EFFECTS OF BIAS AND EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE ON TWO KNOWLEDGE OF AGING QUESTIONNAIRES

Palmore's Facts on Aging Quiz (FAQ)‐Part 1 (1977) has been used frequently to gauge a respondent's knowledge of aging. The preponderance of positively‐valenced items on the FAQ, however, is such that score on the test may be more representative of a respondent's attitude toward, than knowledge about aging and the elderly, positive attitudes being associated with a higher FAQ score. Although such confounding of directional bias and knowledge is acceptable in an “edumetric” test, it is problematic in a research instrument. In experiment 1, the FAQ's vulnerability to bias was tested by having young adults complete the FAQ under instructions to adopt either a positive or negative bias toward the elderly, their scores being compared to their own performance when requested to respond neutrally (i.e., on the basis of knowledge alone). Scores on the FAQ were found to be greatly affected by the direction of bias. A new Knowledge of Aging and the Elderly (KAE) questionnaire, patterned after the FAQ but more balanced in item valence, was evaluated using the same procedure. The KAE was shown to be relatively immune to direction of bias. In experiment 2, a comparison of the FAQ and KAE indicated that the KAE was also moderately, but significantly, more sensitive to course‐based differences in knowledge regarding aging and the elderly.