Relative Sensitivity to Performance Cue Effects as a Criterion for Comparing Rating Scale Formats

Abstract

The present study was conducted to assess the relative sensitivity of three rating scale formats (graphic, BES, & BOS) to behavior and performance cue primes. Subjects were 72 college students who rated video-taped instructor performance on the three types of rating scales. The experimental design was a 2 (Low vs. High Behavior) × 2 (Negative vs. Positive Performance Cue). The relative sensitivity of each scale was defined as the proportion of variance explained by behavior divided by the proportion of variance explained by behavior plus performance cue variance. The results indicated that in terms of sensitivity to behavioral variance the Graphic was most sensitive followed by the BES and then BOS scales.

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