Dilemmatic constructs

A Dilemmatic Construct (DC) is one where the ideal element is rated on the scale midpoint. This means, the person cannot decide which of the poles is preferable. Such constructs are called "dilemmatic". For example, on a rating scale from 1 to 7, a rating of 4 on the ideal element means that the construct is dilemmatic. By definition, DCs can only emerge in scales with an uneven number of rating options, i.e. 5-point scale, 7-point scale etc. However, the function makes it possible to allow for a deviation from the midpoint, to still count as dilemmatic. This is useful if the grid uses a large rating scale, e.g. from 0 to 100 or a visual analog scale, as some grid administration programs do. In this case you may want to set ratings, for example, between 45 and 55 as close enough to the midpoint to indicate that both poles are equally desirable.

Usage

indexDilemmatic(x, ideal, deviation = 0, warn = TRUE)

Arguments

x

A repgrid object.

ideal

Index of ideal element.

deviation

The maximal deviation from the scale midpoint for an ideal rating to be considered dilemmatic (default = 0). For scales larger than a 17-point rating scale a warning is raised, if deviation is 0 (see details).

warn

Show warnings?

Value

List of class indexDilemmatic:

• ideal: Name of the ideal element.

• n_constructs Number of grid's constructs.

• scale: Minimum and maximum of grid rating scale.

• midpoint: Midpoint of rating scale.

• lower,upper: Lower and upper value to for a rating to be considered in the midpoint range.

• midpoint_range: Midpoint range as interval.

• n_dilemmatic: Number of dilemmatic constructs.

• perc_dilemmatic: Percentage of constructs which are dilemmatic.

• i_dilemmatic: Index of dilemmatic constructs.

• dilemmatic_constructs: Labels of dilemmatic constructs.

• summary: Summary dataframe.

Examples

dc <- indexDilemmatic(feixas2004, ideal = 13)
dc
#> 
#> #####################
#> Dilemmatic Constructs
#> #####################
#> 
#> SUMMARY
#> 
#> Grid rating scale: 1 (left pole) to 7 (right pole)
#> Scale midpoint: 4
#> Ideal element: Ideal Self
#> Dilemmatic: Constructs with ideal ratings in the interval [4, 4]
#> 
#> No. of dilemmatic constructs: 1
#> Percent dilemmatic constructs: 5.0% (1/20)
#> 
#> DETAILS
#> 
#>                        Construct Ideal MidpointRange Dilemmatic
#> 1 Self-demanding - Takes it easy     4        [4, 4]       TRUE

# control the output
print(dc, output = "S")  # Summary 
#> 
#> #####################
#> Dilemmatic Constructs
#> #####################
#> 
#> SUMMARY
#> 
#> Grid rating scale: 1 (left pole) to 7 (right pole)
#> Scale midpoint: 4
#> Ideal element: Ideal Self
#> Dilemmatic: Constructs with ideal ratings in the interval [4, 4]
#> 
#> No. of dilemmatic constructs: 1
#> Percent dilemmatic constructs: 5.0% (1/20)
print(dc, output = "D")  # Details
#> 
#> #####################
#> Dilemmatic Constructs
#> #####################
#> 
#> 
#> DETAILS
#> 
#>                        Construct Ideal MidpointRange Dilemmatic
#> 1 Self-demanding - Takes it easy     4        [4, 4]       TRUE