Developing affective constructs

Developing Affective Constructs

Dr. Carlo Magno
Counseling and Educational Psychology Department
De La Salle University-Manila

1

Affective characteristics
• Anderson (1981) explained affective characteristics as
“qualities which presents people’s typical ways of
feeling, or expressing their emotions” (p. 3).
• Sta. Maria and Magno (2007) found that affective
characteristics run on two dimensions: Intensity and
direction.
• Intensity refers to the strength of the characteristic
expressed.
• Direction of affect refers to the cause of the affect from
object external factors to person factors.
2

Dimensions of Affect

3

Classifications of Affective Scales
• Attitude. Learned predispositions to respond in a
consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with
respect to a given object (Meece et al. 1982).
• Attitude Towards Church Scale” by Thurstone and
Chave (1929):
1. I think the teaching of the church is altogether too
superficial to have much social and significance.
2. I feel the church services give me inspiration and help
me to live up to my best during the following week.

4

• Beliefs. Judgments and evaluations that we make about
ourselves, about others, and about the world around us
(Dilts, 1999).
• Examples of belief statements:
• “A quiet classroom is conducive to learning”
• “Studying longer will improve a student’s score on the
test”
• “Grades encourage students to work harder”
• Interests. "a liking/disliking state of mind
accompanying the doing of an activity" (Strong, 1955,
p. 138).
5

• Values. “the principles and fundamental convictions
which act as general guides to behavior, the standards
by which particular actions are judged to be good or
desirable (Halstead & Taylor, 2000, p. 169).
• Dispositions are guided by beliefs and attitudes related
to values such as caring, fairness, honesty,
responsibility, and social justice. Examples of
dispositions include fairness, being democratic,
empathy, enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, and
respectfulness.

6

Steps in Constructing Non-Cognitive
Measures
• Decide what information should be sought
– (1) No scales are available to measure such construct
– (2) All scales are foreign and it is not suitable for the
stakeholders or sample that will take the measure
– (3) Existing measures are not appropriate for the purpose of
assessment
– (4) The test developer intends to explore the underlying
factors of a construct and eventually confirm it
• Search for Content Domain:
– Search for relevant literature reviews
– Look for the appropriate definition
– Explain the theory
– Specify the underlying variables (deconstruction)
7

Measures
Subscale 1

Subscale 2

Subscale 3
Factor

Subscale 4

Subscale 5

8

Measures

item 1

Factor1 Item 2

item 3

item 4
Factor2

item 5

9

Measures
• Write the first draft of items:
• Items are created for each subscale as guided by the conceptual
definition.
• The number of items as planned in the Table of Specifications
is also considered.
• As much as possible, a large number of items are written to
represent well the behavior being measured.
• How to write Items:
– Items are based on the definition of the subscales
– Provide the manifestation of the construct
– Descriptions from references
– Conduct an open ended surveys, interview, FGD’s

10

Measures
Good questionnaire items should:
1. Include a vocabulary that is simple, direct, and familiar to all
respondents
2. Be clear and specific
3. Not involve leading, loaded or double barreled questions
4. Be as short as possible
5. Include all conditional information prior to the key ideas
6. Be edited for readability
7. Generalizable for a large sample.
8. Avoid time-bound situations.

11

Measures
• Example of bad items:
• I am satisfied with my wages and hours at the place where I
work. (Double Barreled)
• I not in favor congress passing a law not allowing any employer
to force any employee to retire
• at any age. (Double Negative)
• Most people favor death penalty. What do you think? (Leading
Question)

12

Measures
• Select a scaling technique:
• After writing the items, the test developer decides on the appropriate
response format to be used in the scale.
• The most common response formats used:
– Lickert scale (measure of position in an opinion)
– Verbal frequency scale (measure of a habit)
– Ordinal scale (ordering of responses)
– Linear numeric scale (judging a single dimension in an array)
• Develop directions for responding:
• Directions or instructions for the target respondents be created as early as
when the items are created.
• Clear and concise.
• Respondents should be informed how to answer.
• When you intend to have a separate answer sheet, make sure to inform the
respondents about it in the instructions.
• Instructions should also include ways of changing answers, how to answer
(encircle, check, or shade).
• Inform the respondents in the instructions specifically what they need to do.
13

Measures
• Conduct a judgmental review of items
• Have experts review your items.

14

Measures
• Reexamine and revise the questionnaire
• Prepare a draft and gather preliminary pilot data:
• Requires a layout of the test for the respondents.
• Make the scale as easy as possible to use.
• Each item can be identified with a number or a letter to
facilitate scoring of responses later.
• The items should be structured for readability and recording
responses.
• Whenever possible items with the same response formats are
placed together.
• In designing self-administered scales, it is suggested to make it
visually appealing to increase response rate.
• Self-explanatory and the respondents can complete it in a short
time.
• Ordering of items: The first few questions set the tone for the
rest of the items and determine how willingly and 15
conscientiously respondents will work on subsequent questions.

Measures
• Analyze Pilot data:
• The responses in the scale should be recorded using a
spreadsheet.
• The numerical responses are then analyzed.
• The analysis consists of determining whether the test is reliable
or valid.
• Revise the Instrument:
• The instrument is then revised because items with low factor
loadings are removed
• Items when removed will increase Cronbach’s alpha.

16

Measures
• Gather final pilot data
• A large sample is again selected which is three times the
number of items.
• Conduct Additional Validity and Reliability Analysis
• The validity and reliability is again analyzed using the new pilot
data.
• Edit the questionnaire and specify the procedures for its use
• Items with low factor loadings are again removed resulting to
less items.
• A new form of the test with reduced items will be formed.
• Prepare the Test Manual
• The test manual indicates the purpose of the test, instructions in
administering, procedure for scoring, interpreting the scores
17
including the norms.

Examples of Response Formats
• Multiple response item:

• Single-response item

18


• Lickert Scale

19


• Verbal frequency scale

20


• Ordinal scale

21

• Forced Ranking Scale

• Paired Comparison Scale

22


• Comparative Scale

23


• Linear Numeric Scale

24


• Semantic differential scale

25


• Adjective checklist

• Semantic distance scale

26


• Fixed sum scale

27


• Multiple rating list

28


• Multiple rating matrix

29


• Diagram scale

30

• Graphic scale

31

Developing affective constructs

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