Premium
Cultural differences in responses to a likert scale
Author(s) -
Lee Jerry W.,
Jones Patricia S.,
Mineyama Yoshimitsu,
Zhang Xinwei Esther
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/nur.10041
Subject(s) - likert scale , scale (ratio) , psychology , ethnic group , social psychology , chinese americans , cultural diversity , chinese culture , cross cultural studies , construct (python library) , clinical psychology , demography , developmental psychology , china , geography , sociology , cartography , archaeology , anthropology , computer science , programming language
Cultural differences in responses to a Likert scale were examined. Self‐identified Chinese, Japanese, and Americans ( N =136, 323, and 160, respectively) recruited at ethnic or general supermarkets in Southern California completed a 13‐question Sense of Coherence scale with a choice of either four, five, or seven responses in either Chinese, Japanese, or English. The Japanese respondents more frequently reported difficulty with the scale, the Chinese more frequently skipped questions, and both these groups selected the midpoint more frequently on items that involved admitting to a positive emotion than did the Americans, who were more likely to indicate a positive emotion. Construct validity of the scale tended to be better for the Chinese and the Americans when there were four response choices and for the Japanese when there were seven. Although culture affected response patterns, the association of sense of coherence and health was positive in all three cultural groups. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 25:295–306, 2002