| Abstract: | ![]()
The study investigated the relationship between the discriminating power and subtlety of items in inventory scales validated against external criteria. The Hy, Pd, and Sc scales of the MMPI were used. Item discrimination was based on differentiation between a normal group (N = 541) and 3 hospitalized clinical groups (N from 40-100). Item subtlety was in terms of the judgments of 2 samples of 33 and 25 advanced doctoral students in clinical and counseling psychology. A significant relationship was found between subtlety and discrimination for the items of each scale, at the .01 level for the Hy and Pd scales and the .05 level for the Sc scale. Only about 40% of the most subtle Hy and Pd scale items discriminated (the Sc scale contained few extremely subtle items) as contrasted to over 90% of the most obvious items in each of the 3 scales. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
