The purpose of this study was to develop and to test a
paired-comparisons figural scale to measure preference for
complexity.
A Random Shapes Scale (RSS) consisting of 18 sets of
3 random shapes was constructed. In each set of 3, one
shape was of high complexity, one of medium complexity
and one of low complexity. The random shapes were chosen
from the eleven hundred generated by Vanderplas. Two existing
measures of preference for complexity, the Barron-Welsh Art
Scale (BW) and the Revised Art Scale (RA) were also used.
Students in architecture, art, education, law and
engineering (N=292) were tested using the RSS. Three weeks
later the same groups of students (N=184) were retested on
the RSS and completed the BW and RA as well. The BW and RA
were significantly correlated with the RSS in three of the
five groups tested.
The internal consistency of the RSS calculated over all
groups combined was .66; the stability coefficient was .71.
The analysis of variance showed significant differences
among the five groups tested. Therefore the RSS does differentiate
among groups on the dimension of preference for complexity.
The majority of the items were highly correlated with total
test scores. This indicates that the items are homogenous.
The results of the statistical analyses lead to the
conclusion that the RSS is a useful measure of a unitary
dimension of preference for complexity. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/41942 |
| Date | January 1973 |
| Creators | Wichert, Shelley Gabriele |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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