Comparison of Alternative Response Formats for an Abbreviated Version of Rotter's Locus of Control Scale

Abstract

The present study analyzed the factor structure of an abbreviated version of Rotter's (1966) locus of control scale. The 11-item scale was administered in both the original forced-choice format and a 4-point rating format. The data were derived from administration of the scale as part of the National Longitudinal Survey (N = 7,407). Maximum likelihood factor analysis with oblique rotation gave a three-factor solution for both the forced-choice and rating formats, but the resulting factors were not easily interpretable, and the subscales had high intercorrelations and unacceptably low reliability coefficients. Subsequent analyses suggested that a single-factor solution was more appropriate. The 4-point rating format appeared to be more interpretable and had the highest reliability coefficient.