The 30 items were used to develop four versions of the survey. Each version
contained 15 first-person, or ‘‘I’’, items from three of the six topic areas and 15
third-person, or ‘‘Teachers’’, items from the remaining three topic areas. In
other words, each version was created using 15 items in the ‘‘I’’ form and 15
items in the ‘‘Teacher’’ form, rather than all 30 items in one form (‘‘I’’ or
‘‘Teacher’’), to make the comparative nature of the instrument less obvious.
The four versions permitted counterbalancing of the order in which the 15
‘‘I’’ items and the 15 ‘‘Teachers’’ items appeared, as well as the order in which
the survey items appeared. On the survey itself, the items were randomly
sequenced across topic areas rather than being presented in their particular
area. Thus, the respondents were not aware that there were any topic areas
into which the items were organized.