An assessment of the discriminant validity of the checklist of behavior alteration techniques: A test of the item desirability bias in prospective and experienced teachers’ likelihood‐of‐use ratings

Abstract

This study assessed the discriminant validity of the checklist of Behavior Alteration Techniques. Specifically, the ability of the BATs checklist procedure to discriminate between the likelihood that individual BATs would be selected and the social desirability of those same BATs was examined. The BATs checklist should discriminate between the likelihood that individual BATs would be selected and the social desirability of those same BATs because 50 years of observational studies of teacher discipline behavior suggest that teachers typically and routinely employ negative and antisocial strategies to correct student misbehavior (Burleson & Waltman, 1993). In a within‐subject, repeated measures designs, prospective teachers and experienced teachers provided likelihood‐of‐use and social appropriateness ratings to the BATs checklist in the four hypothetical situations typically employed with the BATs checklist. As predicted, likelihood‐of‐use and social appropriateness ratings were significantly correlated. Thus, the BATs checklist is not able to discriminate between the likelihood that BATs would be used and the social appropriateness of those BATs. As Campbell and Fiske (1959) have argued, an instrument's discriminant validity is a minimum standard that social scientific instruments must meet.