Measuring response styles in Likert items

The recently proposed class of item response tree models provides a flexible framework for modeling multiple response processes. This feature is particularly attractive for understanding how response styles may affect answers to attitudinal questions. Facilitating the disassociation of response styles and attitudinal traits, item response tree models can provide powerful process tests of how different response formats may affect the measurement of substantive traits. In an empirical study, 3 response formats were used to measure the 2-dimensional Personal Need for Structure traits. Different item response tree models are proposed to capture the response styles for each of the response formats. These models show that the response formats give rise to similar trait measures but different response-style effects