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Comparing and validating measures of non-cognitive traits: Performance task measures and self-reports from a nationally representative internet panel

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  • Zamarro, Gema
  • Cheng, Albert
  • Shakeel, M. Danish
  • Hitt, Collin

Abstract

Education researchers and labor economists are increasingly focusing on skills such as conscientiousness, grit and emotional stability. This is part of a larger research program that sees “non-cognitive skills” as drivers of educational attainment and labor market outcomes. However, data on these important non-cognitive traits is not always available and, when available, researchers have raised concerns on potential biases in self-reported measures. In this paper, we use data collected from the Understanding America Study, a nationally representative internet panel, to study the validity of measures of non-cognitive traits, including novel measures based on survey effort. We propose that surveys can be viewed as performance tasks and that respondents provide meaningful information about relevant non-cognitive traits based on the effort they put forward in completing them. In particular, we examine the extent to which respondents provide careless answers or intentionally skip questions. We compare self-reported measures of grit, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and other personality traits, with survey-effort measures. We study the relationship of survey effort measures to these self-reported measures, educational attainment, and labor-market outcomes. Our results show that measures of careless answering in surveys show promise for use as proxies of traits related to conscientiousness and neuroticism.

Suggested Citation

  • Zamarro, Gema & Cheng, Albert & Shakeel, M. Danish & Hitt, Collin, 2018. "Comparing and validating measures of non-cognitive traits: Performance task measures and self-reports from a nationally representative internet panel," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 51-60.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:72:y:2018:i:c:p:51-60
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2017.11.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Cheng, Albert & Zamarro, Gema, 2018. "Measuring teacher non-cognitive skills and its impact on students: Insight from the Measures of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 251-260.
    2. Fabian T C Schmidt & Clemens M Lechner & Daniel Danner, 2020. "New wine in an old bottle? A facet-level perspective on the added value of Grit over BFI–2 Conscientiousness," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-25, February.
    3. Marianna Battaglia & Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo, 2020. "Non-Cognitive Skills and Remedial Education: Good News for Girls," Working Papers 20.10, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    4. Albert Cheng & Gema Zamarro & Bart Orriens, 2020. "Personality as a Predictor of Unit Nonresponse in an Internet Panel," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 49(3), pages 672-698, August.
    5. Anna Bussu & Dimitri Paolini & Manuela Pulina & Giuseppe Zanzurino, 2023. "From Choice to Performance in Secondary Schools: Evidence from a Disadvantaged Setting in Italy," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 9(2), pages 529-555, July.
    6. Esther Ulitzsch & Qiwei He & Vincent Ulitzsch & Hendrik Molter & André Nichterlein & Rolf Niedermeier & Steffi Pohl, 2021. "Combining Clickstream Analyses and Graph-Modeled Data Clustering for Identifying Common Response Processes," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 86(1), pages 190-214, March.
    7. Zhang, Yi & He, Jia, 2023. "Measuring non-cognitive skills exploiting log-files on online behaviour," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    8. Germán Reyes, 2023. "Cognitive Endurance, Talent Selection, and the Labor Market Returns to Human Capital," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2023_490, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    9. Germ'an Reyes, 2023. "Cognitive Endurance, Talent Selection, and the Labor Market Returns to Human Capital," Papers 2301.02575, arXiv.org.
    10. Gema Zamarro & Malachi Nichols & Angela L Duckworth & Sidney K D’Mello, 2020. "Validation of survey effort measures of grit and self-control in a sample of high school students," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-16, July.
    11. María Ladrón de Guevara Rodríguez & Oscar David Marcenaro-Gutierrez & Luis Alejandro Lopez-Agudo, 2023. "On the Gender Gap of Soft-Skills: the Spanish Case," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(1), pages 167-197, February.
    12. Marcenaro-Gutierrez, O.D. & Lopez-Agudo, L.A. & Henriques, C.O., 2021. "Are soft skills conditioned by conflicting factors? A multiobjective programming approach to explore the trade-offs," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 18-40.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Non-cognitive traits; Grit; Conscientiousness; Performance tasks; Survey effort;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C83 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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