Computer Response Time Measurements of Mood, Fatigue and Symptom Scale Items: Implications for Scale Response Time Uses

摘要

Response times (RT) in a series of computer-administered questionnaires were collected in two continuous operation time-shifted studies to evaluate how useful these measures might be in various research areas. These studies involved exercising and non-exercising subjects at two start-of-day times (noon, midnight). Thirty subjects were tested over two continuous workdays (CW1 and CW2) of 20 hrs each with three hr nap allowed between days. The scales analyzed were the Vigor and Fatigue Scales of the Profile of Mood States (POMS), the Kogi Sympton Checklist, the School of Aerospace Medicine (SAM) Fatigue Scale, and the Naval Health Research Center Mood Questionnaire (NHRC MQ) Negative and Positive Mood Scales. The results demonstrate the RT measurement of questionnaire scales can be used as a measure of intensity and congruence of mood, as well as indicating scale validity. RT alone was not useful for indicating hasty responders (straight liners), but subjects using a constant scale response value were significantly faster (lower RT). The POMS Fatigue scale and RT were significantly correlated on both days indicating the usefulness of RT in showing scale validity (the more fatigue, the slower the response).