Improving Cross-Cultural Comparability of Measures on Gender and Age
Stereotypes by Means of Piloting Methods
Abstract
The study addresses the effects of piloting methods on the reliability
and cross-cultural comparability of the measurement of stereotypes. A
gender roles instrument from the European Values Study, an ageism
instrument, and children stereotypes from the International Social
Survey Program were piloted in German and American English and revised
based on findings from cognitive interviews, web probing, and expert
reviews involving national experts or additionally cross-cultural
experts. The original and each piloted version were randomly assigned to
respondents in Germany and the U.S. using an online survey and quota
samples. The original gender roles and children stereotypes instruments
did not face configural invariance and reliability was insufficiently
low. The results show that piloting methods can increase insufficient
reliability. Measurement invariance could be improved by piloting
methods, but effects varied by the type of revisions implemented.
Cross-cultural expert reviews and web probing provided more consistent
results than other methods. A combination of methods would be optimal to
improve reliability and measurement invariance.