Assessment, Statistics, and Research

The  Moral Foundations Questionnaire  ( MFQ ) is available online and as a download. You can take the test online and get your scores. The MFQ is designed to measure the five core moral foundations derived from Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) developed by Jonathan Haidt and his colleagues. (See references at the end of this post). The MFQ evaluates moral foundations based on answers to questions. There are five moral foundations in the MFQ: Care-Harm Equality-Fairness; aka fairness/cheating Loyalty-Betrayal Authority-Respect; aka Authority/subversion Purity-Sanctity aka Sanctity/degradation I added the aka because you will find somewhat different words for the foundations in some articles. See this page for a description of Moral Foundations Theory Researchers can use the MFQ items to create their own surveys. The current version (2018) is a 30-item version known as the MFQ30. There is also a shorter version known as the MFQ20, which has 20 items, 4-items for ea...

Behavioral scientists commonly refer to four types of measurement or scales. Understanding the types of measurement or scales is important because some numbers have limited applications and they are misused. The four types of measurement scales are as follows: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio. This information is taken from Chapter 5 of Applied Statistics: Concepts for Counselors Nominal Scale This is often called the naming scale. The numbers allow researchers to classify people as belonging in a group. The numbers cannot be added or ranked. If we were studying treatment of people with depression we might form two groups simply numbers 1 and 2 for those getting treatment and those on a waiting list for treatment. All people in the study have a number but the number is just a classification. Numbers on sports team players may represent positions. Ordinal Scale The ordinal scale is a ranking scale. Performance can be ranked in order of high to low. You can r...

The Adult Attachment Scale or AAS was developed by Professor Nancy Collins at UCSB. The scale was revised in 1996. Attachment theory developed from observations and experiments with children and primates. Many have focused on two dimensions of anxiety and avoidance (or closeness). In the AAS, professor Collins includes a subscale to measure the dependability of a friend. The full scale has 18 items rated on a 1-5 scale ranging from Not at all (1) to very (5) characteristic of me. Following are sample items: 1)          I find it relatively easy to get close to people.                                                      ________ 2)        ...

The Attachment to God Inventory (AGI) developed by Richard Beck and Angie McDonald (2004) consists of 28 items divided into two subscales (14 items each for Avoidant and Anxious Attachment). The AGI is based on attachment theory as applied to the study of the relationship between Christians and God commonly portrayed as a parent-child relationship and referred to in the literature as attachment to God (e.g., Kirkpatrick, 2012).  Avoidant attachment refers to a sense of distance from God. People close to God view God as protective.  Anxious attachment reflects an insecure relationship with God in contrast to a secure relationship. Participants rate each scale item from 1= disagree strongly to 7 = agree strongly . A sample item from the avoidant subscale is, “I prefer not to depend too much on God.” A sample item from the anxious subscale is, “I worry a lot about my relationship with God.” Based on two college and one community samples, Beck and McDonald ...

Giving on a large scale and in a socially responsible manner has been called philanthropy. For obvious reasons, people have studied philanthropy and philanthropists. The Philanthropy Scale is a measure of generosity. Generous givers fund large scale projects like hospitals and disease research. Some give to establish schools and museums. There are many ways wealthy people use their resources to benefit others. Fortunately, generosity is not restricted to the super wealthy. Everyday people give their time and talents to benefit local charities or support an organization known for helping people in need throughout the world. Philanthropy is often studied along with gratitude and compassion . The Philanthropy Scale is a 7-item Likert-type scale. Schuyt, Smit, and Bekkers developed the scale  and presented the results at a 2004 conference in Los Angeles, CA. Each of the 7-items is rated as: 1 = disagree completely, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neither Agree nor Disagree, 4 = Agre...

compassion                         Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale (SCBCS) The Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale consists of five survey items describing compassion. A group of researchers in the Psychology Department of Santa Clara University identified five statements that reflect compassion. Of course, people may disagree with the idea that five sentences describe the concept, compassion. Nevertheless, the researchers did consider 21 statements and found that a set of five captures most of what people considered to be the essential components of compassion in a 2005 study by other researchers. The short scale is known as the Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale ( SCBCS;   Hwang, Plante, & Lackey, 2008). It was derived from the longer 21-item Compassionate Love Scale developed by Sprecher and Fehr (2005). Although the scale has been used in Psychology of Religion research, the items do not limit ...