3.3.-INSTALACIONES DE AGUA FRÍA DE CONSUMO HUMANO

The item labels and text of each item can be seen in Table 3.8 along with means and standard deviations for each item. The items used a six-point Likert response format.

Means and standard deviations compare closely to those of the n=141 dataset from Part One, which also used a six-point scale, with one exception: DL 03. Although the standard deviations are nearly equivalent, the mean for DL 03 in the n=141 dataset from Part One (labelled as number seven in Table 3.2) is 4.56, whereas the mean for DL 03 for the present dataset is 2.30, for a difference that is nearly twice the standard deviation of the item. This is taken as evidence of the instability of this item.

Item Label Item Content Mean SD GBL 01 Luck plays an important part in everyone’s life. 3.42 1.49

GBL 02 I believe in luck. 3.29 1.53

GBL 03 There is such a thing as good luck that favors

some people, but not others. 2.62 1.34

GBL 04 There is such a thing as bad luck that affects

some people more than others. 2.78 1.39

PGL 01 I consistently have good luck. 2.85 1.20

PGL 02 Even the things I can’t control tend to go my way

because I’m lucky. 2.40 1.18

PGL 03 Luck works in my favour. 2.97 1.20

PGL 04 I consider myself to be a lucky person. 3.59 1.38

PGL 05 I often feel like it’s my lucky day. 3.09 1.39

PBL 01 I consistently have bad luck. 2.04 0.96

PBL 02 Even the things in life I can control don’t tend to go my way

because I’m unlucky. 2.09 0.98

PBL 03 Luck works against me. 2.25 1.00

PBL 04 I consider myself to be an unlucky person. 2.32 1.07

PBL 05 I often feel like it’s my unlucky day. 2.58 1.22

DL 01 Being lucky is nothing more than random. 3.78 1.18

DL 02 Being unlucky is nothing more than random chance. 3.64 1.21

DL 03 It is a mistake to base any decision on how lucky you feel. 2.30 1.35

DL 04 It is a mistake to base any decision on how unlucky you feel. 2.39 1.44

Table 3.8: BIGL22 Descriptives- Means and Standard Deviations for 18 items from the

3.8.2 Factor Analysis Results

I used Principal Axis Factoring with Oblimin rotation with factor determination set at eigenvalues greater than 1.0. Four factors were found, as can be seen in Table 3.9. Items are sorted by factor loading, and the set belonging to a factor are bolded together. KMO’s measure of sampling adequacy was 0.910 and Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant at p < .001 (χ2_{(153) = 2786.72) indicating the data was suitable for a}

factor analysis.

I return now to the questions posed above. Firstly, did the PGL and PBL items factor separately? That is clearly answered in the affirmative. The factor correlation for PGL and PBL (recall I ran a oblimin rotation) was 0.312. They are not highly negatively correlated, indicating that they are not merely the inverse of one another. Rather, they are positively correlated. To foreshadow the modelling below, the general belief in luck (GBL) predicts both the belief that one is personally lucky and the belief that one is personally unlucky. I suggest it is the general belief in luck that drives the moderate positive correlation between these seemingly opposite beliefs.

Secondly, Disbelief in Luck did not coalesce as a unitary factor of four items. Two items, DL 01 and DL 02 load high and positively together on a factor that I will call Luck is Random (LIR). Two other items that ask about relying on lucky feelings in deci- sions load low and negatively with the two LIR items, at to -0.32 and -0.22 respectively. These two items also cross load onto the GBL factor. I conclude that these two items should be dropped from the analyses in this chapter. Thirdly, the four general belief in luck items factored together. From Part One there is evidence that GBL 01 and GBL 02 would suffice without the additional two items. But given the results of this factor analysis, I will retain all four items in the model as I progress through Part Two.

On the basis of the factor analysis above I have culled four items: one each from belief in personal good luck and belief in personal bad luck (i.e., items that contained the stem ‘I mind / don’t mind leaving things to chance . . . ’), and the two items ask about basing a decision on lucky feelings. In addition, I have relabelled Disbelief in Luck to Luck is Random (LIR), indicating that the construct is about the belief one has about the relationship of luck to chance. The revised scale—the BIGL16—has been improved as a result of these changes. It is at the same time more parsimonious and

Factor → 1 2 3 4 Percent of Variance (%) → 45.27 12.63 7.34 5.75

Belief in Personal Good Luck (PGL)

PGL 01 - I consistently have good luck. 0.90 0.00 -0.01 0.08

PGL 03 - Luck works in my favour. 0.80 0.03 -0.03 -0.01

PGL 04 - I consider myself to be a lucky person. 0.63 -0.17 -0.07 -0.22 PGL 02 - Even the things I can’t control tend to go

0.55 0.17 -0.10 -0.01 my way because I’m lucky.

PGL 05 - I often feel like it’s my lucky day. 0.50 0.12 0.05 -0.24

Belief in Personal Bad Luck (PBL)

PBL 01 - I consistently have bad luck. 0.04 0.89 -0.02 0.11

PBL 03 - Luck works against me. 0.07 0.85 -0.00 0.00

PBL 04 - I consider myself to be an unlucky person. -0.09 0.82 -0.00 -0.02 PBL 05 - I often feel like it’s my unlucky day. 0.13 0.57 0.04 -0.14 PBL 02 - Even the things in life I can control don’t tend to go

-0.08 0.55 -0.14 -0.28 my way because I’m unlucky.

Disbelief in Luck (DL)

DL 02 - Being unlucky is nothing more than random chance. 0.01 0.01 0.95 -0.06 DL 01 - Being lucky is nothing more than random. -0.07 -0.00 0.76 -0.04 DL 04 - It is a mistake to base any decision on

0.02 0.08 -0.32 -0.20 how unlucky you feel.

DL 03 - It is a mistake to base any decision on

0.01 0.02 -0.22 -0.22 how lucky you feel.

General Belief in Luck (GBL)

GBL 04 - There is such a thing as bad luck that

0.04 0.21 0.02 -0.70 affects some people more than others.

GBL 02 - I believe in luck. 0.17 0.00 -0.16 -0.67

GBL 03 - There is such a thing as good luck that

0.13 0.16 -0.03 -0.63 favors some people, but not others.

GBL 01 - Luck plays an important part in everyone’s life. 0.31 -0.03 -0.05 -0.60

Table 3.9: Factor Analytic Solution for the BIGL22- There four factors that describe 18

items from the BIGL22. Factor labels are provided above each block of items. Item loadings ≥ 0.50 are bolded.

more precise in measurement. A formal explication of the LIR and PBL constructs is now in order, given their inclusion in the BIGL16.

Belief in Personal Bad Luck (PBL) Like the items in PGL, the items in this factor de- scribe a belief regarding the self-relevant relationship of an individual to luck. The slight difference in the wording of PGL and PBL may belie quite a distinc- tion between the two. The belief that one is personally unlucky is not merely the inverse of the belief that one is personally lucky. These two beliefs may be held simultaneously. The belief that one is personally unlucky may be predictive of the risks that a person is willing to take in the face of uncertainty. This is tested in upcoming chapters.

Luck Is Random I have already lent some discussion to this factor or dimension of belief in luck, commenting on its relationship to the general belief in luck. LIR items reflect in a very simple manner the view that there is no distinction between luck and chance.

I now proceed to modelling the BIGL16 in a broader nomological net, pausing first to specify the LIR and PBL constructs that were not included in Part One.