MEMO091.WP5 To: WLS From: Megan Sweeney Re: Effect of instrument on distributions of otherwise identical five-factor model of personality items. There appears to be a strong effect of instrument upon response distributions for five-factor model of personality items appearing in both the mail and phone surveys. The general effect is to polarize responses away from the center of the distributions - such that substantially fewer people answer "slightly agree" and "slightly disagree" to replicated items in the phone than on the mail questionnaire. This effect can be found to some degree for all replicated items. There also appears to be a substantial shift of mean for several of the items, such that an existing skew in response distributions on the mail instrument becomes exaggerated for telephone items. This effect is found most strongly for items where a particular response is perceived as more socially desirable. For example, while 44.3% of the sample agree that they tend to find fault with others when asked on the mail questionnaire, only 25.5% agree on the telephone questionnaire. Other items which produced the described mean shift were preference for work that is routine and simple (8.4% agree on phone instrument, 32.0% on mail), and tendency to be easily distracted (20.7% agree on phone instrument, 36.7% on mail). The mean shift tended to be slightly larger among women than men. (Please refer to the attached appendix for mail and telephone distributions for all replicated items.) The mail and phone instruments differ in question format. On the mail questionnaire, respondents circle numbers on a seven point scale labeled from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree". On the phone interview, items are presented in a two question format. Respondents are first asked if they agree or disagree with a particular statement, and are subsequently asked, "Is that strongly, moderately, or slightly?" Items appearing in both the mail and phone interviews (with correlations between phone and mail responses) are as follows: "I see myself as someone who tends to be quiet" (.59), "I see myself as someone who prefers work that is routine and simple" (.57), "I see myself as someone who tends to find fault with others" (.54), "I see myself as someone who worries a lot" (.65), and "I see myself as someone who is easily distracted" (.49). This includes one item from each of the five personality factors. Appendix: Distribution of Replicated Items on Telephone and Mail Questionnaire Q17 Tends to be quiet (extr)-MAIL Valid Cum Value Label Value Frequency Percent Percent Percent disagree strongly 1 262 8.1 8.3 8.3 disagree moderately 2 461 14.2 14.6 22.9 disagree slightly 3 465 14.3 14.7 37.7 agree slightly 4 810 24.9 25.7 63.4 agree moderately 5 835 25.7 26.5 89.9 agree strongly 6 320 9.8 10.1 100.0 . 27 .8 Missing 9 69 2.1 Missing ------- ------- ------- Total 3249 100.0 100.0 | disagree strongly |************* 262 | disagree moderately |*********************** 461 | disagree slightly |*********************** 465 | agree slightly |***************************************** 810 | agree moderately |****************************************** 835 | agree strongly |**************** 320 | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 0 200 400 600 800 1000 Frequency Valid cases 3153 Missing cases 96 EQUIET Tends to be quiet (phone) Valid Cum Value Label Value Frequency Percent Percent Percent disagree strongly 1.00 560 17.2 17.5 17.5 disagree moderately 2.00 817 25.1 25.5 43.0 disagree slightly 3.00 172 5.3 5.4 48.4 agree slightly 4.00 248 7.6 7.7 56.1 agree moderately 5.00 979 30.1 30.6 86.7 agree strongly 6.00 425 13.1 13.3 100.0 . 48 1.5 Missing ------- ------- ------- Total 3249 100.0 100.0 | disagree strongly |**************************** 560 | disagree moderately |***************************************** 817 | disagree slightly |********* 172 | agree slightly |************ 248 | agree moderately |*************************************************979 | agree strongly |********************* 425 | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 0 200 400 600 800 1000 Frequency Valid cases 3201 Missing cases 48 Q17B Tends to find fault with others (agre)-Mail Valid Cum Value Label Value Frequency Percent Percent Percent disagree strongly 1 524 16.1 16.6 16.6 disagree moderately 2 693 21.3 21.9 38.5 disagree slightly 3 545 16.8 17.2 55.7 agree slightly 4 896 27.6 28.3 84.0 agree moderately 5 435 13.4 13.8 97.8 agree strongly 6 70 2.2 2.2 100.0 . 27 .8 Missing 9 59 1.8 Missing ------- ------- ------- Total 3249 100.0 100.0 | disagree strongly |************************** 524 | disagree moderately |*********************************** 693 | disagree slightly |*************************** 545 | agree slightly |********************************************* 896 | agree moderately |********************** 435 | agree strongly |**** 70 | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 0 200 400 600 800 1000 Frequency Valid cases 3163 Missing cases 86 AFAULT Tends to find fault with others (phone) Valid Cum Value Label Value Frequency Percent Percent Percent disagree strongly 1.00 1176 36.2 36.5 36.5 disagree moderately 2.00 967 29.8 30.0 66.5 disagree slightly 3.00 260 8.0 8.1 74.5 agree slightly 4.00 320 9.8 9.9 84.5 agree moderately 5.00 425 13.1 13.2 97.6 agree strongly 6.00 76 2.3 2.4 100.0 . 