Multi-Item Scale:
Item Text:
c.) The world would be a better place if people in other countries were more like the Germans. [Die Welt wäre besser, wenn die Menschen in anderen Ländern eher so wären wie die Deutschen.]
Different Answer Format Tested:
Nein
Findings:
Two test persons (TP 06, TP 07) state that they cannot say whether the world would be a better place if everyone had "German virtues" (TP 06).
Three other test persons decide on an answer category, but criticize that it is unclear to them what the question is aimed at: "Is it the people or the system in Germany?" (TP 09). Test person 10 also addresses this ambiguity: "I am of the opinion that many things that are going quite well here institutionally, I would grant other countries and thus other people somewhere, that it is the same there [...] But I don't know whether this is really the achievement of the people or whether one doesn't have to say that it is the whole country that is developing in a certain direction. That's why I have 'Neither' [stated], but I could have also ticked 'I cannot say'. “
Test subject 19 ("disagree") vacillates between agreement and disagreement, depending on the intention of the item: "If I understood that people in the world were better off, I would say I agree, but that people themselves were better off, I disagree. “
In total, a quarter of the test subjects make it clear that the item is formulated too imprecisely for them. This is mainly due to the formulation "The world would be better", which is not understood by some test subjects in the intended sense or whose meaning is unclear to some test subjects (What would be better? Would the people themselves be better? Do "German virtues" have an influence on the welfare of the world? - see also findings on item h).
Three other test persons decide on an answer category, but criticize that it is unclear to them what the question is aimed at: "Is it the people or the system in Germany?" (TP 09). Test person 10 also addresses this ambiguity: "I am of the opinion that many things that are going quite well here institutionally, I would grant other countries and thus other people somewhere, that it is the same there [...] But I don't know whether this is really the achievement of the people or whether one doesn't have to say that it is the whole country that is developing in a certain direction. That's why I have 'Neither' [stated], but I could have also ticked 'I cannot say'. “
Test subject 19 ("disagree") vacillates between agreement and disagreement, depending on the intention of the item: "If I understood that people in the world were better off, I would say I agree, but that people themselves were better off, I disagree. “
In total, a quarter of the test subjects make it clear that the item is formulated too imprecisely for them. This is mainly due to the formulation "The world would be better", which is not understood by some test subjects in the intended sense or whose meaning is unclear to some test subjects (What would be better? Would the people themselves be better? Do "German virtues" have an influence on the welfare of the world? - see also findings on item h).
Recommendations:
Possibly reformulate in:
"The world would be a better place if people in other countries were more like the Germans."
[„Die Welt wäre eine bessere, wenn die Menschen in anderen Ländern eher so wären wie die Deutschen.“]
"The world would be a better place if people in other countries were more like the Germans."
[„Die Welt wäre eine bessere, wenn die Menschen in anderen Ländern eher so wären wie die Deutschen.“]
Question tested:
true