Measuring Cognitive Complexity: Developing Reliability, Validity, and Norm Tables for a Personality Instrument

Abstract

An empirical investigation of the psychometric properties of a commonly-used instrument to measure cognitive complexity was designed. Bieri's (Bieri Atkins, Briar, Leaman, Miller, and Tripodi 1966) grid form of Kelly's (1955) Role Construct Reperatory (REP) Test was shown to have high and statistically significant test-retest reliability ( p < .001) and convergent and discriminant validities ( p < .05). These results reinforce the internal validity of cognitive complexity research using the instrument. Moreover, stable scores were found across student ( N = 176) and nonstudent ( N = 169) samples. Such characteristics as sex, level in the organizational hierarchy, year in college, and college major were not found to alter the distributions of scores. Thus, preliminary norm tables for scores were established which would be necessary in building arguments for external validity of research results.