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The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of item phrasing on the validity of a Likert‐type attitude scale. Three content similar scales were composed of 15 items, either all positive, all negative, or a mixture of positive and negative items. Five hundred twenty‐two students in grades 4–6 responded to one of the three forms. Results from the all positive and negative forms indicated that item means, variances, and factor structures differed significantly. Inspection of item means suggested that it was difficult for the students to indicate agreement by disagreeing with a negative statement. Analyses of the mixed phrasing form indicated factors based upon item phrasing, not item content. Taken together, the results suggest that the technique of balancing item phrasing when used with elementary students appears to affect adversely the validity of attitude measurement.
Benson et al. (Sun,) studied this question.