Health Measurement Scales: A Practical Guide to Their Development and Use (Oxford Medical Publications)

The second edition of the only practical guide for clinicians developing tools to measure subjective states, attitudes, and other 'non-tangible' outcomes in their patients has been thoroughly revised to incorporate all the latest research results. New to this edition are a chapter on ethics and a discussion of reliability and generalizability theory. The authors offer an overview of both the theory and the practical applications of health measurement scales, and offer the reader a methodical, step-by-step guidance to the development of their own scales. These features combine to provide the most up-to-date guide to measurement scale development available. Written in a concise and intelligible style, it enables both experienced researchers and novices to develop accurate, sensitive and easy-to-use measurement scales of their own. This is an essential book for anyone who uses or would like to use rating scales in their clinical practice Clinicians and those in health sciences are frequently called upon to measure subjective states such as attitudes, feelings, quality of life, educational achievement and aptitude, and learning style in their patients. This fourth edition of Health Measurement Scales enables these groups who often have limited knowledge of statistics, to both develop scales to measure non-tangible health outcomes, and better evaluate and differentiate between existing tools. It covers how the individual items are developed; various biases that can affect responses (eg social desirability, yea-saying, framing); various response options; how to select the best items in the set; how to combine them into a scale; and then how to determine the reliability and validity of the scale. It concludes with a discussion of ethical issues that may be encountered, and guidelines for reporting the results of the scale development process. Appendices include a comprehensive guide to finding existing scales, and a brief introduction to exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. It synthesizes the theory of scale construction with practical advice, making it the ultimate guide to how to develop and validate measurement scales that are to be used in the health sciences. "This new edition has been thoroughly revised to incorporate all the latest research published since the first edition. It has been expanded and includes a new chapter on ethics and a thorough discussion of reliability and generalizability theory. Throughout the book the authors provide a practical step by step approach to guide the reader through the development of their own scales." "These features combine to provide the most up-to-date guide to measurement scale development available. Written in layman's language and with a logical format, it enables experienced researchers and those coming new to the subject to develop accurate, sensitive, and easy-to-use measurement scales in their clinical practice."--Jacket 1. Introduction -- 2. Basic Concepts -- 3. Devising The Items -- 4. Scaling Responses -- 5. Selecting The Items -- 6. Biases In Responding -- 7. From Items To Scales -- 8. Reliability -- 9. Generalizability Theory -- 10. Validity -- 11. Measuring Change -- 12. Item Response Theory -- 13. Methods Of Administration -- 14. Ethical Considerations -- Appendix A. Further Reading -- Appendix B. Where To Find Tests. David L. Streiner And Geoffrey R. Norman. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. This is a guide for constructing scales used to measure attitudes, beliefs, feelings and other "non-tangible" outcomes. Each revised and updated chapter takes the reader through the necessary steps, explaining both the theory and the practical application. This guide explains how to construct scales used to measure attitudes, beliefs, feelings and other "non-tangible" outcomes. Each chapter takes the reader through the consecutive steps, explaining both the theory and the practical application.