DIRECTIONS: READ THE FOLLOWING POST AND RESPOND TO LEARNER. CITE REFERENCES APA STYLE.
Selecting a Meaningful Test
I choose Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) as the topic I want to focus on for my unit 5 paper. It has been hard to find current literature that assesses the validity of this instrument. Most of the literature that looks into the validity of the instrument is over 7 years old and I am not sure if I am able to use these articles for my paper.
The TKI is used to assess a person's behavior in conflict situations. This test also helps understanding how different conflict-handling styles can affect interpersonal and group dynamics (Thomas, Kilmann&Schaunhut, 1974-2007).
Validity is gathering evidence to estimate how well a test measures what it claims to measure. This estimate or judgment is "based on evidence about the appropriateness of interference drawn from test score"(Cohen, Swerklik, Sturman, 2013). Essentially, if a test has validity it means that the scores on those tests have meaning.
The TKI questionnaire consists of 30 sets of paired items, with each item describing one of the five conflict styles (competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding and accommodating). A person's score on each style is the number of times he or she selects statements representing that style over other statements. TKI appear to have rather low levels of uniformity: across studies, Cronbach alphas have ranged from .34 to .91 with a mean of .58.
Their constancy also appears low, with test-retest reliabilities ranging across studies from .37 to .90 with a mean of .63. However, the level of social desirability bias affecting the measures also appears low. Support for the TKI validity includes demonstrated correlations between the five styles of conflict management and the two underlying dimensions (Assertiveness and cooperativeness) and demonstrated correlations between TKI scores and scores on other, related instruments (Van de Vliert&Kabanoff, 1990).
References
Cohen, R. J., Swerklik, M. E., &Sturman, E. D. (2013). Psychological testing and assessment: An introduction to tests and measurement (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. ISBN: 9780078035302.
Van de Vliert, E., &Kabanoff, B. (1990). Toward theory-based measures of cognitive management. Academy of Management Journal, 33 (1), 199-209.
Thomas K.W., Kilmann R.H., &Schaunhut N.A. (1974-2007). Thomas-kilmann conflict mode instrument [2007 normative update]. Carlson , J.F., Geisinger, K.F., & Jonson, J.L. (Eds.), The twentieth Mental Measurement Yearbook.