Suchergebnisse

The internal consistency & discriminant validity of the items comprising the Rogers self-designating opinion leadership scale (see SA 0104/A7114) & E. M. Rogers, DIFFUSION OF INNOVATIONS, New York, NY: Free press, 1962 were investigated. Notions suggested by Campbell & Fiske's multitrait-multimethod matrix approach (D. T. Campbell & D. W. Fiske, 'Convergent and Discriminant Validation by the Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix,' Psychological Bulletin, 1959, 56, 2, 81-105) to establishing convergent & discriminant validity were used. While the items were shown to be highly inter-r'ed, their ability to discriminate consistently between 2 types of opinion leaders was found to be limited & there were indications that trait-irrelevant method factors have a substantial effect on scores obtained on the scale. Acquiescence response set appeared to be present when the scale was used to identify opinion leaders for one type of activity, but did not appear operative when the scale was admin'ed to the same sample with reference to a diff category of behavior. This suggests that the types of response bias which may affect the Rogers scale & the extent of their influence depend on the area of opinion leadership to which the scale is applied. Randomizing the order in which response alternatives are presented &/or providing a neutral response category may help control some of the unwanted response bias. Validation is an ongoing process. 2 Tables. Modified HA.