Validity and generalizability of social dance performance ratings

Area of Science:

• Dance education
• Performance assessment
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Developing reliable and valid instruments for assessing social dance performance is crucial for effective instruction and evaluation.
• Existing methods may lack generalizability and be susceptible to coder bias, impacting the objectivity of dance assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a social dance instrument with logical validity and generalizable performance ratings.
• To investigate the impact of coder experience on the reliability and generalizability of dance performance evaluations.

Main Methods:

• Three studies were conducted using a social dance instrument critiqued by experts.
• Twelve couples performed the fox trot and were videotaped for evaluation.
• Generalizability (G-) studies and Decision (D-) studies were employed using a Subjects x Coders x Days ANOVA design.

Main Results:

• Expert review confirmed the instrument's items reflected characteristics of good social dance performance.
• Coders with extensive dance teaching and evaluation experience exhibited less systematic bias.
• Performance ratings from novice coders demonstrated generalizability across different coders and days (G = .79).

Conclusions:

• The developed social dance instrument is valid for assessing performance.
• Coders can be trained to achieve reliable and generalizable performance ratings in social dance.
• Coder experience significantly influences the objectivity and generalizability of dance performance assessments.