Swipe right on personality: a mobile response latency measure Article (Web of Science)

abstract

  • PurposeWhile high-stakes mobile assessment is increasing, researchers have done little to adapt traditional assessments to this new medium. The present study developed and tested a new response method for personality assessment using a mobile-first gamification design paradigm.Design/methodology/approachParticipants used smartphones to “swipe” right or left to indicate agreement or disagreement with Goldberg's (1992) Big Five adjective indicators. These scores were correlated with responses to a Likert-type measure and participants provided reactions to both measures.FindingsEach of the swipe-based measures was found to be a reliable and valid predictor of the corresponding dimensions measured using the Likert-type scale. Reactions to the swipe measure were mixed when compared to a traditional Likert-type measure. Response latencies of swipes were used as an indicator of self-schema beliefs. Transformed latency scores contributed incremental variance to the prediction of Likert responses beyond the dichotomous responses alone for some personality dimensions.Research limitations/implicationsConvergent validity between the two measures was likely attenuated due to differences in scales, response methods, devices, connection speeds, and social desirability effects indicating that the present results may constitute a lower-bound estimate of convergent validity between the two measurement styles.Practical implicationsDesigning assessments for mobile administration requires balancing trade-offs in speed, ease of use, and number of items relative to the reliability and validity of the measures.Originality/valueMobile-first designs such as swipe-based responses show potential to enhance future mobile assessment practices with further development.

authors

publication date

  • 2020

webpage

published in

number of pages

  • 14

start page

  • 209

end page

  • 223

volume

  • 35

issue

  • 4