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Improving the metric quality of questionnaire data

Publication ,  Journal Article
Gleason, TC; Staelin, R
Published in: Psychometrika
September 1, 1973

A procedure is proposed whereby questionnaire data, which is usually ordinal in nature and often error-ridden, may be transformed to reduce the error variance in the data and to improve the metric properties of the individual variables. The technique is suggested by a result of Eckart and Young. The properties of the method are investigated by means of a Monte Carlo study. Various matrices were generated representing the usual concept of "true scores". These matrices were distorted using two levels of random errors and two kinds of categorization. The distorted matrices were in turn transformed by the proposed methods and compared to the "true scores". In all cases an overall measure of similarity reveals the transformed matrices are better approximations to the "true scores" than the untransformed data. Some properties of the transformation are discussed and some possible applications of the general technique are suggested. © 1973 Psychometric Society.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Psychometrika

DOI

EISSN

1860-0980

ISSN

0033-3123

Publication Date

September 1, 1973

Volume

38

Issue

3

Start / End Page

393 / 410

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Sciences Methods
  • 1701 Psychology
  • 0102 Applied Mathematics
 

Citation

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MLA
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Gleason, T. C., & Staelin, R. (1973). Improving the metric quality of questionnaire data. Psychometrika, 38(3), 393–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02291662
Gleason, T. C., and R. Staelin. “Improving the metric quality of questionnaire data.” Psychometrika 38, no. 3 (September 1, 1973): 393–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02291662.
Gleason TC, Staelin R. Improving the metric quality of questionnaire data. Psychometrika. 1973 Sep 1;38(3):393–410.
Gleason, T. C., and R. Staelin. “Improving the metric quality of questionnaire data.” Psychometrika, vol. 38, no. 3, Sept. 1973, pp. 393–410. Scopus, doi:10.1007/BF02291662.
Gleason TC, Staelin R. Improving the metric quality of questionnaire data. Psychometrika. 1973 Sep 1;38(3):393–410.
Journal cover image

Published In

Psychometrika

DOI

EISSN

1860-0980

ISSN

0033-3123

Publication Date

September 1, 1973

Volume

38

Issue

3

Start / End Page

393 / 410

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Sciences Methods
  • 1701 Psychology
  • 0102 Applied Mathematics