Investigating Dissociation Online: Validation of a Web-Based Version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale

ABSTRACT

A Web-based version of Carlson and Putnam's (1993) Dissociative Experiences Scale was piloted to establish its psychometric equivalence with the original “pen and paper” (PP) version. Forty-two Australian adult university students completed the PP DES and 293 predominantly Australian, US and UK adults completed a Web-based version of the DES via the Internet. Internet responders were significantly older, and reported higher levels of dissociation, than the PP responders, however, examination of the DES mean scores and Cronbach's alphas produced by PP and online responders provides support for the equivalence of the two versions. These findings contribute to the growing body of literature regarding the validity of online versions of traditionally paper-based psychological questionnaires. Furthermore, the Internet proved beneficial as a data collection tool in the present study as only complete data sets were collected and data collection and processing was efficient, eliminating problems common in paper-based studies. The present findings indicate that the DES can be administered online with confidence, although further investigation is needed to determine the impact of education, ethnicity and history of trauma and abuse on the scores of online responders.

KEYWORDS:

• Dissociation
• Internet psychology
• non-clinical populations
• Dissociative Experiences Scale
• online administration