The effects of computer versus paper-and-pencil administration on measures of anger and revenge with an inmate population

A current issue in personality assessment is whether computer versions of personality tests are psychometrically equivalent to paper-and-pencil originals. A total of 52 male inmates were randomly assigned to computer or paper-and-pencil administration conditions. The following measures were administered to the inmates in either computer or paper-and-pencil formats: the trait section of the State-Trait Personality Inventory (Spielberger et al., 1979), the Anger Expression Scale (Spielberger et al., 1986), the Belief Scale (Malouff & Schutte, 1986), and the Vergeance Scale (Stuckless & Goranson, 1992). No mean or variance differences were found indicating that computer and paper-and-pencil versions of these instruments are essentially equivalent. Analyses which examined the effects of computer anxiety, preference for computer administration and social desirability also indicated equivalency. The findings of this study, although indicating the equivalency of a number of measures, do not support the use of computer versions of other paper-and-pencil instruments without prior demonstration of their equivalency with the population of interest. The pervasive social desirability contamination found in this study brings into question the validity of assessments of incarcerated individuals regardless of administration modality.