Skip to main content

Some Observations on Response Processes Research and Its Future Theoretical and Methodological Directions

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Understanding and Investigating Response Processes in Validation Research

Part of the book series: Social Indicators Research Series ((SINS,volume 69))

Abstract

Response processes have been recognized as a primary source of validity evidence but few validation studies have included such evidence. This chapter provides a critical evaluation of the current state of response processes research. We begin by discussing the main factors that have contributed to current shortcomings in the field, and the implications of this situation on validation practices. We next propose several future directions of exploration in response processes research, namely: (a) expanding the theoretical and methodological grounding of this research, (b) expanding the scope of research from studying individual cognitive processes to investigating interpersonal, situated, and sociocultural response processes, and (c) expanding the role of response processes in validation and test development work. The theoretical and methodological directions proposed by the authors invite some new perspectives and renewed energy toward conducting future research studies investigating response processes as they pertain to validating test inferences.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education [AERA, APA, & NCME]. (2014). Standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakhtin, M. (1990). Art and answerability: Early philosophical essays. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bazerman, C. (1995). Constructing experience. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkovich-Ohana, A., & Glicksohn, J. (2014). The consciousness state space (CSS) – A model for a unified self and consciousness. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bornstein, R. F. (2011). Toward a process-focused model of test score validity: Improving psychological assessment in science and practice. Psychological Assessment, 23, 535–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borsboom, D., Mellenbergh, G. J., & Van Heerden, J. (2004). The concept of validity. Psychological Review, 111, 1061–1071.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caracelli, V. J., & Greene, J. C. (1997). Data analysis strategies for mixed-method evaluation designs. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 15, 195–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Derrida, J. (1982). Eyes of the university: The right to philosophy. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, D., & Potter, J. (1992). Discursive psychology. London, UK: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Embretson, S. E. (Ed.). (2010). Measuring psychological constructs: Advances in model-based approaches. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Embretson, S. E., & Gorin, J. (2001). Improving construct validity with cognitive psychology principles. Journal of Educational Measurement, 38, 343–368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erickson, F. (2012). Comments on causality in qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry, 18, 686–688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1991). Questions of methods. In G. Burchell & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmetality (pp. 73–86). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freedman, D. A. (2010). Statistical models and shoe leather. In D. A. Freedman (Ed.), Statistical models and causal inference: A dialogue with the social sciences (pp. 45–62). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gergen, K. (2009). Relational being: Beyond self and community. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 191–215). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halkier, B. (2011). Methodological practicalities in analytical generalization. Qualitative Inquiry, 17, 787–797.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, M. (1975). Poetry, thought, language. New York, NY: Harper & Collins Perennial Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hesse-Biber, S. N., & Burke Johnson, R. (2015). The Oxford handbook of multimethods and mixed methods research inquiy. Oxford, UK: Oxford Library of Psychology.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmeyer, J. (2013). Why do we need a semiotic understanding of life? Beyond mechanism: Putting life back into biology. Plymouth, UK: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holtgraves, T. (2004). Social desirability and self-reports: Testing models of socially desirable responding. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 161–172. doi:10.1177/0146167203259930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamiell, J. T. (1987). The psychology of personality: An epistemological inquiry. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leighton, J. P. (2015). Accounting for affective states in response processing data: Impact for validation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), Chicago, IL, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leontiev, D. (2014). Extending the contexts of existence: Benefits of meaning-guided living. In A. Batthyany (Ed.), Meaning in existential and positive psychology (pp. 97–114). Dodrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Linell, P. (2009). Rethinking language, mind, and world dialogically. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, D. M. (2013). Pragmatism, realism, and psychology: Understanding theory selection criteria. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 2, 61–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markus, K. A., & Borsboom, D. (2013). Frontiers of test validity theory: Measurement, causation, and meaning. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maturana, H. (1990). Biology of cognition and epistemology. Temuco, Chile: Ed Universidad de la Frontera.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maxcy, S. J. (2003). Pragmatic threads in mixed methods research for multiple modes: The search for multiple modes of inquiry and the end of the philosophy of formalism. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds.), Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioal research (pp. 51–89). