Abstract
The purpose of this research was to examine whether mean differences in endorsement rate to reversed item-stems of the same attitude statement can occur independent of acquiescence and if these observed differences have any effect when summed in relation to an outside criterion. Using two within-group designs, a significant number of mean differences between item-stems were found. Analyses showed that these observed differences were not due to the effects of acquiescence. However, for both groups, total scores based on items where mean differences in endorsement were observed correlated significantly with total scores based on items where no mean differences in endorsement were observed. Also, minor variations in mean rate of endorsement due to the direction of the item-stem wording had little effect on the correlations between the summated attitude scores and the outside criterion.
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