Further Validation of Survey Effort Measures of Relevant Character Skills: Results from a Sample of High School Students

25 Pages Posted: 12 Oct 2018

See all articles by Gema Zamarro

Gema Zamarro

University of Arkansas - Department of Education Reform; University of Southern California - Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR)

Malachi Nichols

University of Arkansas - Department of Education Reform

Angela Duckworth

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Psychology

Sidney D'Mello

University of Colorado at Boulder

Date Written: October 1, 2018

Abstract

Character skills, including conscientiousness, grit or self-control are important determinants of relevant life outcomes. However, researchers struggle to find valid measures of these skills and many existing datasets lack any measures of them at all. This limits research on how these important skills could be better supported and developed. Recent research has shown the potential of parametrizations of survey effort measures as proxy measures of character skills related to conscientiousness, to either complement other collected measures or to add to datasets that lack such measures. This study provides further validation of these survey effort measures in a sample of high school students by studying their relationship with external measures reported by teachers, other direct performance task measures of related skills, high school academic outcomes, and college attendance. Our results show promise for survey effort measures to be used as proxy measures of character skills related to grit and self-control.

Keywords: Survey Effort, Character Skills, Teacher Reports, High School Performance

JEL Classification: C83, C91

Suggested Citation

Zamarro, Gema and Nichols, Malachi and Duckworth, Angela and D'Mello, Sidney, Further Validation of Survey Effort Measures of Relevant Character Skills: Results from a Sample of High School Students (October 1, 2018). EDRE Working Paper No. 2018-07, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3265332 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3265332

Gema Zamarro (Contact Author)

University of Arkansas - Department of Education Reform ( email )

201 Graduate Education Building
Fayetteville, AR 72701
United States

University of Southern California - Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) ( email )

635 Downey Way
Los Angeles, CA 90089-3332
United States

HOME PAGE: http://works.bepress.com/gema_zamarro/

Malachi Nichols

University of Arkansas - Department of Education Reform ( email )

201 Graduate Education Building
Fayetteville, AR 72701
United States

Angela Duckworth

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Psychology ( email )

3815 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6196
United States

Sidney D'Mello

University of Colorado at Boulder ( email )

CO

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