Cross-cultural validation of the Machiavellianism scale as an instrument for educational measurement

Šiame metodologinėms kultūrų sankryžos tyrimų problemoms skirtame straipsnyje pristatomi socializacijos diagnostikos instrumento, Makiavelizmo skalės (Cloetta, 1972), kultūrinio tinkamumo patikrinimo rezultatai. Be tradicinių instrumentų validumo nustatymo procedūrų ir metodikų (testo vidinis konsistencijos analizė, pakartotinio matavimo patikimumo patikrinimas, dimensionalumo nustatymas taikant faktorinę analizę, palyginimas su tą patį ir kitus konstruktus matuojančių instrumentų rezultatais), yra aprašomos savitos technikos tiriamųjų atsakymų reaktyvumui, orientacijai į socialiai pageidaujamus atsakymus kontroliuoti bei pateikiami šių metodikų taikymo rezultatai.The Machiavellianism scale (Christie & Geis, 1970; Cloetta, 1972) has been taken as a basis for measuring Machiavellian attitudes of young Lithuanian people. In order to verify the validity and reliability of the instrument, traditional techniques have been used for the investigation: internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity were verified there. The investigators have also used original techniques to evaluate the effect of the response set of social desirability and the impact of the anonymity factor. As it has been stressed, there are reasons to assert that the enhanced response set of social desirability could be expected measuring the Machiavellianism construct. In order to control and indirectly evaluate a possible effect of the response set, the items of different scales (of different constructs - Machiavellianism and Conservatism) were mixed and the depersonalization of item wordings was carried out (the respondents were asked to evaluate Machiavellian attitudes of other people). The result of the estimation of the impact of social desirability has been achieved as follows: mixing of items of different scales (constructs) does not have any significant influence to the effect on the response set measuring Machiavellian attitudes among Lithuanian youth population; presentation of more abstract and depersonalized item wordings to respondents allowed to reveal and control the effect of response sets of social desirability. The evaluation of the construct validity of the Machiavellianism scale has been carried out here. The statistical connections of Machiavellianism scale (Cloetta, 1972) and instruments that measure Machiavellianism and other constructs (Authoritarianism, Authoritarian family structure) have been established. In order to find out the dimensionality of the Machiavellianism construct in a new cultural context, factor analysis has been carried out (N=680). The results of factor analysis have come to confirm the construct validity of the scale: the extracted factors could be interpreted in the context of the Machiavellianism theory. A general conclusion of the research could be drawn as follows: the Machiavellianism scale (Cloetta, 1972) is cross-culturally valid and could be used to measure youth's attitudes in Lithuania