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell, J. A. (2012). The importance of qualitative research for causal explanation in education. Qualitative Inquiry, 18, 655–661. doi:10.1080/14733140112331385100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mehl, M. R., & Connor, T. S. (2012). Handbook for research methods for studying daily life. New York, NY: Guildford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merten, D. M. (2013). Mixed methods and the politics of human research: The transformative-emancipatory perspective. In A. Tasakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds.), Handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral research (pp. 135–164). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messick, S. (1995). Validity of psychological assessment: Validation of inferences from person’s responses and performances as scientific inquiry into score meaning. American Psychologist, 50, 747–749.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, G. J., Finn, S. E., Eyde, L. D., Kay, G. G., Moreland, K. L., Dies, R. R., et al. (2001). Psychological testing and psychological assessment: A review of evidence and issues. American Psychologist, 56, 128–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mischel, W., & Shoda, Y. (1995). A cognitive-affective system theory of personality: Reconceptualizing situations, dispositions, dynamics, and invariance in personality structure. Psychological Review, 102, 246–268. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.102.2.246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nalini, A., & Rosenthal, R. (1992). Thin slices of expressive behavior as predictors of interpersonal consequences. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 256–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Donnell, C. R., Tharp, R. G., & Wilson, K. (1993). Activity settings as the unit of analysis: A theoretical basis for community intervention and development. American Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 501–520. doi:10.1007/BF00942157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearce, L. D. (2015). Thinking outside the Q boxes: Further motivating a mixed research perspective. In S. N. Hesse-Biber & R. Burke Johnson (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of mixed and multimethod research. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. (1972). The principles of genetic epistomology. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rauthmann, J. F., Gallardo-Pujol, D., Guillaume, E. M., Todd, E., Nave, C. S., Sherman, R. A., & Funder, D. C. (2014). The Situational Eight DIAMONDS: A taxonomy of major dimensions of situation characteristics. Journal of Personality and Soical Psychology, 107, 677–718. doi:10.1037/a0037250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, N. (1999). Self-reports: How the questions shape the answers. American Psychologist, 54, 93–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shotter, J. (1993). Conversational realities: Constructing life through language. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toomela, A. (2009). How methodology became a toolbox – And how it escapes from that box. In J. Valsiner, P. Molenaar, M. Lyra, & N. Chaudhary (Eds.), Dynamic process methodology in the social and delevolpmental sicences (pp. 45–66). New York, NY: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Tourangeau, R., Rips, L. J., & Rasinski, K. (2004). The psychology of survey response. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tukey, J. W. (1993). Issues relevant to an honest account of data-based inference, partially in the light of Laurie Davies’ paper. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Fraassen, B. C. (1980). The scientific image. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1994). The problem of the environment. In R. van der Veer & J. Valsiner (Eds.), The Vygotsky reader (pp. 338–354). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagoner, B. (2009). The experimental methodology of constructive microgenesis. In J. Valsiner, P. Molenaar, N. Chaudhary, & M. Lyra (Eds.), Handbook of dynamic process methodology in the social and developmental sciences (pp. 99–121). New York, NY: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Westerman, M. A. (2003). Quantitative research as an interpretive enterprise: The mostly unacknowledged role of interpretation in research efforts and suggestions for explicitly interpretive quantitative investigations. New Ideas in Psychology, 24, 189–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wills, G. B. (2005). Cognitive interviewing: A tool for improving questionnaire design. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, V. C., Wing, C., Steiner, P. M., Wong, M., & Cook, T. D. (2012). Research designs for program evalutaion. In I. B. Weiner, J. A. Schinka, & W. F. Velicer (Eds.), Handbook of psychology, Reseach methods in psychology (Vol. 2, 2nd ed., pp. 316–341). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zumbo, B. D. (2009). Validity as contextualized and pragmatic explanation, and its implications for validation practice. In R. W. Lissitz (Ed.), The concept of validity: Revisions, new directions and applications (pp. 65–82). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zumbo, B. D., Liu, Y., Wu, A. D., Shear, B. R., Olvera Astivia, O. L., & Ark, T. (2015). A methodology for Zumbo’s third generation DIF analyses and the ecology of item responding. Language Assessment Quarterly, 12, 136–151. doi:10.1080/15434303.2014.972559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mihaela Launeanu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Launeanu, M., Hubley, A.M. (2017). Some Observations on Response Processes Research and Its Future Theoretical and Methodological Directions. In: Zumbo, B., Hubley, A. (eds) Understanding and Investigating Response Processes in Validation Research. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 69. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56129-5_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56129-5_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56128-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56129-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics