Thursday, March 15, 2012
Poster Area 2 (Foyer Outside Exhibit Hall C) (Convention Center)
Scale development represents a salient tool in the repertoire of public health education practitioners and researchers. However, too few professionals have a clear understanding of the complexities and intricacies associated with the development of a survey. Consequently, the purpose of this poster is to a) briefly describe inherent issues associated with scale development; and b) provide a step-by-step decision-making process to guide practitioners in developing their own scale. Discussion is devoted to the theoretical foundations of scale development, validity, reliability, and essential pretesting stages. The scale development steps, outlined in this presentation, provide investigators with the general process involved in planning, developing and validating a new scale. By using the steps outlined in this presentation, investigators can reduce survey error (i.e. measurement error, nonresponse error) and their associated consequences, providing creditability to the data being collected and analyzed.