Effects of including versus excluding nonparticipants as potential nominees in peer nomination measures

In peer nomination research, individuals who do not provide nominations (nonparticipants) are often included on rosters as potential nominees. This can present ethical questions regarding informed consent, but psychometric consequences of excluding nonparticipants from rosters are unknown. In this i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of behavioral development 2019-05, Vol.43 (3), p.255-262
Main Authors: Marks, Peter E. L., Babcock, Ben, van den Berg, Yvonne H. M., Cillessen, Antonius H. N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
Aggression
Comparative Education
Data Analysis
Data quality
Educational Research
Foreign Countries
Friendship
Grade 7
Grade 8
Informed consent
Matrices
Middle School Students
Missing data
Nominations
Peer Acceptance
Peer Groups
Peer Relationship
Prosocial Behavior
Reliability
Simulation
Sociometry
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In peer nomination research, individuals who do not provide nominations (nonparticipants) are often included on rosters as potential nominees. This can present ethical questions regarding informed consent, but psychometric consequences of excluding nonparticipants from rosters are unknown. In this investigation, Study 1 simulated both random and systematic missingness with a sample of 1,630 Dutch adolescents, comparing the reliability and correlation matrices of nomination measures when nonparticipants were included and excluded as nominees. Study 2 began with a two-school sample that already included systematic nonparticipation (≈19% missingness among 599 7th grade nominees) and examined how findings would differ if students who had not provided nominations were excluded as nominees. Results showed that the impact of including versus excluding nonparticipants as nominees may vary depending on the type of missingness (Study 1) or in different peer groups (Study 2). Both studies demonstrated that the choice of including versus excluding nonparticipants can affect reliability and intercorrelations in peer nomination data, and provide some evidence that excluding nonparticipants as nominees may compromise peer nomination data quality.
ISSN:0165-0254
1464-0651
DOI:10.1177/0165025418798504