Method Of Complete Triads: An Investigation Of Unreliability In Multidimensional Perception Of Nations

In many instances investigators are hesitant to use "too many" objects or stimuli in a multidimensional scaling study using the method of complete triads. One of the major reasons for this is that such use is postulated to lead to subject fatigue/boredom effects or practice effects which may produce unreliability in the judgments. In the present study an experimental design was constructed in an attempt (a) to investigate the presence of subject fatigue/boredom effects or practice effects and (b) to assess the influence of these effects on the configurations and distances resulting from multidimensional scaling of nations. The results showed that the postulated effects were present, but they did not influence the multidimensional scaling solutions.