Douglas Roberts wrote circa 03/24/2010 07:42 AM: > The problem with questions like the 40 on the NPI test > <http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-16-pinsky-quiz_N.htm> is > that the intelligent test-taker will immediately perceive the intended > goal of the exam and be capable of influencing the results at will. > Since most of the questions represent two extreme endpoints of a given > social response, the appropriate answer in many cases is "NA", allowing > the respondent to answer as his inclinations dictate. IMO, only a > rather average or sub-average intellect would allow himself to get > caught out by such a transparent guise.
I'm not as convinced as you are. I tend to think that the people who answer questions like this, intelligent or not, tend to do their best to answer the question, regardless of how it's asked. Like any other test, some people don't consider their answers prior to answering them, others do. Of those that do (what you probably call "intelligent"), part of their consideration might be that the answers present a false dichotomy and they probably then attempt to pick the lesser of two wrong answers. What you're proposing is that these tests are perceived as some sort of "trap" and the person doing the answering takes it as their goal to avoid the trap. In some cases, that's probably true, like with political polls. But in self-help books, I suspect it's not the case. And I imagine there's a great deal of methodology in clinical psychology that helps avoid those perspectives in the subjects of the test. That's not to say I think the test accurately gauges attributes like entitlement. I just don't think everyone who answers these things thinks they are traps. Besides, isn't the whole POINT of these questionnaires to get the respondent to answer as his inclinations dictate? -- glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://agent-based-modeling.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
