Date of Award

1990

Publication Type

Doctoral Thesis

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Psychology

Keywords

Psychology, Psychometrics.

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

A review of the feminist and psychological literature provided a framework for the examination of feminism within a multidimensional context. Specifically, this framework provided support for the existence of two dimensions of feminism: Liberal Feminism and Radical Feminism. The purpose of the present study was to construct two scales to measure Liberal and Radical Feminism, using the rational-empirical method for test construction. This method of test construction is based on substantive, structural, and external validity considerations. The substantive component refers to the construction of a priori definitions of the two constructs. These scale definitions were derived from an examination of the feminist and psychological literature. One hundred items were written to reflect each scale definition. These items were then submitted to an independent editor for evaluation. Assessment of the structural and external validity criteria was based on the responses of 251 female subjects. A sample of 94 male subjects served as a validation sample. Items meeting the structural validity criteria were identified and retained for further analysis. Further analyses resulted in two final twenty-item scales to measure Liberal and Radical Feminism. The external validity of the final scales was assessed by examining a number of convergent and discriminant relationships between the final scales and selected measures of personality, a measure of feminism, and participants' behavior in the last year. The rational-empirical method of test construction resulted in two final scales with excellent psychometric properties and promising convergent and discriminant validity. Directions for future research and scale development were discussed and focused primarily on (1) establishing additional indices of reliability and validity with a new sample, (2) the importance of conducting a known groups analysis, and (3) the need for future research to move beyond a trait approach to develop an interactional model which would permit research questions regarding reciprocal causation.Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1990 .F677. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-01, Section: B, page: 0604. Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1990.

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