Assessment, Statistics, and Research

Assessment name:   Penn Inventory of Scrupulosity (PIOS) Scale overview: The Penn Inventory of Scrupulosity (PIOS) is a 19-item self-report measure of religious obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The 2007 revision has 15 items. The authors, some of whom had clinical experience with OCD, suggest the PIOS is useful for research and clinical practice. Authors: Abramowitz and other- See the 2002 reference below. For the 15-item revision, see Olatunji et al. (2007).   Response Type: Items are rated on a scale of symptom frequency from 0 = never to 4 = constantly. Scale items In religious participants, the PIOS has yielded two factors: Fear of God and Fear of Sin. The items refer to worries about unacceptable thoughts and actions from God’s perspective and other items refer to worries about immoral thoughts and behavior without mentioning God.   Psychometric properties The authors reported strong values for internal consistency. Factor analysis revealed tw...

  Scale name: Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) Scale overview: The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) is a 21-item screening instrument for the three psychological conditions of depression, anxiety, and stress. Note : There is a 42-item version of the DASS. This post focuses on the 21-item version. Authors: Lovibond, S. H., & Lovibond, P. F. (1995) Response Type: Items are rated on a 4-point scale of frequency. 0 = Did not apply to me at all. 1= Applied to me to some degree, or some of the time. 2= Applied to me to a considerable degree, or a good part of time. 3 = Applied to me very much, or most of the time. Scale items Each of the three scales (Depression, Anxiety, Stress) has 7-items worded in the first person e.g., “I felt…” or “I experienced…” and so forth.   Reliability: Internal consistency values based on Cronbach Alpha calculations were strong for the DASS-21 (Antony et al., 1988). Depression = .94 Anxiety = .87 St...

  Scale name: College Student Stress Scale Scale overview: The College Student Stress Scale is an 11-item self-report assessment of college students’ response to items about distress, feeling anxious, or questioning their ability.   Response Type: Items are rated on a scale of frequency of occurrence from 1 = Never   to 5 = Very Often. Scale instructions and items For the following items, report how often each has occurred this semester using the following scale Never Rarely Sometimes Often Very Often 1 2 3 4 5   Examples (See the reference for the wording of the 11 items.) Item 1. asks about personal relationships Item 2. asks about family   Reliability: Cronbach’s alpha = .87 in a sample of 185 college students (Feldt & Koch, 2011) Validity: Findings from a follow-up study revealed strong convergent validity with the Perceived St...

  S cale name: Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale AMAS Scale overview: The Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS) is a 9-item measure of anxiety related to mathematics. Authors: Hopko et al. Response Type: The AMAS uses a 5-point Likert-type rating scale. 1 = Low anxiety 2 = Some anxiety 3 = Moderate anxiety 4 = Quite a bit of anxiety 5 = High anxiety Sample items Having to use the tables in the back of a math book. Taking an examination in a math course. Reliability : Internal consistent value (Cronbach’s Alpha) = .90 and 2-week test-retest = .85 (Hopko et al. 2003) Validity: The Hopko et al. (2003) article reports strong convergent validity with other measures and the results of a factor analysis. Availability: Permissions -- if identified Author email from the article below: dhorpko@utk.edu   Reference for the scale Hopko, D. R., Mahadevan, R., Bare, R. L., & Hunt, M. K. (2003). The abbreviated math  anxiety scale (AMAS) constr...

  Scale name: Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Questionnaire (MSEAQ) Scale overview: The Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Questionnaire (MSEAQ) is a 29-item self-report measure of both mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics anxiety. Author: Diana Kathleen May Response Type: Items are rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale following a “no response” option: 1 = Never 2 = Seldom 3 = Sometimes 4 = Often 5 = usually Sample items 1. I feel confident enough to ask questions  in my mathematics class. 6. I worry that I will not be able to get a  good grade in my mathematics course.   Subscales and basic statistics for the MSEAQ       Self-Efficacy M = 44.11, SD = 10.78, alpha = .93       Anxiety M = 46.47, SD = 12.61, alpha = .93       Total Scale M = 90.58, SD = 22.78, alpha = .96 Reliability: See the Cronbach’s alpha levels reported above. Validity: There were significant ...