Collaborative Research: Meaning Making and the Processes of Self-Description

这项研究探讨了内省的过程，即人们如何回答有关自己的问题。研究的重点是这个过程的早期阶段，在这个阶段，人们解释所问的问题并搜索相关信息。通过比较具有相同语义含义的断言问题（如“我很高兴”）和否定问题（如“我不难过”）的回答方式，揭示了意义的形成过程。pi的早期研究表明：(a)被调查者更赞同断言而不是否定，并且更快地这样做；(b)在这种“赞同偏见”中出现了广泛的个体差异；(c)人格量表经常将项目类型（即断言或否定）与项目的得分方向混淆。这项研究旨在确定产生这种偏见的过程和技术，而这些技术可以用来消除自我报告的影响。许多研究使用项目反应理论的先进统计复杂性来识别语义相似问题的意义差异。这项研究将改进调查方法、绩效评估和其他形式的自我报告信息。

This research explores the processes of introspection, namely, how people answer questions about themselves. The research focuses on the early stages of the process where people interpret the question asked and search for relevant information. The meaning making process is revealed through a comparison of how people answer assertion questions (e.g., "I am happy") and negation questions (e.g., "I am not sad") that have the same semantic implication. The PIs' earlier research demonstrates that (a) respondents endorse assertions more than negations and do so more quickly, (b) wide individual differences occur in this "Endorsement Bias", and (c) personality scales often confound item type (i.e., assertion or negation) with the direction the item is scored. This research aims to identify the processes that produce this bias and technologies than can be used to eliminate its effects from self-reports. Many of the studies use the advanced statistical sophistication of Item Response Theory to identify the differences in meaning of semantically similar questions. This research will improve survey methodology, performance appraisal, and other forms of self-report information.