ABSTRACT
In cross-cultural studies, groups oen dier in various characteristics (e.g., demographics, socioeconomic status, language, culture, etc.) and these characteristics may not be relevant to the goals of a particular study. Even when reasonable precautions have been taken to prepare a test or survey that is equivalent across cultural groups, it is possible that the attribute being measured has dierent conceptual meanings in dierent groups (de Beuckelaer, Lievens, & Swinnen, 2007) or that some items have dierent importance for one group more than another (Cheung & Rensvold, 1999). In such cases, observed group dierences may represent measurement artifacts related to the instrument rather than true dierences on a relevant construct. is disparity between observed and true group dierences, in turn, adversely aects the comparability of their scores (Byrne & Stewart, 2006; de Beuckelaer et al., 2007; Raju, Latte, & Byrne, 2002; Vandenberg & Lance, 2000; van de Vijver & Poortinga, 1992). us, researchers have highlighted the importance of measurement equivalence as a prerequisite for meaningful group comparisons (Drasgow, 1984; Little, 1997; Reise, Widaman, & Pugh, 1993). Accordingly, standards established by both the American Psychological Association (APA) and the International Test Commission (ITC) have
emphasized evaluation of measurement equivalence for fair use of a scale (1999).
