RESUMO
In the U.S. media, unauthorized immigrants are often interchangeably referred to as "illegal aliens," "illegal immigrants," and undocumented immigrants." In spite of formal equivalence, these terms carry different connotations, but the effects of these labels on people's attitudes toward immigrants are not well documented. In this replication study, 274 undergraduate students in psychology responded to one of three randomly distributed versions of a 20-item scale measuring attitudes toward unauthorized immigration. The items in the three scale versions varyingly referred to immigrants using the three terms. Results showed differences in attitudes toward unauthorized immigration between all experimental conditions. The label "illegal immigrants" yielded significantly less positive attitudes compared to the label "undocumented immigrants," and respondents exposed to the label "illegal aliens" showed the most positive attitudes. Furthermore, the effects of the experimental conditions were not moderated by the respondents' patriotism, sex, or own immigrant background.
Assuntos
Atitude , Emigrantes e Imigrantes , Emigração e Imigração/legislação & jurisprudência , Terminologia como Assunto , Adolescente , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Psicolinguística , Adulto JovemRESUMO
An internet-related survey distributed to Norwegian students explored predictors of fear-related xenophobia toward immigrants. Specifically, this study examined a new social construct called "entitativity" (i.e., the extent to which out-group members are perceived as bonded together in a cohesive or organized unit), as well as frequency of informal social contact and valence of a recent encounter in relation to certain xenophobic attitudes. Correlational and multiple regression analyses indicated that perceived out-group entitativity was a moderate predictor of fear-related xenophobia. Voluntary informal contact was a weak predictor of fear-related xenophobia, whereas negative evaluation of an encounter in the recent past was a strong predictor. Further analysis indicated that the effect of entitativity on xenophobia was strongest when informal social contact was low. Moreover, analysis indicated that the effect of valenced contact was partly mediated through perception of entitativity.
Assuntos
Emigrantes e Imigrantes/psicologia , Medo/psicologia , Relações Interpessoais , Transtornos Fóbicos/psicologia , Preconceito/psicologia , Percepção Social , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Feminino , Processos Grupais , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Noruega , Adulto JovemRESUMO
To apply a Mokken Scale Procedure in developing a hierarchical cross-national scale to measure xenophobia, a pool of 30 xenophobia-related items was collected from several sources and modified using established unidimensional criteria. The survey was administered to 608 undergraduate students in the USA, 193 undergraduate students in The Netherlands, and 303 undergraduate students in Norway. 14 items measuring perceived threat or fear and meeting the criteria of the Stereotype Content Model were selected for further analysis. A separate item analysis and, subsequently, Mokken Scale Procedure yielded a cumulative scale with the same five items for each of the three samples. The items and the total scale met criteria for homogeneity in all samples with H > .40.
Assuntos
Comparação Transcultural , Emigrantes e Imigrantes/psicologia , Etnicidade/psicologia , Medo , Preconceito , Estereotipagem , Inquéritos e Questionários , Adolescente , Adulto , Feminino , Hostilidade , Humanos , Masculino , Países Baixos , Noruega , Psicometria/estatística & dados numéricos , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Mudança Social , Identificação Social , Estudantes/psicologia , Estados Unidos , Adulto JovemRESUMO
This research note responds to the question of whether a convenience sample of undergraduate students may be successfully utilized in concept development and in scale construction, and in what way the results are comparable to the findings of a representative national sample. The results of a Mokken analysis in both samples support the hypothesis that convenience samples have utility in concept development and in developing measures that can also be used in representative samples.
Assuntos
Testes Psicológicos/estatística & dados numéricos , Estudos de Amostragem , Estudantes/psicologia , Migrantes/legislação & jurisprudência , Adulto , Atitude , Direitos Civis/legislação & jurisprudência , Feminino , Direitos Humanos/legislação & jurisprudência , Humanos , Aplicação da Lei , Masculino , Nova Zelândia , Psicologia Social/métodos , Psicometria , Projetos de Pesquisa/normas , Estudantes/estatística & dados numéricos , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
This is a report on the utility of a scale measuring attitudes toward illegal immigrants in two samples from nations that have more people moving out of the country than moving into the country. The Attitude toward Illegal Immigrants Scale was administered to 219 undergraduates from Sofia University in Bulgaria, and 179 undergraduates from Hanoi State University in Vietnam. Results yielded a scale with no sex differences, and acceptable alpha coefficients. Item analysis identified the most contributory and least contributory items, with considerable overlap in the two samples. A principal component analysis with varimax rotation was carried out to examine the structure.
Assuntos
Atitude , Direito Penal/legislação & jurisprudência , Cultura , Emigração e Imigração/legislação & jurisprudência , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Fatores Sexuais , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
This research examined the possibility of developing Mokken cumulative scales measuring attitudes toward illegal immigrants in a 9-nation sample. A total of 1,407 respondents primarily from national and regional universities participated in the surveys including the 20-item Illegal Immigration Scale. The scales displayed acceptable reliability with coefficients alpha ranging from .79 to .93. A Procrustes analysis yielded coefficients of congruence with the previously established three-factor solution. The amount of variance accounted for varied between 33.1 and 54.7%, supporting the presence of other factors in attitudes toward illegal immigrants. Mokken scale analysis yielded robust and economical scales in two clusters of national samples.
