Development of the short Creative Expression Interest Scale based on item response theory

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Educational Measurement

Background:

• Creative expression is crucial for personal development.
• Existing scales may be lengthy, impacting data collection efficiency.
• A need exists for a concise, psychometrically validated measure of creative expression interest, particularly in diverse populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a short Creative Expression Interest Scale (CEIS) for Chinese freshmen.
• To ensure the short CEIS adheres to the principles of item response theory (IRT).
• To provide a more efficient tool for measuring creative expression interest.

Main Methods:

• Item response theory (IRT) was applied to data from 959 Chinese freshmen.
• Analyses included unidimensionality, item fit, discrimination parameter, and differential item functioning.
• A short form of the CEIS was derived based on psychometric properties.

Main Results:

• The short CEIS demonstrated unidimensionality and good item fit.
• The scale met IRT psychometric requirements.
• High correlation (0.922) between short and long CEIS theta scores and marginal reliability (0.799) were observed.

Conclusions:

• The short CEIS is a psychometrically sound and efficient instrument for assessing creative expression interest in Chinese freshmen.
• The scale reduces redundancy and improves data collection quality.
• Further validation studies are recommended to confirm the scale's broader applicability.