ABSTRACT
Although some earlier notice had already been taken of acquiescent response set (Fritz, 1927; Lentz, 1938; Lorge, 1937), it was a series of research inquiries by Cronbach (1941, 1942, 1946, 1950) in the 1940s, especially two extensive reviews published in 1946 and 1950, that conceptualized and popularized the problem of response sets in educational and psychological measurement. It had long been presumed that the score a person attains on an educational or psychological test is determined by relevant responses to the specific content of the stimulus items. Moreover, it was usually taken for granted that this score reflected the respondent's knowledge on achievement tests, abilities on aptitude tests, interests on interest inventories, traits on personality measures, and opinions on attitude scales. Evidence in support of these presumptions is critical in establishing the meaning or construct validity of the scores. However, the responses a person makes to a test are a function not only of item content but of item form, as well as of other aspects of the assessment context.
