TY - JOUR
T1 - Best Practices for Developing and Validating Scales for Health, Social, and Behavioral Research
T2 - A Primer
AU - Boateng, Godfred O.
AU - Neilands, Torsten B.
AU - Frongillo, Edward A.
AU - Melgar-Quiñonez, Hugo R.
AU - Young, Sera L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for this work was obtained by SY through the National Institute of Mental Health—R21 MH108444. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health or the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2018 Boateng, Neilands, Frongillo, Melgar-Quiñonez and Young.
PY - 2018/6/11
Y1 - 2018/6/11
N2 - Scale development and validation are critical to much of the work in the health, social, and behavioral sciences. However, the constellation of techniques required for scale development and evaluation can be onerous, jargon-filled, unfamiliar, and resource-intensive. Further, it is often not a part of graduate training. Therefore, our goal was to concisely review the process of scale development in as straightforward a manner as possible, both to facilitate the development of new, valid, and reliable scales, and to help improve existing ones. To do this, we have created a primer for best practices for scale development in measuring complex phenomena. This is not a systematic review, but rather the amalgamation of technical literature and lessons learned from our experiences spent creating or adapting a number of scales over the past several decades. We identified three phases that span nine steps. In the first phase, items are generated and the validity of their content is assessed. In the second phase, the scale is constructed. Steps in scale construction include pre-testing the questions, administering the survey, reducing the number of items, and understanding how many factors the scale captures. In the third phase, scale evaluation, the number of dimensions is tested, reliability is tested, and validity is assessed. We have also added examples of best practices to each step. In sum, this primer will equip both scientists and practitioners to understand the ontology and methodology of scale development and validation, thereby facilitating the advancement of our understanding of a range of health, social, and behavioral outcomes.
AB - Scale development and validation are critical to much of the work in the health, social, and behavioral sciences. However, the constellation of techniques required for scale development and evaluation can be onerous, jargon-filled, unfamiliar, and resource-intensive. Further, it is often not a part of graduate training. Therefore, our goal was to concisely review the process of scale development in as straightforward a manner as possible, both to facilitate the development of new, valid, and reliable scales, and to help improve existing ones. To do this, we have created a primer for best practices for scale development in measuring complex phenomena. This is not a systematic review, but rather the amalgamation of technical literature and lessons learned from our experiences spent creating or adapting a number of scales over the past several decades. We identified three phases that span nine steps. In the first phase, items are generated and the validity of their content is assessed. In the second phase, the scale is constructed. Steps in scale construction include pre-testing the questions, administering the survey, reducing the number of items, and understanding how many factors the scale captures. In the third phase, scale evaluation, the number of dimensions is tested, reliability is tested, and validity is assessed. We have also added examples of best practices to each step. In sum, this primer will equip both scientists and practitioners to understand the ontology and methodology of scale development and validation, thereby facilitating the advancement of our understanding of a range of health, social, and behavioral outcomes.
KW - content validity
KW - factor analysis
KW - item reduction
KW - psychometric evaluation
KW - scale development
KW - tests of dimensionality
KW - tests of reliability
KW - tests of validity
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U2 - 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00149
DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00149
M3 - Review article
C2 - 29942800
AN - SCOPUS:85116916509
SN - 2296-2565
VL - 6
JO - Frontiers in Public Health
JF - Frontiers in Public Health
M1 - 149
ER -