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Precise language responses versus easy rating scales—Comparing respondents’ views with clinicians’ belief of the respondent’s views

BACKGROUND: Closed-ended rating scales are the most used response format for researchers and clinicians to quantify mental states, whereas in natural contexts people communicate with natural language. The reason for using such scales is that they are typically argued to be more precise in measuring...

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Autores principales: Sikström, Sverker, Pålsson Höök, Alfred, Kjell, Oscar
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9931093/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36791090
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267995
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author Sikström, Sverker
Pålsson Höök, Alfred
Kjell, Oscar
author_facet Sikström, Sverker
Pålsson Höök, Alfred
Kjell, Oscar
author_sort Sikström, Sverker
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Closed-ended rating scales are the most used response format for researchers and clinicians to quantify mental states, whereas in natural contexts people communicate with natural language. The reason for using such scales is that they are typically argued to be more precise in measuring mental constructs; however, the respondents’ views as to what best communicates mental states are frequently ignored, which is important for making them comply with assessment. METHODS: We assessed respondents’ (N = 304) degree of depression using rating scales, descriptive words, selected words, and free text responses and probed the respondents for their preferences concerning the response formats across twelve dimensions related to the precision of communicating their mental states and the ease of responding. This was compared with the clinicians’ (N = 40) belief of the respondent’s view. RESULTS: Respondents found free text to be more precise (e.g., precision d’ = .88, elaboration d’ = 2.0) than rating scales, whereas rating scales were rated as easier to respond to (e.g., easier d’ = –.67, faster d’ = –1.13). Respondents preferred the free text responses to a greater degree than rating scales compared to clinicians’ belief of the respondents’ views. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support previous studies concluding that future assessment of mental health can be aided by computational methods based on text data. Participants prefer an open response format as it allows them to elaborate, be precise, etc., with respect to their mental health issues, although rating scales are viewed as faster and easier.
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spelling pubmed-99310932023-02-16 Precise language responses versus easy rating scales—Comparing respondents’ views with clinicians’ belief of the respondent’s views Sikström, Sverker Pålsson Höök, Alfred Kjell, Oscar PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Closed-ended rating scales are the most used response format for researchers and clinicians to quantify mental states, whereas in natural contexts people communicate with natural language. The reason for using such scales is that they are typically argued to be more precise in measuring mental constructs; however, the respondents’ views as to what best communicates mental states are frequently ignored, which is important for making them comply with assessment. METHODS: We assessed respondents’ (N = 304) degree of depression using rating scales, descriptive words, selected words, and free text responses and probed the respondents for their preferences concerning the response formats across twelve dimensions related to the precision of communicating their mental states and the ease of responding. This was compared with the clinicians’ (N = 40) belief of the respondent’s view. RESULTS: Respondents found free text to be more precise (e.g., precision d’ = .88, elaboration d’ = 2.0) than rating scales, whereas rating scales were rated as easier to respond to (e.g., easier d’ = –.67, faster d’ = –1.13). Respondents preferred the free text responses to a greater degree than rating scales compared to clinicians’ belief of the respondents’ views. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support previous studies concluding that future assessment of mental health can be aided by computational methods based on text data. Participants prefer an open response format as it allows them to elaborate, be precise, etc., with respect to their mental health issues, although rating scales are viewed as faster and easier. Public Library of Science 2023-02-15 /pmc/articles/PMC9931093/ /pubmed/36791090 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267995 Text en © 2023 Sikström et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Sikström, Sverker
Pålsson Höök, Alfred
Kjell, Oscar
Precise language responses versus easy rating scales—Comparing respondents’ views with clinicians’ belief of the respondent’s views
title Precise language responses versus easy rating scales—Comparing respondents’ views with clinicians’ belief of the respondent’s views
title_full Precise language responses versus easy rating scales—Comparing respondents’ views with clinicians’ belief of the respondent’s views
title_fullStr Precise language responses versus easy rating scales—Comparing respondents’ views with clinicians’ belief of the respondent’s views
title_full_unstemmed Precise language responses versus easy rating scales—Comparing respondents’ views with clinicians’ belief of the respondent’s views
title_short Precise language responses versus easy rating scales—Comparing respondents’ views with clinicians’ belief of the respondent’s views
title_sort precise language responses versus easy rating scales—comparing respondents’ views with clinicians’ belief of the respondent’s views
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9931093/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36791090
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267995
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