Am. Ibrahim, Differential responding to positive and negative items: The case of a negative item in a questionnaire for course and faculty evaluation, PSYCHOL REP, 88(2), 2001, pp. 497-500
Previous factor-analytic studies of self-rating scales have yielded a facto
r on which negatively worded items loaded separately. The present study inv
estigated the existence for such a factor in a questionnaire for course and
teacher evaluation which included one negative item. The questionnaire was
administered in 1,095 university classes. Two factors emerged, an exclusiv
ely positive-item factor and another factor on which the single negative it
em and one positive item loaded. It was suggested that both items of Factor
2 were ambiguous and may identify tendencies such as acquiescence, random
responding, and response sets.