ImplEyCit

In international Large Scale Assessments, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), self-concept or interest are also recorded via self-report scales in addition to (subject) knowledge. A major challenge of such international studies is that the self-reported answers must be comparable across different countries and cultures. However, research has shown that students’ cultural backgrounds influence their answers. For example, people from countries with a more collectivist society tend to agree rather than disagree with statements and generally avoid giving extreme answers. Such biases affect the comparability of the results and can lead to incorrect conclusions and political decisions. The aim of the project is to investigate differences in the processes involved in answering questionnaires between more individualistic cultures (e.g., Germany or France) and more collectivist cultures (e.g., Taiwan). To this end, eye-tracking data were collected in Germany and Taiwan in a previous project. Eye movements are well suited for the investigation of this question, as they are difficult to control consciously and therefore cannot be influenced by conscious response tendencies. In one approach, we will analyse students’ fixations on the first response category. We will test the hypothesis that students in Germany and Taiwan will tick different answer categories, but there will be no difference in their unconscious first fixations. In addition, we will investigate whether results will vary on the basis of which characteristic is recorded. For example, we will examine whether characteristics that are more strongly related to self-esteem (e.g., self-concept) are more strongly influenced by cultural response processes than characteristics that are less relevant to self-esteem (e.g., interest).