Conceptual Disruption

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara I. McClelland

In research using self-report measures, there is little attention paid to how participants interpret concepts; instead, researchers often assume definitions are shared, universal, or easily understood. I discuss the self-anchored ladder, adapted from Cantril’s ladder, which is a procedure that simultaneously collects a participant’s self-reported rating and their interpretation of that rating. Drawing from a study about sexual satisfaction that included a self-anchored ladder, four analyses are presented and discussed in relation to one another: (1) comparisons of sexual satisfaction scores, (2) variations of structures participants applied to the ladder, (3) frequency of terms used to describe sexual satisfaction, and (4) thematic analysis of “best” and “worst” sexual satisfaction. These analytic strategies offer researchers a model for how to incorporate self-anchored ladder items into research designs as a means to draw out layers of meaning in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods data. I argue that the ladder invites the potential for conceptual disruption by prioritizing skepticism in survey research and bringing greater attention to how social locations, histories, economic structures, and other factors shape self-report data. I also address issues related to the multiple epistemological positions that the ladder demands. Finally, I argue for the centrality of epistemological self-reflexivity in critical feminist psychological research. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684317725985

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Drew Burchell ◽  
Samantha Firth ◽  
Margaret Robinson ◽  
Stephanie Mullin ◽  
Sean P. Mackinnon

This study examines reactions to a recent evolutionary psychology article that uses self-report data to claim that same-sex attraction in women evolved because men find it a desirable quality in a mate. Our study explores a novel perspective on the article by interviewing 29 women with attraction to women in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Participants read a news article about the original study, then the original article, and were then asked about their thoughts and feelings. Our research questions were as follows: 1) What cognitive and emotional reactions to the article do women with attraction to women experience? 2) Why did this article generate a lot of online criticism, from the perspective of women who are attracted to women? 3) Do papers like this cause women with attraction to women to change their opinions about psychological journals and/or psychological research? Using thematic analysis, we found seven themes: Negative emotion, identity threat, failure to address sociocultural explanations, male/hetero-centric, differences in paradigms, sensationalized news article, and contextualizing. The proliferation of articles like these represents one of many small stressors women attracted to women deal with as a minority population, and this stress can have important implications for health.


2003 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 937-948
Author(s):  
Nancy Amodei ◽  
David A. Katerndahl ◽  
Anne C. Larme ◽  
Raymond Palmer

The present study examined differences in health and emotional functioning when two different methods of gathering self-report data were used. Of 80 primary care patients who did not meet screening criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis, 44 were randomly assigned to have an interviewer read assessment items and record the participants' responses, and 36 were randomly assigned to have an interviewer read the items and have participants record their own responses directly on the test forms. There were negligible significant differences between the groups in reported symptomatology. From a practical standpoint, this suggests that the self-answer method is a more economical and efficient method of data collection since the data from more than one participant can be gathered at the same time. The findings also suggest that the measures in this study which were originally intended to be completed in a paper-and-pencil format can be used in a more traditional interviewer-administered format.


1982 ◽  
Vol 50 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1027-1033 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. M. Gregson ◽  
Barrie G. Stacey

There are good practical reasons for wanting to know how much alcohol people consume, at what rate, and in what patterns over time. Various measures of consumption and their associated frequency distributions are described. Self-report data on alcohol consumption present problems of interpretation. A detailed rationale for the use of the self-report method by Gregson and Stacey (1980) is presented. Measurement problems arising with the method, emphasized by Skog (1981), are discussed.


Assessment ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 543-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kibeom Lee ◽  
Michael C. Ashton

Psychometric properties of the 100-item English-language HEXACO Personality Inventory–Revised (HEXACO-PI-R) were examined using samples of online respondents ( N = 100,318 self-reports) and of undergraduate students ( N = 2,868 self- and observer reports). The results were as follows: First, the hierarchical structure of the HEXACO-100 was clearly supported in two principal components analyses: each of the six factors was defined by its constituent facets and each of the 25 facets was defined by its constituent items. Second, the HEXACO-100 factor scales showed fairly low intercorrelations, with only one pair of scales (Honesty–Humility and Agreeableness) having an absolute correlation above .20 in self-report data. Third, the factor and facet scales showed strong self/observer convergent correlations, which far exceeded the self/observer discriminant correlations.


1989 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seiji Koga

To examine the acquisition of voluntary control of a novel muscular activity from the initial stage to the self-control stage, the m. auricularis posterior, which had generally degenerated and had nearly lost its function of drawing an auricle backward in the human body, was selected as a target muscle to be studied. One female undergraduate student who could not move her auricles intentionally was required to activate her left m. auricularis posterior and underwent rest, pretest, training, and posttest sessions once a day for five days. At the subject's request, the electromyograph (EMG) from her left m. auricularis posterior on an oscillograph was provided for her as the feedback signal on each training trial. The picture of her left ear on television was handled in the same way. The EMG measures indicated that the subject could learn to activate her left m. auricularis posterior differentially. The number of training trials on which the subject requested the feedback signals suggested that EMG feedback signal was more useful to her than the video and that the usefulness of the feedback signals varied as the training sessions advanced. It was also concluded from analysis of the self-report data that the acquisition process of self-control of a novel muscular activity could be divided into at least four stages.


