Using the Bifactor Model to Quantify Effects of Response Styles
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The bifactor model was used to separate effects of target constructs of interest and response styles on results obtained from the 100-item version of the International Personality Item Pool Big Five Model Inventory (IPIP-BFM-100; Goldberg, 1999). Results showed that responses were affected by both the target constructs and approaches to answering negatively and positive phrased items. Overall, response styles accounted for 7% to 21% of the variance in subscale scores. Effects of response styles varied across subscales, with relative effects of positive and negatively keyed items largely dependent on the proportion of such items included in a given subscale. Overall, these results highlight that the bifactor model can provide additional insights into the nature of item scores and aid in the construction of measures to reduce and better balance item wording effects.