Lawmakers’ RWA answers cohere far more tightly than other attitude measures

Evidence

In my own research through 1987, the RWA Scale (which changes a little every year) continued to show alphas of about . among Manitoba students and . among their parents (EOF, p. 29). However, samples of North American lawmakers showed astounding internal consistency when answering the scale. Alphas ranged from . to . in four Canadian provincial assemblies, and from . to . in four American state legislatures (EOF, chapter 7). — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 239 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The mean interitem correlation across all respondents averaged .41-—higher even than that among the Canadian legislators—producing a Cronbach alpha of over .95. That means the signal-to-noise ratio in these data exceeds 19:1, giving the phrase “less than .05” a new meaning. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3672 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Several design features make lawmakers’ RWA responses likely truthful — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3687; Political lawmakers show unusually high internal consistency on the RWA Scale — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 239; The RWA scale achieved record measurement reliability among US lawmakers — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3672 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Political lawmakers show unusually high internal consistency on the RWA Scale #corroborates (0.95) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 239
• The RWA Scale produced exceptionally high internal consistency among US legislators #corroborates (0.92) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3672