Author(s):  
Marcia Finlayson ◽  
Betty Havens ◽  
Margo B. Holm ◽  
Toni Van Denend

ABSTRACTOver the past 15 to 20 years there has been discussion and debate in the gerontological literature about the relative merits of self-report versus performance-based observational (PBO) measures of functional status. In 2001 the Aging in Manitoba Longitudinal Study had the opportunity to add a PBO measure of functional status and use it together with two self-report measures on a sub-sample of 138 participants. The PBO measure that was used was the Performance Assessment of Self-Care Skills, Version 3.1 (Home). Using ranks of the proportion of participants who were independent in nine different tasks, no significant correlations were found between the performance measure scores and either of the self-report measures. This finding suggests that using self-report data rather than performance data could lead program developers and policy makers to different conclusions about the extent of need for assistance among older adults.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabiola H Gerpott ◽  
Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock ◽  
Susanne Scheibe

Abstract Research on work and aging predominantly relies on self-report data to create new insights relevant to individuals, organizations, and society. Whereas surveys and interviews based on self-reports offer a valuable inward-directed perspective on individuals and their understanding of others, they can only provide limited knowledge on the behaviors of employees at different ages and in age-diverse settings. This is because what employees actually do is often considerably different from their survey-based reports of what they or others do. In this commentary, we challenge the field to move beyond a science of questionnaires by complementing survey research with behavioral data. First, this would allow scholars to identify when and how behaviors accurately translate into surveyed perceptions of behaviors. Second, such an approach can advance our understanding of the micro-dynamics occurring in age-diverse workforces that ultimately manifest in emerging phenomena (e.g., age-inclusive climate, psychological safety perceptions, or group affective tone). Lastly, studying concrete and specific behaviors also allows scholars to develop better interventions and provide meaningful recommendations for practice that differentiate actual from perceived behaviors.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Montag ◽  
Konrad Błaszkiewicz ◽  
Bernd Lachmann ◽  
Ionut Andone ◽  
Rayna Sariyska ◽  
...  

In the present study we link self-report-data on personality to behavior recorded on the mobile phone. This new approach from Psychoinformatics collects data from humans in everyday life. It demonstrates the fruitful collaboration between psychology and computer science, combining Big Data with psychological variables. Given the large number of variables, which can be tracked on a smartphone, the present study focuses on the traditional features of mobile phones – namely incoming and outgoing calls and SMS. We observed N = 49 participants with respect to the telephone/SMS usage via our custom developed mobile phone app for 5 weeks. Extraversion was positively associated with nearly all related telephone call variables. In particular, Extraverts directly reach out to their social network via voice calls.


2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 290-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuulia M. Ortner ◽  
Isabella Vormittag

With reference to EJPA’s unique and broad scope, the current study analyzed the characteristics of the authors as well as the topics and research aims of the 69 empirical articles published in the years 2009–2010. Results revealed that more than one third of the articles were written by authors affiliated with more than one country. With reference to their research aims, an almost comparable number of articles (1) presented a new measure, (2) dealt with adaptations of measures, or (3) dealt with further research on existing measures. Analyses also revealed that most articles did not address any particular field of application. The second largest group was comprised of articles related to the clinical field, followed by the health-related field of application. The majority of all articles put their focus on investigating questionnaires or rating scales, and only a small number of articles investigated procedures classified as tests or properties of interviews. As to further characteristics of the method(s) used, a majority of EJPA contributions addressed self-report data. Results are discussed with reference to publication demands as well as the current and future challenges and demands of psychological assessment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Buaphrao Raphiphatthana ◽  
Paul Jose ◽  
Karen Salmon

Abstract. Grit, that is, perseverance and passion for long-term goals, is a novel construct that has gained attention in recent years ( Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007 ). To date, little research has been performed with the goal of identifying the antecedents of grit. Thus, in order to fill this gap in the literature, self-report data were collected to examine whether mindfulness, a mindset of being-in-the-present in a nonjudgmental way, plays a role in fostering grittiness. Three hundred and forty-three undergraduate students completed an online survey once in a cross-sectional study, and of these, 74 students completed the survey again 4.5 months later. Although the cross-sectional analyses identified a number of positive associations between mindfulness and grit, the longitudinal analysis revealed that the mindfulness facets of acting with awareness and non-judging were the most important positive predictors of grit 4.5 months later. This set of findings offers implications for future grit interventions.


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