Scaling Procedures: Issues and Applications

Effective measurement is a cornerstone of scientific research. Yet many social science researchers lack the tools to develop appropriate assessment instruments for the measurement of latent social-psychological constructs.

Scaling Procedures: Issues and Applications examines the issues involved in developing and validating multi-item self-report scales of latent constructs. Distinguished researchers and award-winning educators Richard G. Netemeyer, William O. Bearden, and Subhash Sharma present a four-step approach for multi-indicator scale development. With these steps, the authors include relevant empirical examples and a review of the concepts of dimensionality, reliability, and validity.

Interdisciplinary in application, this reader-friendly handbook includes

• A discussion of measurement in the social sciences and the importance of theory in scale development
• Techniques for assessing dimensionality of constructs
• An overview of reliability and validity models, theory, and criteria
• Suggestions for generating and judging measurement items
• Recommended procedures for designing and conducting studies to develop the scale
• Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) for finalizing the scale

Scaling Procedures: Issues and Applications supplies cutting-edge strategies for developing and refining measures. Providing concise chapter introductions and summaries, as well as numerous tables, figures, and exhibits, the authors present recommended steps and overlapping activities in a logical, sequential progression.

Designed for graduate students in measurement/psychometrics, structural equation modeling, and survey research seminars across the social science disciplines, Scaling Procedures: Issues and Applications also addresses the needs of researchers and academics in all business, psychology, and sociology-related disciplines.