The Equivalence of Online and Paper-Pencil Measures of Emotional Intelligence

Improved access to the Internet along with technological advances in hardware and software are prompting social scientists to move their research pursuits from the laboratory into cyberspace. While evidence suggests that online research is equivalent if not superior to traditional offline (i.e., paper-pencil [PP]) methods (Buchanan & Smith, 1999; Campos et al., 2011; Lonsdale et al., 2006; Meyerson & Tryon, 2003; Naus et al., 2009; Preckel & Thiemann, 2003), caution is urged in summarily generalizing research methods and results from one format to another. To address one of the key limitations of Internet research (i.e., measurement error), scholars have begun to examine the reliability and validity of online test formats. In studies of matched or paired samples who completed electronic and PP measures of various psychological constructs (e.g., personality, burnout, intellectual giftedness), results suggest comparable psychometric properties, factor structure, and outcomes across the data collection methods (Buchanan & Smith, 1999; Campos et al., 2011; Lonsdale et al., 2006; Meyerson & Tryon, 2003; Naus et al., 2009; Preckel & Thiemann, 2003).