Is There an Allegiance Effect for Assessment Instruments? Actuarial Risk Assessment as an Exemplar
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2008
Department
Psychology
Abstract
The Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (Harris, Rice, & Quinsey, 1993), the Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (Quinsey, Harris, Rice, & Cormier, 1998), and the Static-99 (Hanson & Thornton, 1999) are three well-researched risk measures. All three instruments were good predictors of recidivism (r = .31). However, these effect sizes were significantly larger in studies conducted by the instruments' authors (r = .37) than in studies conducted by independent researchers (r = .28). This allegiance effect remained significant even when the initial validation studies were excluded. No other design or sample characteristics were significant moderators of the relation between scores and recidivism. These findings raise questions about whether such an allegiance effect may be found for other measures.
Publication Title
Clinical Psychology-Science and Practice
Volume
15
Issue
4
First Page
346
Last Page
360
Recommended Citation
Blair, P. R.,
Marcus, D. K.,
Boccaccini, M. T.
(2008). Is There an Allegiance Effect for Assessment Instruments? Actuarial Risk Assessment as an Exemplar. Clinical Psychology-Science and Practice, 15(4), 346-360.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/1553