TY  - RPRT
A1  - Grunewald, Andreas
A1  - Klockmann, Victor
A1  - von Schenk, Alicia
A1  - von Siemens, Ferdinand A.
T1  - Are Biases Contagious? The Influence of Communication on Motivated Beliefs
N2  - This paper examines the potential reinforcement of motivated beliefs when individuals with identical biases communicate. We propose a controlled online experiment that allows to manipulate belief biases and the communication environment. We find that communication, even among like-minded individuals, diminishes motivated beliefs if it takes place in an environment without previously declared external opinions. In the presence of external plural opinions, however, communication does not reduce but rather aggravates motivated beliefs. Our results indicate a potential drawback of the plurality of opinions - it may create communication environments wherein motivated beliefs not only persist but also become contagious within social networks.
T3  - Würzburg Economic Papers (W. E. P.) - 109 
KW  - Bias
KW  - belief bias
KW  - social interaction
KW  - motivated beliefs
Y1  - 2024
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-348936
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schuler, Michael
A1  - Musekamp, Gunda
A1  - Bengel, Jürgen
A1  - Nolte, Sandra
A1  - Osborne, Richard H.
A1  - Faller, Hermann
T1  - Measurement invariance across chronic conditions: a systematic review and an empirical investigation of the Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQ™)
N2  - Background

To examine whether lack of measurement invariance (MI) influences mean comparisons among different disease groups, this paper provides (1) a systematic review of MI in generic constructs across chronic conditions and (2) an empirical analysis of MI in the Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQ™).

Methods

(1) We searched for studies of MI among different chronic conditions in online databases. (2) Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses were used to study MI among five chronic conditions (orthopedic condition, rheumatism, asthma, COPD, cancer) in the heiQ™ with N = 1404 rehabilitation inpatients. Impact on latent and composite mean differences was examined.

Results

(1) A total of 30 relevant studies suggested that about one in three items lacked MI. However, only four studies examined impact on latent mean differences. Scale means were only affected in one of these three studies. (2) Across the eight heiQ™ scales, seven scales had items with lack of MI in at least one disease group. However, in only two heiQ™ scales were some latent or composite mean differences affected.

Conclusions

Lack of MI among disease groups is common and may have a relevant influence on mean comparisons when using generic instruments. Therefore, when comparing disease groups, tests of MI should be implemented. More studies of MI and according impact on mean differences in generic questionnaires are needed.
KW  - Measurement invariance
KW  - Bias
KW  - Chronic disease
KW  - Generic questionnaire
KW  - Systematic review
Y1  - 2014
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-110441
ER  -