Scale construction.

Abstract

The design, development, and evaluation of scales for use in counseling psychology research are discussed. Methods of scale construction described include the Thurstone, Q-sort, rank-order methods, Likert, semantic differential, Guttman, Rasch, and external criterion methods. Strengths and weaknesses, advantages, and disadvantages are considered, and ways of evaluating newly developed scales are presented. Other issues such as measurement versus statistics, bandwidth versus fidelity, empirical versus rational methods, response bias, and multimethod measurement are discussed.

A Visitor Experience Scale: Historic Sites and Museums

“…Thus, the steps taken in this scale development will follow the scale construction procedures suggested by DeVellis (2003) for the most part. Annotations made on scale development procedure by other scholars (Dawis, 1987;Gerbing & Anderson, 1988;Laurent & Kapferer, 1985;Zaichkowsky, 1985) also contribute to this study.…”

“…Using 6-point rather than 4-point Likert scale could produce more data variability which results in the increase of statistical power (Dawis, 1987). To avoid making data confused and causing any trouble for coding, as suggested by Smith (2010), and to -ensure that the underlying dimension will be linear or can be made linear ‖ (Dawis, 1987, p.482), this study did not place a middle point/neutral response category in the scale.…”

“…In scale development, as recommended by Dawis (1987), -a hybrid approach, tailored to the situation, might be better than any of the standard approaches ‖ (p.488). Thus, the steps taken in this scale development will follow the scale construction procedures suggested by DeVellis (2003) for the most part.…”

“…During the first step, identifying the measured constructs and providing with a clear definition of the construct are of paramount importance (Churchill, 1979;Dawis, 1987;DeVellis, 2003;Zaichkowsky, 1985). Clearly, the constructs to be measured in this study are the experiences of tourists visiting historic sites and museums.…”

“…As a classic method for developing subject-centered scales (Dawis, 1987) and measuring opinions and attitudes (DeVellis, 2003), Likert scales have been used in tourism research more often than not (Smith, 2010). It normally -presents as a declarative sentence, followed by response options that indicate varying degrees of agreement with or endorsement of the statement (DeVellis, 2003, p.78).…”