Raven's advanced progressive matrices within a South African context
Date
2006-11-14T12:26:28Z
Authors
Israel, Nicole
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Abstract
The issue of bias, whether a psychological test measures what it claims to measure similarly across
different groups, remains a fundamental concern within the field of psychometrics, particularly within
South Africa, where a history riddled with oppression, discrimination and malpractice in the area has
led to suspicion, mistrust and legislation banning the use of many psychological tests as invalid and
unfair (Foxcroft & Roodt, 2001; Murphy & Davidshofer, 2001; Nell, 1999). There is thus clearly a
need for additional and more detailed investigations of the way specific individual tests function in the
South African context. This study attempted to creatively examine systematic differences in
performance on one specific test, the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM), on the basis of
home language and gender, factors seldom investigated in the literature.
A sample of one hundred Psychology first-year students completed a demographic questionnaire, the
RAPM, the Similarities sub-test of the South African Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales (SAWAIS)
and an adapted version of the Reading Comprehension subtest of the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test
(SDRT). The data gathered was then utilized to explore four main research questions.
Firstly, in order to establish construct comparability, the relationship between the RAPM and a more
verbally-oriented measure of g, the Similarities sub-test of the SAWAIS, was assessed. Results
indicated a relatively strong positive relationship between the two measures (r = 0.66), and no
significant differences between the correlations on the basis of either gender or home language.
Secondly, in order to explore the relationship between the RAPM and English comprehension, the
study assessed the relationship between overall, literal and inferential scores on an adapted version of
the Reading Comprehension sub-test of the SDRT and the RAPM. Results indicated only a moderate
relationship between the two tests (r = 0.65), no difference in the relationship between RAPM
performance and literal comprehension or inferential comprehension, and no difference in the
relationship between the two tests on the basis of either gender or home language.
Thirdly, in order to establish whether items were found to be difficult in a similar way across the
different gender and home language groups, p-values and regression lines were calculated. These
indicated that significant differences in level of item difficulty were experienced between English and
African language speakers, although no differences were apparent in item difficulty on the basis of
gender.
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Lastly, in order to establish whether qualitative differences in performance on the basis of ability (as
estimated by performance on the RAPM), gender or language existed, a discrimination analysis
examining the types of errors made by each group was performed. Repeated measures ANOVAs and
multiple comparison post-hoc analyses revealed significant differences in the types of errors made on
the basis of ability and home language, but not gender. The post-hoc analyses suggested that those of
higher ability or first language English speakers were more likely to make incomplete correlate errors,
while those of lower ability or speaking African first languages were more likely to make confluence of
ideas errors. In general, the findings of the study seemed to suggest that the RAPM, while not biased on
the basis of gender, might contain a deep-seated language bias despite their non-verbal presentation.
Description
faculty of Humanities
School of Human and Community Development
9807986h
IsrealN@umthombo.wits.ac.za
Keywords
Errors, South Africa, Reasoning, Intelligence, differences