Comparing Two Versions of the MEOCS Using Differential Item Functioning

Abstract

As part of a project to update the Military Equal Opportunity Climate Survey (MEOCS), items from eight of its scales (Sexual Harassment and Discrimination, Differential Command Behavior toward Minorities and Women, Positive Equal Opportunity (EO Behavior, Racist/Sexist Behavior, Reverse Discrimination (Behavior), Discrimination against Minorities and Women, Reverse Discrimination (Attitude), and Attitudes toward Racial/Gender Separatism) have been rewritten to make them more neutral (e.g., replacing terms such as 'men' and 'women' with 'gender'). A comparison was made of the psychometric characteristics of the original and revised versions of these items using differential item functioning (DIF) from item response theory (IRT). DIF was found for the majority of the 40 items examined, although in many cases the DIF indicated improvements in the revised items. Implications for these scales and for the use of IRT with the MEOCS are discussed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 20, 2003
Accession Number
ADA417193

Entities

People

  • Stephen A. Truhon

Organizations

  • Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Applied Psychology
  • Boundaries
  • Department Of Defense
  • Discrimination
  • Employment
  • Equal Employment Opportunity
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Factor Analysis
  • Military Psychology
  • Minority Groups
  • Prejudice
  • Psychology
  • Separatism
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Social Sciences
  • Sociology
  • Surveys

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Organizational Psychology.