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 th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 1997-11, Vol.73 (5), p.1005-1016
Main Authors: Kruglanski, Arie W, Nadir Atash, M, DeGrada, Eraldo, Mannetti, Lucia, Pierro, Antonio, Webster, Donna M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Decisions
Discriminant Validity
Factors
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Individuality
Judgments
Motivation
Need for Closure Scale
Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data
Personality Traits
Personality. Affectivity
Psychological tests
Psychological Theory
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychometrics
Rating Scales
Reproducibility of Results
Social Perception
Statistical Validity
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.73.5.1005