A Clarified Examination of the Item Wording Effect: Item Valence (Good vs. Bad) Versus Semantic Framing (I Am vs. I Am Not).

Abstract

The Item Wording Effect (IWE) in psychological testing describes how individuals respond differently to positively and negatively worded items. Previous IWE research faced challenges due to measures varying beyond item valence. This study aimed to address this problem by developing an inventory, the Positive and Negative Descriptor Inventory (PANDI), with items varying solely on valence. Semantic framing was manipulated to examine which factor (valence vs. framing) was more causal of the IWE. Using an online survey on Mechanical Turk, 336 Canadian participants responded to PANDI items in different experimental conditions. Results indicated that item valence had a bigger impact on IWE than semantic framing. PANDI-Good items in the Affirming Condition exhibited lower reliability but higher means and response variance than other groups, emphasizing the significant difference in how individuals interpret positive and negating inventory items. This study recommends using negatively worded items sparingly, and not using negating items at all.