Development of a scale for measuring invasive plant environmentalism

The ecological impact of invasive plant species is a serious concern among environmental scientists and conservationists. Educating the public about invasive plant issues is a major hurdle, given that several invaders come into the environment through ornamental gardening. An important first step in planning an educational program concerning invasive plant issues is to assess public knowledge and attitudes concerning these issues. This paper describes the development of an instrument that measures invasive plant environmentalism. Responses from 237 nursery customers from the southeastern U.S. to a 17-item standardized interview were scaled using the partial credit model, a member of the family of Rasch (1960) measurement models. Our results indicate that the instrument adequately measures this construct. Substantive interpretations of the results are also discussed.