Assuntos
Atitude , Emigração e Imigração/legislação & jurisprudência , Percepção Social , Inquéritos e Questionários , Migrantes/legislação & jurisprudência , Adulto , Austrália , Análise por Conglomerados , Comparação Transcultural , Europa (Continente) , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Nova Zelândia , Estados UnidosRESUMO
This research is an examination of the generalizability of a Likert-type scale originally devised to measure attitudes toward illegal immigrants (IA) in the United States. The current authors administered this scale across 4 national samples using several methodological procedures. Undergraduate students (631) responded to the IA scale (R. Ommundsen & K. S. Larsen, 1997) at the University of Oslo, Oregon State University, the University of Copenhagen, and Vrije University of Amsterdam. The authors' main purpose was to evaluate the adequacy of the 20-item IA scale by examining possible problems with method and translation. A translation study carried out with the Danish, Norwegian, and Dutch samples (N = 299) showed that the various national versions were fairly accurate and contained largely the same meanings. The use of procrustes analysis of the IA scale yielded 3 factors in all 4 national samples. The coefficient of congruence of these 3 orthogonally rotated factor matrices, with the U.S. factor matrix as target, varied from .80 to .95, supporting the cross-national robustness of the scale. In the search for a more economical cumulative scale, a Mokken analysis yielded a 5-item scale that represented the aforementioned 3 factors and was stable across national samples.
Assuntos
Comparação Transcultural , Opinião Pública , Migrantes/psicologia , Adulto , Dinamarca , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Países Baixos , Noruega , Estudantes/psicologia , Estados UnidosRESUMO
Psychometric analyses, such as factor analysis, internal consistency and construct validity analysis, are well known and frequently applied methods in the development of health related patient reported outcomes. These statistical indexes shed very little light on how respondents interpret individual items, or on the meaning of their responses. In this study, the Pain Coping and Cognition List (PCCL), a quantitatively validated psychological questionnaire developed to assess chronic pain, has been subjected to a qualitative research method: the Three Step Test Interview (TSTI), an observational technique that aims to identify problems with self reported questionnaires. It consists of three phases: 1) concurrent thinking aloud; 2) a retrospective interview; 3) a semi-structured interview. Participants with sub-acute neck pain distinguished six different types of problems: long complicated formulations, composite questions, irrelevant questions, lacking frame of reference, problematic words, and wrongly interpreted questions. This study illustrates that qualitative methods have an added value when developing self-report questionnaires because some of the problems that were highlighted that cannot be identified using quantitative methods only. Therefore, we recommend that a full qualitative study should be an integral part of the development of questionnaires. The TSTI method is very useful for this purpose.
Assuntos
Adaptação Psicológica , Atitude Frente a Saúde , Cervicalgia/psicologia , Pesquisa Qualitativa , Inquéritos e Questionários/normas , Doença Aguda , Doença Crônica , Cognição , Coleta de Dados/métodos , Análise Fatorial , Humanos , Entrevistas como Assunto , Cervicalgia/diagnóstico , Cervicalgia/prevenção & controle , Países Baixos , Avaliação de Resultados em Cuidados de Saúde , Resolução de Problemas , Psicometria , Projetos de Pesquisa , PensamentoRESUMO
This study reports on the development and cross-national utility of a Likert type scale measuring attitudes toward unauthorized migration into a foreign country in two samples from "migrant-sending" nations. In the first phase a pool of 86 attitude statements were administered to a sample of 505 undergraduate students in Bulgaria (22.5% male; M age = 23, SD = 4.8). Exploratory factor analysis resulted in six factors, and a reduction to 34 items. The results yielded an overall alpha of (0.92) and alpha for subscales ranging from 0.70 to 0.89. In the second phase the 34-item scale was administered in a survey of 180 undergraduates from Sofia University in Bulgaria (16.7% male, M age = 23, SD = 4.8), plus 150 undergraduates from Hanoi State University in Vietnam (14.7% male, M age = 19, SD = 1.8). Results yielded a 19-item scale with no gender differences, and satisfactory alpha coefficients for a Vietnamese and Bulgarian sample of 0.87 and 0.89 respectively. This scale, equally applicable in both samples, includes items that reflect salient topics of concept of attitudes towards unauthorized migration. An exploratory principal component analysis of the Bulgarian and Vietnamese version of the 19-item scale yielded three factors accounting for 54% and 47% of the variance respectively. A procrustes analysis indicates high conceptual equivalence in the two samples for factor 1 and 2, and moderate for factor 3. This study lends support to the idea that despite different cultural meanings there is a common meaning space in culturally diverse societies.