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。 这项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。 通过比较人们如何回答断言问题（例如，“我很高兴”）和否定问题（例如，“I am not sad”）具有相同的语义含义。 PI的早期研究表明，（a）受访者对断言的认可多于否定，而且更快，（B）在这种“认可偏差”中存在广泛的个体差异，（c）个性量表经常混淆项目类型（即，断言或否定）与项目被评分的方向。 这项研究旨在确定产生这种偏见的过程和技术，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的统计复杂性，以确定语义相似的问题的含义的差异。 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.