Relating response shift and cognitive appraisal to measurement validation

Rapkin and Schwartz draw attention to “cognitive appraisal” as foundational to understanding response shift. Their argument is grounded in the theoretical premise that response shift arises from a process of cognitive change in how people interpret and respond to items for measuring quality of life and other patient-reported outcomes. In this invited response, I relate the notion of cognitive appraisal to theoretical perspectives of measurement validity that focus on inferences, actions, and decisions made on measurement scores [1]. From this point of view, response shift research on cognitive appraisal can be viewed as a form of measurement validity evidence, where the goal is to arrive at justifiable inferences about the meaning of variability in longitudinal change of measurement scores [2]. I conclude with a discussion of methods for examining individual differences in response shift, including a novel approach that involves the use of latent class models. …