Assessment, Statistics, and Research

  Scale name: State Joy Scale Scale overview: The State Joy Scale (SJS) is an 11-item self-report rating scale of joy with strong psychometric properties.   Response Type: There are two types of ratings. 1. Items 1-2 are rated on a 7-point frequency basis from 1 = Not at all to 7 = Frequently. See the article for the text for each of the numerical options. 2. Items 3- 11 are rated on a 7-point scale of agreement from 1 = Completely disagree to 7 = Strongly agree. Sample Scale items 1. In the past week, how often have you felt joyful? 7. Something happened this week that made me feel like celebrating.   Reliability: In study 1 of Watkins et al. (2017), Cronbach's alpha = .945. Validity: Factor analysis yielded a one-factor solution, which explained 65.17% of the variance. The State Joy Scale was significantly positively correlated with several measures including the following (correlations follow the scale names). Gratitude Questionnaire-6, .424 GRA

  Scale name: Dispositional Joy Scale (DJS) Scale overview: The Dispositional Joy Scale (DJS) is a 16-item self-report measure of joy as a trait or disposition with strong psychometric support.   Response Type: Items are rated on a scale of agreement from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. The numbers 2 through 6 are not labeled. Scale items- example I often feel bursts of joy. I often feel blessed.     Reliability: Internal consistency was alpha = .954 (Study 1) and .96 and .97 (Study 2; Watkins et al., 2017). Validity: Factor analysis resulted in a one factor solution accounting for nearly 60% of the variance (Watkins et al., 2017). The Dispositional Joy Scale was significantly correlated with other positive psychology measures. Some examples follow with correlation coefficients next to the associated scale (Study 2, Watkins et al., 2017). State Joy Scale .68 State Gratitude .58 Trait Gratitude GRAT-S .68 Trait Gratitude GQ-6 .53 Rosenberg

In this post, I refer to a set of items to assess gratitude. The  Gratitude Questionnaire  uses six items and was published by McCullough, Emmons, and Tsang in 2002. I have written elsewhere about gratitude . People high in the virtue of gratitude are often high in other virtues as well such as optimism and life satisfaction. They also tend to be more religious. In a previous post, The Psychology of Gratitude , I list some suggestions to increase gratitude. Reliability In previous research, the authors found support for one factor. Coefficient alpha , a measure of interitem consistency, ranged from .76 to .84 in samples reported by the authors  (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002; McCullough, Tsang, & Emmons, 2002). Rating the Scale Items When using the scale in surveys the items are rated on a 7-point scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). High scores indicate a higher level of self-reported gratitude. Here's the 7-point rating: 1 = strongly

  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 Stress = .9

  Scale name: NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scales- for Child ADHD diagnoses Scales overview: The NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scales are behavior rating scales used by clinicians as part of the diagnosis of ADHD in children. The scales assess ADHD symptoms and other conditions that may occur with ADHD or should be ruled out. Response Type: Most of the items are rated on a 4-point scale of frequency: Never, Occasionally, Often, Very Often Scale items The parent scale: Items 1 to 47 assess symptoms and items 48 to 55 assess performance. The teacher scale: Items 1 to 35 assess symptoms, items 36 to 38 assess academic performance, and items 39-43 assess classroom performance. There are parent and teacher follow-up forms available. The NICHQ provides scoring guidelines in their scale packet. Reliability: Bard et al. (2013) reported coefficient alpha values from .91 to .94 on the parent form and test-retest reliability was above .80 for the total scale scores. Wolraich et