An Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor-Analytic Investigation of Item Wording Effects on the Obtained Factor Structures of Survey Questionnaire Measures

Abstract

Item wording effects were investigated using scenarios depicting a fictitious leaders behavior, 496 respondents, and a questionnaire containing regular, polar opposite, negated polar opposite, and negated regular item versions. Oblique-rotated exploratory factor-analytic results showed clear item wording factors; confirmatory factor-analytic results showed the item formats to yield separate wording factors but that the regular items had substantially more trait variance than did the other item formats. Implications for future research are discussed.