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Construct and concurrent validity of a prototype questionnaire to survey public attitudes toward stuttering
Kenneth O St Louis1, Isabella K Reichel, J Scott Yaruss
1West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA. kstlouis@wvu.edu
Purpose:
Construct validity and concurrent validity were investigated in a prototype survey instrument, the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Experimental Edition (POSHA-E). The POSHA-E was designed to measure public attitudes toward stuttering within the context of eight other attributes, or "anchors," assumed to range from negative (e.g., "mental illness"), to neutral (e.g., "left handed"), to positive (e.g., "intelligent").
Method:
Two respondent samples, each composed of 32 adults, completed the POSHA-E on two occasions. Both samples were reported in previously published studies [Reichel, I., & St. Louis, K. O. (2004). Effects of emotional intelligence training in graduate fluency disorders courses. In A. Packman, A. Meltzer, & H. F. M. Peters (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th world congress on fluency disorders (pp. 474-481). Nijmegen, The Netherlands: Nijmegen University Press; St. Louis, K. O., Lubker, B. B., Yaruss, J. S., & Aliveto, E. F. (in press). Development of a prototype questionnaire to survey public attitudes toward stuttering: Reliability of the second prototype. Contemporary Issues in Communication Sciences and Disorders]. One sample completed the POSHA-E twice, two weeks apart, and the results were analyzed for test-retest reliability (T-R). Another sample consisted of graduate students completing the POSHA-E before and after a course in fluency disorders (VAL) to measure changes in students' attitudes toward stuttering. This group also filled out the Bipolar Adjective Scale (BAS) to obtain a second measure of attitudes toward stuttering.
Results:
Comparing the two groups, VAL respondents' mean ratings about stuttering changed more, and generally in the expected direction of more "positive" attitudes, than T-R respondents' ratings. Moreover, VAL rating changes were in similar directions on the POSHA-E and the BAS.
Conclusions:
Results of the study permit the interpretation that the POSHA-E satisfies indicators of construct and concurrent validity, and provides evidence that it can measure positive changes in attitudes.
Educational Objectives:
The reader will be able to: (1) define the concepts of construct validity and concurrent validity; (2) describe construct validity and concurrent validity in reference to survey development; and (3) discuss general principles of attitude changes of students after taking a course in fluency disorders.
