Hello, so I'm doing a research on negative subject, childhood parental neglect. I use a questionnaire with 20 items where 16 out of the 20 items are negatively-worded items such as "my parents did not help me study". So there are only 4 positive items. My question is, before processing this data in spss, do I need to reverse the score of the negative items? I mean since this measures neglect which is a negative situation marked by "lack of this and that". And if I dont have to reverse the score of the negative items, what should I do with the positive items? Please help and thankyou in advance
You can reverse-score the 4 positively worded items, that shall be much easier. Score reversion is necessary if you choose to use mean scale scores, otherwise summing up the scores to attain summated scale scores (out of a total score) also works. If you are focusing on correlations or regression, both mean and summated scale scores work. If you are focusing on between-group comparisons in which the intervals/ranks matter, that is, you want each rating to mean the same for every item, consider using mean scale scores.
Dear Nadia,
You need to reverse the score of the 4 positively worded items, not because this is easier, but because the measure must align with your core concept " neglect".
In this case your scores should all go up with increasing reported neglect. If you do this you will be able to interpret your analyses with the correct direction/orientation to explaining/predicting to or from neglect.
Hello Nadia
I agree with opinion of Rachel and Jimmy you need to reverse the score of the 4 positively worded items because the trait of neglect is a negative trait , and the reliability well improve
just in addition to Mohammed, Rachel and jimmy opinion, your analysis is believed to state a wholesome view. This perspective is birthed with the assumption that every listed item on the questionnaire have a single lane of direction and thus you attain your result. when you have both negative and positive worded items, reported as positive items, the desired measure concept will be incorrectly explained to the neglect concept. Your analysis reliability will definitely be lopsided as your stance from the analysed result wont give a definite truthful stance. more-like wobbling.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Psychology