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7 Tips for Writing Better Survey Items

So many people are creating surveys in schools, government agencies, and major corporations. Some are better than others. Here are seven tips. 1  Stay focused on your goal.  Avoid asking everything you can think of on a subject. Unfortunately, I've been on project teams that would not heed this advice. Participants get frustrated and leave surveys incomplete. 2  Ask only one question at a time. Have someone look at your items to see if they are confused about what you are asking. 3  Use easy-to-understand language. Know your audience and how they use language. Again, ask a few people to check your wording. 4  Write well. Some participants will drop out of your survey when they identify misspelled words, common punctuation errors, and problems of grammar. 5  Cover all possible answers. If you aren't sure you have listed every option, then add an "other" option with a place to write in another response. This may lessen the frustration of p...

Modified Parenting Scale

The Modified Parenting Scale is a shortened version of the Parenting Scale developed by Arnold, O'Leary, Wolff, & Acker ( 1993 ). The 2007 study by Prinzie, Onghena, and Hellinckx revealed two dimensions, which are overreactivity and laxness. The reliability data were reported as acceptable to good in this sample of more than 1000 parents. There is some evidence of predictive validity. Inadequate parenting was positively related to problem behavior on the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach- See ASEBA for details) and stress as measured by the Parenting Stress Index (Dutch version; See Doll 1989 for a review). The full version can be found on PsycTESTS . There are 20 items, which are rated on 7-point Likert scales. Ad... Learn more about conduting surveys in Creating Surveys on AMAZON Item Examples Laxness items 16 When my child does something I don’t like . . . I do something about it every time it happens – I often let it go. 12 When I w...

Measuring Marital Satisfaction with the KMSS

Marital Satisfaction AI image  The Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMSS) is a widely used, brief measure of relationship quality. Despite comprising only three items, the KMSS consistently yields highly reliable and valid data. Internal consistency ($\alpha$) values typically range in the .90s (e.g., Schumm et al., 2008). Furthermore, concurrent validity is well-supported, demonstrating strong alignment with longer instruments such as the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS; e.g., Schumm et al., 1986). Developed by Walter R. Schumm at Kansas State University, the scale is available for educational and research use without prior permission. Additional references are listed below. Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMSS): 3-items Items are rated on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (extremely dissatisfied) to 7 (extremely satisfied). 1.       How satisfied are you with your marriage? 2.       How satisfied are you with your husb...