A Rating Scale Mixture Model to Account for the Tendency to Middle and Extreme Categories

Abstract

A Rating Scale Mixture Model to Account for the Tendency to Middle and Extreme Categories 
A mixture of logit models is proposed that discriminates between responses to 
rating questions that are affected by a tendency to prefer middle or extremes of
the scale regardless of the content of the item (response styles) and purely content
driven preferences. Explanatory variables are used to characterize the content
driven way of answering as well as the tendency to middle or extreme categories.
The proposed model is extended to account for the presence of response styles in
the case of several items, and the association among responses is described, both
when they are content driven or dictated by response styles. In addition, stochastic
orderings, related to the tendency to select middle or extreme categories, are
investigated. A simulation study describes the effectiveness of the proposed model,
and an application to a questionnaire on attitudes toward ethnic minorities illustrates the
applicability of the modeling approach.

Organizzatore

Silvia Cagnone