Overall Agreement Score (OAS)

Abstract

The Over-all Agreement Score (OAS), developed by Couch and Keniston (1960) at Harvard University, was designed to systematically examine the phenomenon of agreeing response set as a distinct personality variable. Comprising 360 items, the OAS quantifies a subject’s fundamental tendency to agree or disagree with questionnaire statements, irrespective of the substantive content being assessed. The instrument is notable for its comprehensive item pool, which incorporates established measures such as the Authoritarianism F Scale, Cattell’s 16 P.P. Personality Inventory, and Rokeach’s Dogmatism Scales, alongside over 200 newly constructed items. Initial administration among student volunteers demonstrated robust psychometric properties, including high internal consistency (+0.85 Spearman-Brown split-half coefficient) and strong correlations with generalized “yes-saying” tendencies across standard psychological tests.

Keywords

Agreeing Response Set, Response Bias, Over-all Agreement Score, Test Development, Personality Measures, Acquiescence, Test Construction

Authors

Arthur Couch, Kenneth Keniston

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Over-all Agreement Score (OAS) is to provide a standardized measurement of an individual’s agreement tendency. This tendency is conceptualized not as a reflection of specific attitudes or beliefs, but as a consistent stylistic orientation towards responding to questionnaire items.

The scale was developed to isolate and quantify this response style, which can otherwise confound the interpretation of substantive scores on personality and attitude inventories.

Construct

The OAS measures Agreement Tendency, which is fundamentally classified as a form of response bias or response set. This construct describes the systematic inclination of a respondent to agree with statements, regardless of the content or the direction of item phrasing (i.e., whether the item is positively or negatively keyed).

Couch and Keniston viewed this tendency as a stable personality variable, suggesting that the degree to which an individual exhibits “yes-saying” or “nay-saying” is a measurable and enduring characteristic, rather than merely random error or situational noise.

Validity

The original published research on the OAS did not explicitly detail traditional construct or criterion validity metrics. However, the scale’s validity is implicitly supported by its strong empirical correlation with generalized “true-saying” and “yes-saying” behaviors across existing, established psychological instruments, confirming its ability to measure the intended response set phenomenon.

Reliability

The OAS demonstrated high internal reliability during its initial testing phase. The reliability was quantified using the Spearman-Brown split-half coefficient, yielding a strong value of +0.85. This suggests that the extensive 360-item pool possesses high internal consistency, ensuring that the separate halves of the test measure the same underlying construct reliably.

Furthermore, the authors reported evidence of consistency over time, indicating the stability of the measured agreement tendency trait.

Factor Analysis

Information regarding formal factor analysis procedures used to determine the dimensionality or underlying latent factors of the 360-item OAS was not indicated in the primary source documentation (Couch & Keniston, 1960). The scale appears to be scored as a unitary measure of the agreement tendency construct.

Instrument

Test Type: Rating Scale

Format: The test is administered via paper and utilizes a 7-point Likert-type scale for responses.

Language Available: English (as developed in the United States)

Population Group: Humans; Specifically studied using male subjects.

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years and older), primarily tested on student volunteers.

Population Details: Initial studies were conducted in the United States, utilizing student populations at Harvard University.

Test Methodology: The scale consists of 360 items. Responses range from 1 (“Strongly Disagree”) to 7 (“Strongly Agree”). The final Over-all Agreement Score is calculated as the mean of the subject’s responses across all 360 items.

Keywords

Response Set, Acquiescence, Personality Assessment, Psychometrics, Authoritarianism F Scale, Dogmatism, Reliability Coefficient

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not Available

Affiliation Email addresses: Not Available

Correspondence Address: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States (Affiliation at time of publication)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The original research and development of the OAS were completed in 1960. The scale integrates items from several existing instruments, including the Authoritarianism F Scale and Cattell’s 16 P.P. Personality Inventory. Specific information regarding current licensing fees or formal permissions required for academic use of the full 360-item scale is not explicitly detailed in the original reference.

Reference’s

• Couch, A., & Keniston, K. (1960). Yeasayers and naysayers: Agreeing response set as a personality variable. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 60(2), 151–174. The original article can be accessed via DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040372

• Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). The Authoritarian Personality. Harper & Row.

Items of the Over-all Agreement Score scale (OAS)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The Over-all Agreement Score (OAS) comprises 360 items, integrating statements from several established scales (e.g., Davids’ Affect Questionnaire, Couch and Bales’ Value Profile, Cattell’s 16 P.P. Personality Inventory, and the Authoritarianism F Scale) alongside over 200 newly developed items. Due to the proprietary nature and sheer volume of the item pool, the 360 individual items are not reproduced here.