A Model Building Approach to Examining Response Processes as a Source of Validity Evidence for Self-Report Items and Measures

Abstract

The pervasive absence of adequate theoretical frameworks or templates for building response processes models makes it difficult, if not impossible, to identify a priori response patterns and processes in order to integrate this knowledge into a coherent, testable explanatory model of test score variation. In response to these difficulties, in this chapter we will: (a) provide some important conceptual clarifications regarding response processes, (b) propose a model of theoretically expected response processes when responding to self-report items related to self, (c) use the model to examine the response processes that were evident when individuals responded to items from the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965), and (d) discuss the implications of using response processes when conducting validity studies of self-report measures related to the self. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)