Scoring the questionnaire.
There are many ways the questionnaire can be scored, and for many or most of the items a simple
crosstabulation against other variables can be informative.
The first eleven items in particular can be recombined to obtain a number of separate scores.
i. Laterality scores (laterality indices). Score all the items as -1 = Always left, -.5 = Usually left, 0 =
Either, +.5 = Usually right and +1 = Always right. For items 4 (dish), 6 (jar) and 9 (potato) a strong righthander would answer left. These three items should therefore be reverse scored by changing the sign on
the values given previously (i.e. +1=Always left, etc.). Having done this then one can obtain several
measures:
– Overall laterality score. The average of all eleven items
– Cultural pressure score. Items on which there is strong social/cultural pressure to use the right hand. i.e.
5 (clock), 8 (knife)
– Non-pressure items. Items 3 (pencil), 7 (thread), 11 (glass).
– Reversed items. 4 (dish), 6 (jar) and 9 (potato). If these are discrepant from the other measures then
the questionnaire has probably not been completed accurately or carefully, and they therefore act as liedetector items.
ii. Writing. This should probably be treated separately from the other items as it can, particularly in some
cultural groups, be subject to separate cultural pressure. Usually though it is concordant with the overall
score.
iii. Throwing. The work of Peters et al has shown that writing and throwing can be discordant in as
many as 30% of left-handers (and we have found discordance in 2 or 3 percent of right-handers). It is
therefore worth looking at it separately from writing.