Lawson Burn
Master's graduate, 2025
Masters Research Team: Challenging Nomothetic Assumptions in the DASS-21: Factor Structure Instability, Non-Ergodicity, and a New Individual-Level Change Statistic
On the 2025 Master of Professional Psychology research team, Lawson challenged the nomothetic assumptions behind the DASS-21 using an idiographic, ecological momentary assessment design — sampling distress three times a day over 21 days. The team found substantial between-person heterogeneity in symptom trajectories, derived new individual-level reliable-change statistics for depression, anxiety, and stress, and showed the DASS-21’s standard three-factor structure did not hold within persons — pointing to possible over-pathologisation of normal variability in distress.