This was developed to be computer-scored. That allows the 344 items to work as if there are about 1200 items. You get much more variation here. Now how the scales were designed as it s offered. That tells us how they are approaching the test.
Response sets can distort a patient s profile.
The most common response sets are confused or random responding. The patient might be psychotic, they might not be able to read, they could be delirious, they could just not care. That happens a lot on my unit. It s also over-reporting. Endorsing too many symptoms, trying to look bad.