Exploring item order in anxiety-related constructs: Practical impacts of serial position

Date
2012-04
Authors
Carleton, R. Nicholas
Thibodeau, Michel, A.
Osborn, Jason, A.
Asmundson, Gordon, J. G.
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Abstract

The present study was designed to test for item order effects by measuring four distinct constructs that contribute substantively to anxiety-related psychopathology (i.e., anxiety sensitivity, fear of negative evaluation, injury/illness sensitivity, and intolerance of uncertainty). Participants (n = 999; 71% women) were randomly assigned to complete measures for each construct presented in one of two modalities: (a) items presented cohesively as measures or (b) items presented randomly interspersed with one another. The results suggested that item order had a relatively small impact on item endorsement, response patterns, and reliabilities. The small impact was such that item order appears unlikely to influence clinical decisions related to these measures. These findings not only have implications for these and other similar measures, but further inform a long-standing debate about whether item grouping is a substantial concern in measurement.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
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Citation
Carleton, R. N., Thibodeau, M. A., Osborne, J. W., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2012). Exploring item order in anxiety-related constructs: Practical impacts of serial position. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 17(7), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.7275/e43n-cn20