ERIC Number: EJ1019162
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Feb
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1644
EISSN: N/A
Bias in Terms of Culture and a Method for Reducing It: An Eight-Country "Explanations of Unemployment Scale" Study
Mylonas, Kostas; Furnham, Adrian; Divale, William; Leblebici, Cigdem; Gondim, Sonia; Moniz, Angela; Grad, Hector; Alvaro, Jose Luis; Cretu, Romeo Zeno; Filus, Ania; Boski, Pawel
Educational and Psychological Measurement, v74 n1 p77-96 Feb 2014
Several sources of bias can plague research data and individual assessment. When cultural groups are considered, across or even within countries, it is essential that the constructs assessed and evaluated are as free as possible from any source of bias and specifically from bias caused due to culturally specific characteristics. Employing the Explanations of Unemployment Scale (revised form) for a sample of 1,894 employed and unemployed adults across eight countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Spain, Romania, Poland, Greece, and Brazil), we applied a method based on individual differences multidimensional scaling and principal component analysis to detect item bias in terms of culture and try to eliminate this bias variance from the overall item variance so as to (a) avoid jeopardizing validity levels and (b) arrive at clearer and more meaningful dimensions after adjusting the raw scores by removing the bias part. The results supported our statistical-psychometric intervention as the structure computed for the unadjusted data was enhanced and clarified when the data were adjusted for bias in terms of culture. Finally, implications for individual assessment procedures are discussed, and a method for evaluating the relative impact of bias in terms of culture on the raw assessment scores is also presented.
Descriptors: Test Bias, Measures (Individuals), Unemployment, Adults, Multidimensional Scaling, Factor Analysis, Culture, Raw Scores, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Brazil; Greece; Poland; Romania; Spain; Turkey; United Kingdom; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A