Psychometric examination of the color-blind racial attitudes scale for use among Asian Americans

Our current understanding of color-blind racial ideology (CBRI) has evolved to recognize that CRBI manifests differently for Whites as compared with people of color. To date, few studies have investigated CBRI among Asian Americans, which is partially due to the lack of validated instruments for use with this population. The purpose of this study was to examine the structural equivalence of the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS; Neville et al., 2000) among Asian Americans as compared to Whites. A secondary analysis was conducted on a dataset comprised of 713 participants gathered from three published studies. Differential item functioning (DIF) was used to explore the psychometric properties of the measure. Results from the DIF using a LA-LOR estimate identified five items across two of the three CoBRAS factors as exhibiting DIF. Interpretation of the items demonstrating DIF were further classified into Educational Testing Service classification schema (Zieky, 1993) to identify the extent of item bias existing in the CoBRAS items. Possible explanations for sources of the item bias, as well as implications for future researchers using the CoBRAS measure with Asian Americans are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Cheng, Sean Jen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Neville, Helen
• Chang, Hua-Hua
• Rounds, James
• Pak, Yoon

• Asian Americans
• color-blind racial attitudes
• Differential functioning analysis

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2015 Sean Cheng

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89012

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/89012