Factor loading background
I am using paired comparison methods to estimate estimate respondents’ sensitivity to distinctions in words used to characterize the construct of agreeableness. (e.g, Undemanding = .34 versus Peaceful = .72). The contrast between the words' factor loadings is the signal to be detected. The stronger loading was alternated between being on the first and second word. I did find that the contrast predicted probability of correct detection (r = .20*).
Experiment background
The stimulus is paired comparison words with each word having a different factor loading (from prior research) based on it's measurement of agreeableness. So each word taps the construct more or less deeply than the other. The contrast between the words in terms of their factor loading is the signal. A set of 122 such paired comparison tasks was developed and the task before the respondent is to select the more agreeable word.
The respondents are students recruited for the research having varying degrees of sensitivity. Each word in the pair only has a factor loading as the estimate of signal and the contrast should be the salient feature in the task.
How to get sensitivity estimate?
I have been using the number of correct “larger” loading detections as the respondent’s score. How might I estimate respondents' sensitivity to the presented signals?