Items and Scales for your Social Science Research Project
Appropriate measurement instruments are the basis of successful social science research to capture attitudes, values, performance of individuals or groups. We support researchers by providing empirically tested measurement instruments in the open access repository for social and behavioural science measurement instruments ZIS. We also advise on the development, evaluation and selection of measurement instruments. We develop measurement instruments ourselves on behalf of or out of our own research interest.
Items and Scales - Our Services at a Glance
Items and Scales - Our Services in Detail
We provide you with comprehensive services relating to items and scales from a single source. We will be happy to consult you on your individual support requirements.
Development of Items and Scales
We support you in shortening existing measurement instruments or in developing new short scales:
Support in item selection for shortening scales / measurement instruments:
We help you to shorten scales. We provide support in the selection of suitable methods (e.g. qualitative by visual validity, quantitative by factor loadings, ant-colony optimisation, etc.) including the interpretation of results and give concrete suggestions for shortening.
Support in the psychometric validation of measurement instruments:
We advise on the selection of methods for testing dimensionality, reliability, validity, objectivity, measurement invariance and provide support in conducting the analyses (including code checks) and interpreting the results (including checking the results).
Use of multiform / planned missingness / incomplete block/ split questionnaire designs for scale development:
We advise you on the selection of the survey design and the distribution of items in the respective design. We offer practical support in the implementation and help you to select suitable analysis strategies (pairwise present / FIML / MI) for different scenarios.
Find tested Items and Scales in ZIS
Articles in the GESIS Survey Guidelines:
Reliability
Documenting Measurement Instruments for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Publications:
Rammstedt, Beatrice, and Constanze Beierlein. 2014. "Can't we make it any shorter? The limits of personality assessment and ways to overcome them." Journal of Individual Differences 35 (4): 212-220.