Studies of acquiescence as a factor in the true-false test.

Abstract

“The true-false test has been studied to determine whether the hypothecated trait of acquiescence--the tendency to mark items ‘true’ rather than ‘false,’ when guessing--influences scores. Experimental data and theoretical considerations show that this tendency makes false items more valid and reliable than true items, reduces the range of test scores when the number of true and false items are equal, reduces the mean score when a majority of items are true, and lowers it when the majority are false, and causes the R-W correction formula to be inappropriate in many cases.” (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)