No description available.

Cross-cultural factors affect the cognitive processes engaged in by subjects to respond to rating scales. By using a sequential explanatory strategy of mixed-method research design, this study investigates four cultural groups in the software industry (n=92) - Israelis, Latinos, Romanians, and Americans - to investigate cultural effects on the thought processes used by respondents performing selected verbal (ordinal) and numeric (interval) scales. Cluster analysis of the qualitative data identified four main response styles used by subjects – Extremes, Midpoint, Range, and Refiners. While the clusters did not differ in their demographics, when evaluating their cognitive processes against the theory of Tourangeau, Rips, and Rasinski (2000), clusters used different cognitive processes. Specifically, Refiners and Midpoint were more likely to adjust their responses during the Judgment stage before responding. The findings of this research identified that values as acquired through life experience (i.e., leadership position) and demographics (i.e., gender, age, and educational level) rather than basic culture play a key role in the cognitive processes used by subjects to respond to scales. These factors affected scale preference, response style, cognitive processes, and even generated sentiments and emotions. Focusing on cultural values rather than cultural practices is a key need to yield valid survey results. While some of the subjects are oblivious to the cultural effects discussed in this study, those effects have theoretical and practical implications for surveys conducted by multi-national organizations and business leaders. Furthermore, identifying and handling cross-cultural differences described in this study can be used to train leaders in cross-cultural environments.

The objectives of this dissertation were to: (1) discover whether commenters and non-commenters on an international marketing questionnaire differ based on sociodemographic, nationality, and personality characteristics; (2) determine whether commenters with greater life satisfaction are more likely to provide positive comments; (3) determine whether commenters differ in response styles due to their national background; and (4) discover whether commenters differ (based on sociodemo-graphic, nationality, and personality characteristics) in their propensity to comment on the design rather than on other questionnaire issues. An exploratory design was used to satisfy these objectives.

This study aims to investigate cognitive response styles to positive affect. A Swedish version of the Responses to Positive Affect questionnaire (RPA) was psychometrically evaluated and experimentally tested as participants were mood induced. The 3-factor model for the RPA questionnaire (Self-focused positive rumination, Emotion-focused positive rumination and Dampening) was replicated, and the RPA was further explored through analyses of convergent and incremental validity. The experimental results revealed that the two positive rumination subscales had a strong relationship with each other and current positive affect. However, none of the RPA subscales functioned as moderators in the relationship between cognitive response style and participants’ mood reactivity.

No description available.

<p><em>Vaginism är ett sexuellt problem som förekommer hos kvinnor och som i tidigare utvärderade behandlingar betraktats som kvinnans problem. Forskning inom området vaginism är begränsad och kunskap om parrelationens roll för vidmakthållandet av problematiken och upplevd relationstillfredsställelse saknas. Studiens syfte var att utforma en parbehandling där kommunikationsinterventionen validering lärs ut som färdighet, utforska om det fanns ett intresse för deltagande, samt utvärdera om behandlingen kan påverka relationskvalitet och individuellt välbefinnande. Studien använde en single subject design där ett par fullföljde behandlingen. Resultatet visar ett begränsat intresse för deltagande och ingen större effekt av interventionen. Validering är en outforskad intervention som behöver utvärderas vidare inom området parbehandling. Att erbjuda parbehandling för par där kvinnan har vaginism är utmanande.</em></p> / <p><em>Vaginismus is a sexual problem that occurs in women. In previous evaluated studies it has been regarded as a problem belonging to the woman. The field of science is limited and the knowledge about the role of couple interaction for the maintaining factors of the problem and couple satisfaction is unknown. The aim of the study was to design a couple treatment where the communication skill validation, is learned, investigate if there where an interest for participating, and evaluate if treatment affect relationship satisfaction and individual well-being. The study has a single-subject design where one couple completed the treatment. The result shows that there was a limited interest for participating and no visible effect of the intervention. Validation is an unexplored intervention that needs to be evaluated further in the area of couple treatments. To offer couple treatment for couples where the woman has vaginismus is challenging. </em></p>

Vaginism är ett sexuellt problem som förekommer hos kvinnor och som i tidigare utvärderade behandlingar betraktats som kvinnans problem. Forskning inom området vaginism är begränsad och kunskap om parrelationens roll för vidmakthållandet av problematiken och upplevd relationstillfredsställelse saknas. Studiens syfte var att utforma en parbehandling där kommunikationsinterventionen validering lärs ut som färdighet, utforska om det fanns ett intresse för deltagande, samt utvärdera om behandlingen kan påverka relationskvalitet och individuellt välbefinnande. Studien använde en single subject design där ett par fullföljde behandlingen. Resultatet visar ett begränsat intresse för deltagande och ingen större effekt av interventionen. Validering är en outforskad intervention som behöver utvärderas vidare inom området parbehandling. Att erbjuda parbehandling för par där kvinnan har vaginism är utmanande. / Vaginismus is a sexual problem that occurs in women. In previous evaluated studies it has been regarded as a problem belonging to the woman. The field of science is limited and the knowledge about the role of couple interaction for the maintaining factors of the problem and couple satisfaction is unknown. The aim of the study was to design a couple treatment where the communication skill validation, is learned, investigate if there where an interest for participating, and evaluate if treatment affect relationship satisfaction and individual well-being. The study has a single-subject design where one couple completed the treatment. The result shows that there was a limited interest for participating and no visible effect of the intervention. Validation is an unexplored intervention that needs to be evaluated further in the area of couple treatments. To offer couple treatment for couples where the woman has vaginismus is challenging.

The present work explores how accuracy and bias in person perception change with the level of liking that the perceiver holds toward the target person. Specifically, we studied whether dislike affects (a) the social desirability of judgments (positivity bias), (b) the extent to which the target is described like an average person (normative accuracy), and (c) the extent to which the judgment reflects the given target’s characteristics in particular (distinctive accuracy). Eighty-four participants watched four target persons on video, after receiving bogus feedback on how positively or negatively those targets had supposedly evaluated them. The participants reciprocated negative bogus evaluations showing a marked decrease in reported liking for the respective target. Most important, dislike was consistently associated with lower positivity bias, greater normative accuracy, and lower distinctive accuracy across two validation measures (i.e., self-reports and informant reports of target persons).

No description available.

Analytical methods for measurement error estimation in survey data This dissertation aims at the domain of measurement error in social science survey data. To conceptualize and estimate measurement errors it employs the analytical and theoretical framework that stems from the analytical method of structural equation modeling (SEM) and Classical Test Theory (CTT), extended with the component of the systematic measurement error. This thesis has two goals that may contribute to development and extension of Czech social science methodology. The first goal is to illustrate methods of measurement error estimation, which has not been used for analysis of Czech data yet, and to point out to some problematical aspects of these methods. The second goal is to employ presented methods to obtain new findings regarding the quality of data from Czech surveys. The dissertation presents three empirical studies, each of which uses one of the methods defined within the presented theoretical and analytical framework. First study presents an analysis of reliability of measurement with the Quasi Simplex Model (QSM). It illustrates how to use the model and brings optimistic results regarding the reliability of the Czech EU SILC panel data. In the second study the confirmatory factor analysis model, operationally called...