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Standardization

The Way I See It Inventory Standardization

The Way I See It:  A Standardized Belief Systems Inventory

 
In its original standardization, it was hypothesized that the "The Way I See It" inventory would demonstrate internal consistency within each of the five systems scales. It was further hypothesized that individual patterns would be relatively enduring over short periods of time (several months). With regards to external criteria of validity, it was hypothesized that the inventory would correlate with other systems measures, that the description of the individual systems scales would correspond to other measures of values and personality characteristics, and that educational goals of students could be predicted from inventory scores.

METHOD

Subjects taking the inventory included 168 students from a technical college ranging in age from 17 to 55 with a median age of 24.4. Fifty-one of these students were in classes for those who showed some college potential but had academic deficits in their backgrounds. Other subjects included one teacher from this school, 23 staff members and 25 out-patients from a county mental health center, ranging in age from 20 to 54 with a mean age of 31. Of the total 217 Ss, 118 were male and 99 were female.

"The Way I See It" has been revised three times over four years to improve the internal consistency of the five systems scales, facilitate item comprehension, and strengthen cross-validation. In its present form it consists of 31 items. Each item presents a sentence stem with five forced-choice alternatives to be ranked in order of closeness to the examinee's actual beliefs.

Example:    Children learn best:
(a)    by letting them struggle and conquer or be defeated on their own.................    5
(b)    when they can explore within limits appropriate to their level of development..    2
(c)    if there is an element of competition and a chance to discover on their own....    3
(d)    if proper reward and punishment are used consistently and they are directed toward what is right.....    4
(e)    if they are allowed to discover for themselves, particularly through group interaction and sharing.....    1

(Here the examinee has ranked alternative "e" as most like him, alternative "b" as next most like him, etc., to alternative "a" as least like him.) Each alternative represents one of the five systems and is presented in a random, coded order. The total score for each scale consists of the cumulative ranked scores for each system over the 31 items. The inventory takes about 30 minutes to complete. Scores are reported for the systems scale totals and for five content groups within the scales, i.e., items dealing with: 1) Perception of Others (5 items), 2) Authority (6 items), 3) Personal Beliefs (8 items), 4) Interpersonal Relations (7 items), and 5) Perception of Self (5 items), thus generating subscores for the five systems in each of these content areas. An eighth grade reading level is estimated as necessary to comprehend the items and complete the ranking.

The Conceptual Systems Test (CST) is a 48 item questionnaire designed to categorize subjects into one of four systems of conceptual thinking as described by Harvey (1967). Ss are asked to indicate on a five point Likert-type scale their level of agreement from "I agree completely" to "I disagree completely" to statements like "No. 22. Marriage is a divine institution for the glorification of God." The test provides scores on five scales, Divine Fate Control (DFC), Need for Structured Order (NSO), Need to Help People (NHP), Need for People (NFP), Interpersonal Aggression (IA), and Anomic (AN). System categorization is based on established cutoff scores on these scales.

The Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values was used as a corroborating measure of values. It measures the relative strength of a subject's proclivity for six value areas: Theoretical, Economic, Aesthetic, Social, Political, and Religious.

Eleven scales from the Adjective Check List were used as a measure of self-perception of personality characteristics. These scales were: Number Checked, Self-Confidence, Self-Control, Liability, Personal Adjustment, Achievement Autonomy, Aggression, Succorance, Abasement, and Deference.

As a measure of education values, students were asked to choose from the five following course goals which was of most importance to them and which they felt was most emphasized in the course they were taking: 1) Open class discussion and sharing (F system), 2) Improvement of useful skills (E), 3) Information from test and/or lecture material (D), 4) Personal growth (G), or 5) Power gained from credits earned (C). They were asked to choose which of the following five teacher qualities was of most importance to them: 1) Resourcefulness in teaching skills (E system), 2) Strength and forcefulness of character (C), 3) Ability to facilitate group interaction (F), 4) Knowledge and understanding of the material (D), and 5) Ability to use a variety of methods which fit the particular situation (G). (Letters in parentheses at the end of each choice indicate to which system that alternative is associated; these letters were not attached at the time of testing.)

