Kees van der Veer

An application of the Three-Step Test-Interview (TSTI): A validation study of the Dutch and Norwegian versions of the Illegal Aliens Scale

In this paper the results of a validation study of the Dutch and Norwegian versions of the Illegal Aliens (IA) Scale are discussed. The main objective is to evaluate the usefulness of the Three‐Step Test‐Interview (TSTI) as a pre‐testing method in a validation study. The TSTI is a new technique specifically developed to detect problems with self‐completion questionnaires. The study’s aims were twofold: (1) to evaluate the usefulness of the TSTI for detecting problems regarding attitude measurement; and (2) to identify potential problems with the IA Scale. The IA Scale is a Likert‐type attitude scale consisting of 20 parallel interval items. Its main purpose is for large comparative sample studies of political and ideological attitudes, for example between subgroups within populations or between countries. The TSTI procedure appeared to be very productive in terms of the number and kind of problems that were found regarding the Dutch and Norwegian versions of the IA Scale. It is concluded that the TSTI is useful as a diagnostic tool in validation studies of instruments that are aimed at measuring attitudes.

On use of Student Samples for Scale Construction

This research note responds to the question of whether a convenience sample of undergraduate students may be successfully utilized in concept development and in scale construction, and in what way the results are comparable to the findings of a representative national sample. The results of a Mokken analysis in both samples support the hypothesis that convenience samples have utility in concept development and in developing measures that can also be used in representative samples.

Added value of qualitative studies in the development of health related patient reported outcomes such as the Pain Coping and Cognition List in patients with sub-acute neck pain.

Psychometric analyses, such as factor analysis, internal consistency and construct validity analysis, are well known and frequently applied methods in the development of health related patient reported outcomes. These statistical indexes shed very little light on how respondents interpret individual items, or on the meaning of their responses. In this study, the Pain Coping and Cognition List (PCCL), a quantitatively validated psychological questionnaire developed to assess chronic pain, has been subjected to a qualitative research method: the Three Step Test Interview (TSTI), an observational technique that aims to identify problems with self reported questionnaires. It consists of three phases: 1) concurrent thinking aloud; 2) a retrospective interview; 3) a semi-structured interview. Participants with sub-acute neck pain distinguished six different types of problems: long complicated formulations, composite questions, irrelevant questions, lacking frame of reference, problematic words, and wrongly interpreted questions. This study illustrates that qualitative methods have an added value when developing self-report questionnaires because some of the problems that were highlighted that cannot be identified using quantitative methods only. Therefore, we recommend that a full qualitative study should be an integral part of the development of questionnaires. The TSTI method is very useful for this purpose.

Structure of attitudes toward illegal immigration: development of cross-national cumulative scales.

This research examined the possibility of developing Mokken cumulative scales measuring attitudes toward illegal immigrants in a 9-nation sample. A total of 1,407 respondents primarily from national and regional universities participated in the surveys including the 20-item Illegal Immigration Scale. The scales displayed acceptable reliability with coefficients alpha ranging from .79 to .93. A Procrustes analysis yielded coefficients of congruence with the previously established three-factor solution. The amount of variance accounted for varied between 33.1 and 54.7%, supporting the presence of other factors in attitudes toward illegal immigrants. Mokken scale analysis yielded robust and economical scales in two clusters of national samples.

Cross-National Measure of Fear-Based Xenophobia: Development of a Cumulative Scale

To apply a Mokken Scale Procedure in developing a hierarchical cross-national scale to measure xenophobia, a pool of 30 xenophobia-related items was collected from several sources and modified using established unidimensional criteria. The survey was administered to 608 undergraduate students in the USA, 193 undergraduate students in The Netherlands, and 303 undergraduate students in Norway. 14 items measuring perceived threat or fear and meeting the criteria of the Stereotype Content Model were selected for further analysis. A separate item analysis and, subsequently, Mokken Scale Procedure yielded a cumulative scale with the same five items for each of the three samples. The items and the total scale met criteria for homogeneity in all samples with H >….40.

Developing attitude statements toward illegal immigration: transcultural reliability and utility.

This is a report on the utility of a scale measuring attitudes toward illegal immigrants in two samples from nations that have more people moving out of the country than moving into the country. The Attitude toward Illegal Immigrants Scale was administered to 219 undergraduates from Sofia University in Bulgaria, and 179 undergraduates from Hanoi State University in Vietnam. Results yielded a scale with no sex differences, and acceptable alpha coefficients. Item analysis identified the most contributory and least contributory items, with considerable overlap in the two samples. A principal component analysis with varimax rotation was carried out to examine the structure.

Exploring the relationships between fear-related xenophobia, perceptions of out-group entitativity, and social contact in Norway

An internet-related survey distributed to Norwegian students explored predictors of fear-related xenophobia toward immigrants. Specifically, this study examined a new social construct called “entitativity” (i.e., the extent to which out-group members are perceived as bonded together in a cohesive or organized unit), as well as frequency of informal social contact and valence of a recent encounter in relation to certain xenophobic attitudes. Correlational and multiple regression analyses indicated that perceived out-group entitativity was a moderate predictor of fear-related xenophobia. Voluntary informal contact was a weak predictor of fear-related xenophobia, whereas negative evaluation of an encounter in the recent past was a strong predictor. Further analysis indicated that the effect of entitativity on xenophobia was strongest when informal social contact was low. Moreover, analysis indicated that the effect of valenced contact was partly mediated through perception of entitativity.

Semantic validity Testing the operationalization of ideological frames of reference

In this article, we draw attention to some problems involved in testing the semantic validity of operationalizations of abstract theoretical concepts. Particularly, we are dealing with concepts used in the field of text analysis. We shall demonstrate a procedure for carrying out a validity test, using a method of scaling of which the underlying theoretical model is generally known as the “law of categorical judgment”. This procedure may be seen as a contribution to traversing the time-honoured deadlock between reliable but irrelevant versus relevant but unreliable methods of content analysis.