Department of Human Development and Family Science, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND.
Fam Process. 2019 Sep;58(3):749-760. doi: 10.1111/famp.12368. Epub 2018 Jun 11.
Issues of normativity (responding in a typical or average fashion) and desirability (the tendency for raters to endorse positive characteristics rather than neutral or more negative ones) are common in areas of the social sciences that frequently utilize profile correlations to measure dyadic similarity. They have implications for family scholars as well. In the present study, a pre-existing data set was used to make an initial, though limited, investigation into potential confounds of normativity and desirability for macrolevel observational assessments of family interaction. An empirical example is presented using q-sort ratings of family interaction, with variance in observational assessments decomposed into component parts. High levels of both normativity and desirability were found, indicating possible problems in terms of both reliability and validity of assessment. While the results provide an interesting beginning, they are limited due to the use of a q-sort methodology as well as an instrument with limited background and use. These limitations are discussed, as well as alternative interpretations for normativity and desirability and implications for future research.
规范性问题（以典型或平均的方式做出反应）和期望性问题（评价者倾向于认可积极的特征，而不是中性或更消极的特征）在经常使用概况相关性来衡量对偶相似性的社会科学领域中很常见。它们对家庭学者也有影响。在本研究中，使用预先存在的数据集对家庭互动的宏观观察评估的规范性和期望性的潜在混杂因素进行了初步但有限的调查。使用家庭互动的 Q 分类评分呈现了一个实证示例，将观察评估的方差分解为组成部分。发现规范性和期望性都很高，这表明评估的可靠性和有效性可能存在问题。虽然结果提供了一个有趣的开端，但由于使用了 Q 分类方法以及背景和用途有限的工具，结果受到限制。讨论了这些限制，以及对规范性和期望性的替代解释，以及对未来研究的影响。
