Comparison of web-based versus paper-and-pencil administration of a humor survey

This study compared the measurement invariance of paper-and-pencil (PP) and web-based (WB) administration formats through a humor survey. Participants were 401 undergraduate students divided into four groups (A, B, C, and D), and each group completed one of the four testing conditions (group A: PP → PP, group B: PP → WB, group C: WB → PP, and group D: WB → WB). The WB and PP versions of the revised Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (Wang, Cheng, Liu, & Ho, 2011), which measure humor production, attitudes toward humor, and humor coping, were administered to the participants. The results indicated that both of the PP and WB survey formats were practically invariant. No significant differences across administration situations were found for humor production or humor coping. Interestingly, the mean score of the WB format was significantly higher than that of PP format on attitudes toward humor. The findings suggest that researchers should carefully examine the measurement invariance and the effect of characteristics of the construct on measurement results when using a WB-format instrument.

• We examined the invariance of two administration modes (Paper–Pencil and Web-Based).
• Four repeated testing conditions (PP → PP, PP → WB, WB → PP, and WB → WB) were used.
• A sense of humor scale was adopted to test measurement stability and equivalence.
• No difference between two modes of tests regarding cognitive abilities was found.
• Significant differences between two modes were found in items related to attitudes.