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RESULTS

As hypothesized, no item on any of the five scales of the "The Way I See It" Inventory showed a zero or negative correlation to the scale total. Cronbach's alpha for the five scales were: C=.73, D=.77, E=.49, F=.64, and G=.72. Factor analysis revealed no general factors for the five scales, but rather a series of clusters with a rather low percentage of total variance after orthogonal rotation, the highest for any scale being 14%. (Data is not available on test-retest reliability for this revision of the inventory. The second revision of the inventory produced the following test-retest coefficients for the five scales: C scale .86, D scale .85, E scale .68, F scale .81, G scale .85. Ss where 24 students from the aforementioned technical college.)

Correlations between "The Way I See It" scales and the Conceptual Systems Test scales are predicted with a p<.05 were: D scale with the Divine Fate Control (r = .67), C scale with the Anomic (r = .35), E scale with the Divine Fate Control (r = .38), F scale with the Anomic (r = .35), and G scale with the Need for Structured Order (r = .20) and with the Divine Fate Control (r = .32). Correlations which failed to reach a p<.05 were the C, E and F scales with the Interpersonal Aggression, the E scale with the Anomic, and the F scale with the Need to Help People. The only correlation not in the predicted direction was the E scale with the Interpersonal Aggression.

"The Way I See It" and the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values correlations (20 Ss) as predicted with a p<.05 were: D scale with the Religious (r = .60), E scale with the Religious (r = -.58) and the Political (r = .67). A predicted correlation which reached a p<.10 was the E scale with the Economic (r = .39). Correlations which reached only a p<.20 were the C scale with the Political (r = .31) and the Religious (r = .31), the F scale with the Social (r = .35) and the Political (r = .31), and the G scale with the Aesthetic (r = .32). The only correlation not in the predicted direction was the D with the Political (r = .43, p<.10).

Only 13 Ss were tested with the ACL and most correlations with "The Way I See It" scales were not significant. Those which reached significance (p<.05) as expected were: the D scale with Succorance (r = .60), the E scale with Succorance (r = .78), the F scale with Abasement (r = .60), and with Deference (r = .63). Not in the predicted direction was the F scale with Self-Confidence (r = .69).

Student Ratings (91 Ss) were given a score from one to five representing the closeness of the system which their preferred class goal or teacher quality reflected to the system in which they scored highest on "The Way I See It." The cumulative frequency of these scores was then subject to a Kolmogorov­Smirnov One Sample Test to see if class goal and teacher quality preferences were significantly closer to the values of the "The Way I See It" system in which they scored highest than would be expected by chance. On all three Ratings, the hypotheses were confirmed at a p<.001.

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DISCUSSION

Both internal consistency and suggested test-retest coefficients appear sufficient to warrant sufficient reliability to the scale scores. In this regard the E scale is the weakest. Cross-validation with the CST is not strong except for the D scale DFC correlation. It is suggested that these two different systems approaches bear some similarity in the functions they measure, but that the "The Way I See It" reflects a broader spectrum of associated values in the systems it describes. Correlations with the Study of Values and the Adjective Check List are suggestive that the imputed characteristics of the individuals categorized in the five systems are verifiable with other instruments; Further and more detailed cross-validation is necessary.

In the field of education, providing the teacher and teaching material which most efficiently promotes learning for students of a particular systemic orientation is becoming more critical. Likewise in business, fitting the right supervisor to the right employees is most desirable. An objective measure of value systems is a very useful tool in making such decisions.

Finally, in the area of psychotherapy, the author's field of specialization, the plethora of therapeutic techniques becomes more understandable when seen in the framework of the systemic principles to which they adhere. "The Way I See It" is being used as one criterion in making the disposition of which therapist will work best with which client.

REFERENCES

Graves, C.W. Value systems and their relation in managerial control and organizational viability. Paper presented before the College of Management Philosophy, The Institute of Management Sciences, San Francisco, February, 1965. www.clarewgraves.com

Graves, C.W. Levels of existence: An open systems theory of value. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Fall 1970, vol. 10, No 2. www.clarewgraves.com

Harvey, O. J. Conceptual systems and attitude change. In W. Sherif and M. Sherif (Eds.), Attitude, ego­Involvement and change. New York: Wiley and Sons, 1967.

Harvey, O. J., Prather, M., White, J., & Hoffmeister, J. K. Teacher's beliefs, classroom atmosphere, and student behavior. American Education Research Journal, March 1968, Vol. 5, No. 2.

Harvey, O. J., Reich, J. W. & Wyer, R. S. Effects of attitude direction, attitude intensity, and structure of beliefs upon differentiation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1968, Vol. 10, No. 4, 472-478.

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