Abstract
While self-report data is a staple of modern psychological studies, they rely on participants accurately self-reporting. Two constructs that impede accurate results are insufficient effort responding (IER) and response styles. These constructs share conceptual underpinnings and both utilized to reduce cognitive effort when responding to self-report scales. Little research has extensively explored the relationship of the two constructs. The current study explored the relationship of the two constructs across even-point and odd-point scales, as well as before and after data cleaning procedures. We utilized IRTrees, a statistical method for modeling response styles, to examine the relationship between IER and response styles. To capture the wide range of IER metrics available, we employed several forms of IER assessment in our analyses and generated IER factors based on the type of IER being detected. Our results indicated an overall modest relationship between IER and response styles, which varied depending on the type of IER metric being considered or type of scale being evaluated. As expected, data cleaning also changed the relationships of some of the variables. We posit the difference between the constructs may be the degree of cognitive effort participants are willing to expend. Future research and applications are discussed.
Highlights
The importance of self-report scales to the psychological and sociological sciences cannot be understated
For the random insufficient effort responding (IER) metrics, all loaded onto a single factor except for even-odd consistency, which negatively loaded onto the other factor, and psychometric synonyms, which did not load onto either factor
There may be some evidence to support the notion that participants who engage in IER and participants who employ response styles are both completing surveys across a spectrum of reduced effort, but further investigation is required
Summary
The importance of self-report scales to the psychological and sociological sciences cannot be understated. Self-report scales allow researchers to access psychological processes (personality, attitudes, emotions, etc.) of a large amount of people in a short time. For researchers to accurately examine psychological constructs with self-report scales, participants must provide accurate responses. Two types of behaviors noted in the literature that may influence the accuracy of self-reports are insufficient effort responding (IER) and response styles. It is problematic when participants respond carelessly or with a specific response style as these can influence the measurement of the underlying factors in numerous ways (Weijters et al, 2010; Van Vaerenbergh and Thomas, 2013; Maniaci and Rogge, 2014).
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