Designing and Constructing Instruments for Social Research and Evaluation

Written in easy-to-understand language, this important text provides a systematic and commonsense approach to developing instruments for data collection and analysis. This book can be used by both those who are developing instruments for the first time and those who want to hone their skills, including students, agency personnel, program managers, and researchers. This book provides a thorough presentation of instrument construction, from conception to development and pre-testing of items, formatting the instrument, administration, and, finally, data management and presentation of the findings. Throughout the book, the authors emphasize how to create an instrument that will produce trustworthy and accurate data. To that end they have included guidelines for reviewing and revising the questionnaire to enhance validity and reliability. They also show how to work effectively with stakeholders such as instruments designers, decision-makers, agency personnel, clients, and raters or respondents.

Written in easy-to-understand language, this important textprovides a systematic and commonsense approach to developinginstruments for data collection and analysis. This book can be usedby both those who are developing instruments for the first time andthose who want to hone their skills, including students, agencypersonnel, program managers, and researchers.This book provides a thorough presentation of instrumentconstruction, from conception to development and pre-testing ofitems, formatting the instrument, administration, and, finallydata management and presentation of the findings. Throughoutthe book, the authors emphasize how to create an instrumentthat will produce trustworthy and accurate data. To that end theyhave included guidelines for reviewing and revising thequestionnaire to enhance validity and reliability. They also showhow to work effectively with stakeholders such as instrumentsdesigners, decision-makers, agency personnel, clients, and ratersor respondents.

Figures, Exhibits, Tables, and Instruments viiPreface: Asking and Answering ixThe Authors xvPart One: Concepts 11 Introduction 32 Instruments and Social Inquiry 283 Measurement 524 Instrument Construction, Validity, and Reliability 64Part Two: Application 955 Purposeful Creativity: First Steps in the Development of an Instrument 976 Pretesting 1287 The Structure and Format of Selection Items 1488 Guidelines for Writing Selection Items 1739 Selection Items: Alternative Formats 20810 Supply Items: Open-Ended Questions 22711 Guidelines for Constructing Multi-Item Scales 247Part Three: Organization and Administration 27912 Organizing the Instrument 28113 Administering the Instrument 31314 Computers and Instrument Construction 33715 Managing the Data and Reporting the Results 350References 374Index 383