Abstract

CALDERON CARVAJAL, Carlos  and  XIMENEZ GOMEZ, Carmen. Factor analysis of forced-choice items: A review and an example. rev.latinoam.psicol. [online]. 2014, vol.46, n.1, pp.24-34. ISSN 0120-0534.

Forced-choice tests are widely used in order to reduce the impact of different response set biases typically associated to psychological tests (e.g. acquiescence or social desirability). However, these tests produce ipsative data which have undesirable properties, thereby making an inappropriate application of classical factor analysis techniques for psychometric evaluation commonly used by researchers. This paper explains the analytical properties of forced-choice tests, along with an example that illustrates how these properties have an impact on the application of conventional statistical techniques and produce improper results. Additionally, one of the current proposals is presented in order to analyze these data based on the comparative judgment model by Thurstone, along with the results of a simulation study which illustrates its implementation and effectiveness in recovering the original factor structure.

Keywords : Forced-choice Tests; Ipsative Data; Comparative Judgment; Factor Analysis.

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