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Is It Content or Style? An Evaluation of Two Competitive Measurement Models Applied to a Balanced Set of Ethnocentrism Items

Catholic University Leuven, Centre for Data Collection and Analysis, Deptartment of Sociology, E. Van Evenstraat 2B, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Jerry Welkenhuysen-Gybels

Catholic University Leuven, Centre for Data Collection and Analysis, Deptartment of Sociology, E. Van Evenstraat 2B, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Jaak Billiet

Catholic University Leuven, Centre for Data Collection and Analysis, Deptartment of Sociology, E. Van Evenstraat 2B, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Attitude surveys often use sets of items with identical response scales (e.g., in Likert format) in order to formulate attitude constructs. There is considerable evidence that such a response format can be susceptible to acquiescence bias (i.e., the tendency to agree with survey questions). The specification of a style factor (acquiescence) in measurement models can result in well-fitted factorial invariant models for cross-cultural surveys. Attempts to model acquiescence are confronted with the phenomenon that models with a positive and a negative factor appear to be as likely as models with a bipolar factor and a style factor. We will evaluate the two competitive measurement models, applied to a balanced set of ethnocentrism items from the 1999 Religious and Moral Pluralism (RAMP) dataset. It is argued that the competing measurement models should be evaluated in the context of a theoretically meaningful nomological network.

Key Words: acquiescence • method bias • cross-cultural surveys • structural equation modelling

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				J. B. Billiet and E. Davidov Testing the Stability of an Acquiescence Style Factor Behind Two Interrelated Substantive Variables in a Panel Design Sociological Methods Research, May 1, 2008; 36(4): 542 - 562. [Abstract] [PDF]