Psychological theory testing versus psychometric nay-saying: comment on Neuberg et al.'s (1997) critique of the need for closure scale.
S. L. Neuberg, T. N. Judice, and S. G. West (1997) faulted our work with the Need for Closure Scale (NFCS) on grounds that the NFCS lacks discriminant validity relative to S. L. Neuberg's and J. T. Newsom's (1993) Personal Need for Structure (PNS) Scale and is multidimensional, which, so they claim, renders the use of its total score inadmissible. By contrast, the present authors show that neither of the above assertions is incompatible with the underlying need for closure theory. Relations between NFCS and the PNS are to be expected, as these were designed to operationalize the very same construct (of need for closure). Furthermore, no unidimensionality of the NFCS has been claimed, and none is required to use its total score for testing various theoretically derived predictions. An instrument's ultimate utility hinges on theoretical considerations and empirical evidence rather than on questionable psychometric dogma unrelated to the substantive matters at hand.
Kruglanski
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Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park 20742-4411, USA. arie@bss3.umd.edu
Atash
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DeGrada
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Mannetti
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Pierro
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Webster
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D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012938:Social Perception