychometric analyses in personality theory and measurement: reply to Kruglanski et al.'s (1997) defense of the Need for Closure Scale

D. M. Webster and A. W. Kruglanski's (1994) Need for Closure Scale (NFCS) confounds multiple dimensions and is redundant with existing instruments (S. L. Neuberg, T. N. Judice, & S. G. West, 1997). A. W. Kruglanski and his colleagues (1997) dismissed these findings as 'psychometric naysaying,' although they presented no data that refute them. Moreover, Kruglanski et al. (1997) suggested that researchers (a) be unconcerned with the NFCS's lack of discriminant validity and (b) use the scale as if it were unidimensional. These recommendations are problematic. Using the NFCS in this manner invites interpretational ambiguity and theoretical confusion. In contrast to the Kruglanski et al. (1997) position, proper psychometric analyses play a critical role in theory testing and in the development of conceptually coherent measures of individual differences.