Japanese response styles: An exploratory study using structural equation modeling

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify response styles among Japanese participants. Response style research has had a methodological concern that biased responses defined by the number of counts responding to certain category options run the risk of being confounded with item contents. Thus, following the approach delineated and outlined by Billiet and McClendon (2000), this study identifies response styles with the aid of structural equation modeling. Based on the premise that stable tendencies in response behavior are related to personality traits, the impact of response styles is partialed out from item responses by modeling a "style factor." Confirmatory factor analyses on two distinctive psychological scales found a significant effect of the acquiescence response style (ARS) on item responses. On the other hand, strong evidence of the (in) extreme response style(ERS) and the mid-point response style(MRS), often mentioned as Japanese response styles, was not identified.