Context and serial-order effects in personality measurement: Limits on the generality of measuring changes the measure.

It has recently been argued that the process of measuring personality constructs changes the consistency of responses to items. E. S. Knowles (1988) showed that items appearing later in a questionnaire are more related to total score than items appearing earlier. J. C. Hamilton and T. R. Shuminsky (1990) offered empirical support for the hypothesis that level of self-awareness is responsible for this serial-order effect. The present study investigated the generality of the proposition that measuring personality constructs using a self-report questionnaire changes the construct measured. With techniques of item response theory (IRT), it was found that the findings of previous investigations may be explained by more specific item-context effects due to both the item's content and serial position. These findings are discussed within the framework that uses IRT to test hyoptheses about item-context effects and personality measurement.