25 .8 Missing ------- ------- ------- Total 3249 100.0 100.0 | disagree strongly |*************************************************1176 | disagree moderately |**************************************** 967 | disagree slightly |*********** 260 | agree slightly |************* 320 | agree moderately |****************** 425 | agree strongly |*** 76 | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 0 240 480 720 960 1200 Frequency Valid cases 3224 Missing cases 25 Q17CC Easily distracted (conc)-MAIL Valid Cum Value Label Value Frequency Percent Percent Percent disagree strongly 1 563 17.3 17.8 17.8 disagree moderately 2 862 26.5 27.2 45.0 disagree slightly 3 581 17.9 18.3 63.3 agree slightly 4 677 20.8 21.4 84.6 agree moderately 5 392 12.1 12.4 97.0 agree strongly 6 95 2.9 3.0 100.0 . 27 .8 Missing 9 52 1.6 Missing ------- ------- ------- Total 3249 100.0 100.0 | disagree strongly |**************************** 563 | disagree moderately |******************************************* 862 | disagree slightly |***************************** 581 | agree slightly |********************************** 677 | agree moderately |******************** 392 | agree strongly |***** 95 | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 0 200 400 600 800 1000 Frequency Valid cases 3170 Missing cases 79 CDISTRAC Easily distracted (phone) Valid Cum Value Label Value Frequency Percent Percent Percent disagree strongly 1.00 1141 35.1 35.4 35.4 disagree moderately 2.00 1194 36.7 37.0 72.4 disagree slightly 3.00 222 6.8 6.9 79.3 agree slightly 4.00 221 6.8 6.9 86.1 agree moderately 5.00 370 11.4 11.5 97.6 agree strongly 6.00 77 2.4 2.4 100.0 . 24 .7 Missing ------- ------- ------- Total 3249 100.0 100.0 | disagree strongly |************************************************1141 | disagree moderately |**************************************************1194 | disagree slightly |********* 222 | agree slightly |********* 221 | agree moderately |*************** 370 | agree strongly |*** 77 | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 0 240 480 720 960 1200 Frequency Valid cases 3225 Missing cases 24 Q17R Worries a lot (neur)-MAIL Valid Cum Value Label Value Frequency Percent Percent Percent agree strongly 1 438 13.5 13.9 13.9 agree moderately 2 737 22.7 23.3 37.2 agree slightly 3 777 23.9 24.6 61.7 disagree slightly 4 372 11.4 11.8 73.5 disagree moderately 5 535 16.5 16.9 90.4 disagree strongly 6 303 9.3 9.6 100.0 . 27 .8 Missing 9 60 1.8 Missing ------- ------- ------- Total 3249 100.0 100.0 | agree strongly |*************************** 438 | agree moderately |********************************************** 737 | agree slightly |*************************************************777 | disagree slightly |*********************** 372 | disagree moderately |********************************* 535 | disagree strongly |******************* 303 | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 0 160 320 480 640 800 Frequency Valid cases 3162 Missing cases 87 NWORRY Worries a lot (phone) Valid Cum Value Label Value Frequency Percent Percent Percent agree strongly 1.00 693 21.3 21.5 21.5 agree moderately 2.00 813 25.0 25.2 46.7 agree slightly 3.00 256 7.9 7.9 54.6 disagree slightly 4.00 268 8.2 8.3 62.9 disagree moderately 5.00 726 22.3 22.5 85.5 disagree strongly 6.00 469 14.4 14.5 100.0 . 24 .7 Missing ------- ------- ------- Total 3249 100.0 100.0 | agree strongly |*********************************** 693 | agree moderately |***************************************** 813 | agree slightly |************* 256 | disagree slightly |************* 268 | disagree moderately |************************************ 726 | disagree strongly |*********************** 469 | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 0 200 400 600 800 1000 Frequency Valid cases 3225 Missing cases 24 Q17G Prefers work that is routine/simple (open) - Mail Valid Cum Value Label Value Frequency Percent Percent Percent disagree strongly 1 866 26.7 27.6 27.6 disagree moderately 2 858 26.4 27.3 54.9 disagree slightly 3 413 12.7 13.1 68.0 agree slightly 4 405 12.5 12.9 80.9 agree moderately 5 448 13.8 14.3 95.2 agree strongly 6 152 4.7 4.8 100.0 . 27 .8 Missing 9 80 2.5 Missing ------- ------- ------- Total 3249 100.0 100.0 | disagree strongly |******************************************* 866 | disagree moderately |******************************************* 858 | disagree slightly |********************* 413 | agree slightly |******************** 405 | agree moderately |********************** 448 | agree strongly |******** 152 | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 0 200 400 600 800 1000 Frequency Valid cases 3142 Missing cases 107 OESYWORK Prefers work that is routine/simple (phone) Valid Cum Value Label Value Frequency Percent Percent Percent disagree strongly 1.00 1659 51.1 51.4 51.4 disagree moderately 2.00 853 26.3 26.4 77.9 disagree slightly 3.00 122 3.8 3.8 81.6 agree slghtly 4.00 86 2.6 2.7 84.3 agree moderately 5.00 350 10.8 10.8 95.2 agree strongly 6.00 156 4.8 4.8 100.0 . 23 .7 Missing ------- ------- ------- Total 3249 100.0 100.0 | disagree strongly |***************************************** 1659 | disagree moderately |********************* 853 | disagree slightly |*** 122 | agree slghtly |** 86 | agree moderately |********* 350 | agree strongly |**** 156 | +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 Frequency Valid cases 3226 Missing cases 23