Prof. Dr. Eunike Wetzel
Prof. Dr. Eunike Wetzel will officially join the SMiP group for its second funding phase, starting on 01 April 2022. However, she already supervises three SMiP PhD Candidates and teaches a workshop in January 2022.
Research Areas
- Questionnaire design
- Psychometric modeling (especially Item Response Theory)
- Personality development
Teaching (SMIP)
- Workshop “Substantive SMiP Research Topics in Landau”
Possible thesis topics
Ph.D. students are very welcome to devise their own thesis topic so long as it fits in with my general research interests and is compatible with the SMiP agenda (i.e., involves statistical modeling). Here are some topics I am interested in along with representative publications:
- Multidimensional forced-choice format: In the multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) format, participants rank the items according to how well they describe them. It is less susceptible to response biases such as faking than the rating scale format. My research has so far focused on comparing the MFC and rating scale format for example with respect to validity and faking and on the process of responding to MFC triplets.
- Wetzel, E., Frick, S., & Greiff, S. (2020). The multidimensional forced-choice format as an alternative for rating scales current state of the research. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 36(4), 511-515. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000609
- Wetzel, E., Frick, S., & Brown, A. (2021). Does multidimensional Forced-Choice Prevent Faking? Comparing the Susceptibility of the Multidimensional Forced-Choice Format and the Rating Scale Format to Faking. Psychological Assessment, 33(2), 156-170. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000971
- Personality development: While personality traits are overall quite stable, they also change over the lifespan. For example, people tend to become more conscientious and agreeable especially during young adulthood. Far less is known about the development of “darker” traits such as narcissism. Furthermore, the short-term development of personality traits is not well-researched yet because most longitudinal studies had large time intervals between assessments. These topics will be a focus of my research in the next years.
- Wetzel, E., Grijalva, E., Robins, R. W., & Roberts, B. W. (2020). You're still so vain: Changes in narcissism from young adulthood to middle age. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(2), 479-496. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000266
- Multidimensional forced-choice format: In the multidimensional forced-choice (MFC) format, participants rank the items according to how well they describe them. It is less susceptible to response biases such as faking than the rating scale format. My research has so far focused on comparing the MFC and rating scale format for example with respect to validity and faking and on the process of responding to MFC triplets.