Accordingly, there is much research about how such survey
data can be gamed and manipulated by instructors (e.g., via the use
of external incentives / disincentives), can be biased by respondent or student background variables (e.g., charisma, attractiveness, gender and race as compared to the gender and race
of the teacher or instructor, grade expected or earned in the class, overall grade point average,
perceived course difficulty or the
lack thereof), and the like.
Many
of the scales demonstrated weak psychometrics in at least one
of the following ways: (a)
lack of psychometric
data [i.e., reliability and / or validity; e.g., HFQ, MASC, PBS, Social Adjustment Scale - Self - Report (SAS - SR) and all
perceived self - esteem and self - concept scales], (b) items that fall on more than one subscale (e.g., CBCL - 1991 version), (c) low alpha coefficients (e.g., below.60) for some subscales, which calls into question the utility
of using these subscales in research and clinical work (e.g., HFQ, MMPI - A, CBCL - 1991 version, BASC, PSPCSAYC), (d) high correlations between subscales (e.g., PANAS - C), (e)
lack of clarity regarding clinically - relevant cut - off scores, yielding high false positive and false negative rates (e.g., CES - D, CDI) and an inability to distinguish between minor (i.e., subclinical) and major (i.e., clinical) «cases»
of a disorder (e.g., depression; CDI, BDI), (f)
lack of correspondence between items and DSM criteria (e.g., CBCL - 1991 version, CDI, BDI, CES - D, (g) a factor structure that
lacks clarity across studies (e.g., PSPCSAYC, CASI; although the factor structure is often difficult to assess in studies
of pediatric populations, given the small sample sizes), (h) low inter-rater reliability for interview and observational methods (e.g., CGAS), (i) low correlations between respondents such as child, parent, teacher [e.g., BASC, PSPCSAYC, CSI, FSSC - R, SCARED, Connors Ratings Scales - Revised (CRS - R)-RSB-, (j) the inclusion
of somatic or physical symptom items on mental health subscales (e.g., CBCL), which is a problem when conducting studies
of children with pediatric physical conditions because physical symptoms may be a feature
of the condition rather than an indicator
of a mental health problem, (k) high correlations with measures
of social desirability, which is particularly problematic for the self - related rating scales and for child - report scales more generally, and (l) content validity problems (e.g., the RCMAS is a measure
of anxiety, but contains items that tap mood, attention, peer interactions, and impulsivity).