Cody Ding1,2. 1. Shenyang Normal University, College of Education, Shenyang, China. 2. Department of Education Sciences & Professional Programs, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Multiple-item measuring instruments are frequently used in a wide range of disciplines for the purpose of research in substantive areas. The quality of items in these instruments determine to a large extent whether the results are trustworthy. In this paper, we suggested to use property fitting analysis to evaluate the appropriateness of items content validity based on explicit item property criteria. METHODS: Using Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale as an example, item property fitting analyses via multidimensional scaling model was used to quantitatively evaluate the properties of items based on rating data from 12 counselors. RESULTS: The results of the analyses indicated that using explicit item property criteria to select items for subsequent psychometric analyses improved the item quality in terms of reliability and factor structure. CONCLUSIONS: Item property fitting analysis seemed to provide the researcher a viable quantitative method when evaluating item content validity.
OBJECTIVES: Multiple-item measuring instruments are frequently used in a wide range of disciplines for the purpose of research in substantive areas. The quality of items in these instruments determine to a large extent whether the results are trustworthy. In this paper, we suggested to use property fitting analysis to evaluate the appropriateness of items content validity based on explicit item property criteria. METHODS: Using Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale as an example, item property fitting analyses via multidimensional scaling model was used to quantitatively evaluate the properties of items based on rating data from 12 counselors. RESULTS: The results of the analyses indicated that using explicit item property criteria to select items for subsequent psychometric analyses improved the item quality in terms of reliability and factor structure. CONCLUSIONS: Item property fitting analysis seemed to provide the researcher a viable quantitative method when evaluating item content validity.
Authors: Caroline B Terwee; Sandra D M Bot; Michael R de Boer; Daniëlle A W M van der Windt; Dirk L Knol; Joost Dekker; Lex M Bouter; Henrica C W de Vet Journal: J Clin Epidemiol Date: 2006-08-24 Impact factor: 6.437