RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
- Mechanism for measuring phenomena
- Used to gather and record info for assessment
decision making and ultimately understanding
- Anything that becomes a means of collecting data
SUBJECTIVE
- Info that originates within an individual
- Reflected by items that measure attitudes, feelings,
opinions, values and beliefs
OBJECTIVE
- Attempts to be free of personal interpretation
- Typified by data that are observable
- Demographic info
 The choice and development of the research
instrument to achieve the research
Objectives must be done with:
1. Operationalization of concepts used in the study
2. Development of the strategy of the data collected
Note:
- Several diff res instrument can be used to achieve
the same res objectives
When to choose res instrument:
- Choosing the res instrument is done for
conceptualization and the choice of units of analysis
- The relationship between types of analysis and res
instrument is determined by the questions and how
the researcher will determine the answer
CATEGORIZATION: INSTRUMENT
- Mode of administration:
o Who is responsible for completing the
instrument?
o Self-report
 Respondents supplies the info
directly
o Observation
 Instrument Is being completed by a
third person
 Collects data about characteristics
intrinsic to an individual (ex:
checklist)
 External rater is also used when
info is needed about things rather
than people
- Use or purpose
o Provides nomenclature for describing
instruments, however, it is not easy to
make distinctions based solely on intended
use
o Test
 Collection of items developed to
measure some human educational
or psychological attribute
o Rating scale
 Evaluate
 Make us of an item format where
response choices are ordered on a
continuum
 Used to measure attitudes and
opinions and record direct
observation and assessment
 Assess the performance of
individuals, orgs, programs and
services
- Performance and behavior rating
o Use rating scales specifically designed to
measure an individual’s ability to complete
a task or perform an act
o Typically completed by an external observer
or rater
o May designed to be descriptive (ex:
present/not present_
o Designed to evaluate (ex: satisfactory/not)
- Checklists
o Determine the presence or absence of an
attribute and to count the prevalence of an
item event
o May use variety of formats: scales, rank,
order, dichotomous choices and open-
ended questions
- Inventory
o List of objects, goods or attributes
o A word used to describe the process of
compiling the list
o Used to asses a person’s interests,
characteristics, or skills
o Developmental inventories – items are
usually listed sequentially where acquisition
of basic skills is a precursor to
demonstrating more complex skills
o Info obtained can be weighed against
normative data to provide a comparative
level of functioning
- Survey, poll, attitude scale and questionnaire
o Terms used to interchangeably to describe
instruments designed to obtain factual
information and to assess beliefs, opinions
and attitudes
o Can be used to:
 Explore relation
 Examine attitudes and beliefs
- Psychometric instrument
o Describe an array of instrument designed to
assess cognitive, affective and physical
functioning and personality traits
o Assess vocational abilities and aptitude to
predict an individual’s suitability for an
occupation
 o Ex: standardized test (IQ test)
o Subcategory of this are designed for
behavioral analysis
CONSIDERATIONS IN THE SELECTION OR CONSTRUCTION OF
INSTRUMENTS
1. Validity, reliability, and practicality issues
2. Availability of adequate research instruments
3. Ability and time of the researcher to develop good
instruments
4. Purposes and circumstances of the research
5. Philosophy of the researcher
COMPONENTS OF AN INSTRUMENT
1. Title
o Helps to convey
2. Introduction
o Why instrument was made
o What does the instrument measure?
o Contain how the instrument and its
contents will be managed
3. Directions or instruction
o Should be given at the beginning of the
instrument and within the instrument
where the respondents need guidance to
complete
o Brief and clear
4. Items
o Heart of the instrument
o Could be a multitude of items formats
o Selection items provide the potential
choices from which the respondent makes a
choice
o Rating item consists of a tem, which is a
phrase, sentence or questions that elicits
info, and the response set, form which the
respondent makes the selection
o Response choices may form a graded
continuum, or scale or they may be
alternatives
o Supply items (eg: open-ended questions),
require respondents to provide the answer
themselves
5. Demographics
o Info: age, gender, occupation, and marital
status
o Should solicit only info that is vital to the
study can be placed at either at the
beginning or end
6. Closing section
a. Thank the research respondent for taking
the study
CONSIDERATIONS IN EVALUATING EXISTING INSTRUMENTS
1. Format considerations
2. Content considerations
3. Standardization – process of testing the instrument
on many different samples of people describing their
performance, the information can be used by other
researchers to compare the results of their data with
similar groups under similar circumstances.
SELECTING AN APPROPRIATE INSTRU
- Purpose of the study
o The type of info is needed
- Research design
- Object of measurement
o Who or what will be the focuses of inquiry
o “What” – develop an instrument that will
be competed by an independent or external
rater
o “Who” – self-report
- Data collection methodology
o Type of sate that might be produced and
how those data will be collected
o Info can help determine the item format to
use
- Resources
o Availability of the resources
Rules governing the selection instruments:
- The highest validity
- The highest reliability (70—100%)
- The greatest ease of administration, scoring, and
interpretation
- Test takers’ lack of familiarity with instrument
- Avoids potentially controversial matters
Administering the instrument:
- Make arrangements in advance
- Ensure ideal testing environment
- Be prepared for all probable contingencies
TWO ISSUES IN USING INSTRUMENTS:
1. Validity – the degree to which the instrument
measures what it purports to measure
2. Reliability- the degree to which the instrument
consistently measures what it purports to measure
VALIDITY
- Defined as the property of an instrument that refers
to:
o The ability of the instrument to measure
what it intends to measure
o The extent
o Types:
 Content validity – the degree to
which an instrument measures an
intended content area
 Criterion-related validity- an
individual rakes two forms of an
instrument which are ten
correlated to discriminate between
those individuals
 Concurrent validity –
scores on one test
 correlate to score on
another test when both
tests are administered in
the same time frame
 Predictive validity – a test
can predict how well
individual will do in a
future situation
 Construct validity – a series of
studies validate that the
instrument really measures what it
purports to measure
Interpretation of results could be done through:
1. Norm-referenced
o Provides an indication about how one
individual performed in an instrument
compared to the other students performing
on the same instrument
2. Criterion-referenced
o Involves a comparison against
predetermined levels of performance
3. Self-referenced
o Involves measuring how an individual’s
performance changes over time

TYPES OF RELIABILTY: DECISIONS ABOUT RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

1. Stability (“test-retest”) – the degree to which two
scores on the same instrument are consistent over
time
2. Equivalence (“equivalent forms”) – identical
instruments (except for the actual items included)
yield identical scores
3. Internal consistency (“split-half, whole test, inter-
rater Cohen Alpha”) – reliability with Spearman-
Brown correlation formula, Kuder-Richardson and
Cronback’s Alpha reliabilities, scorer/rater
reliability): the degree to which one instrument
yields consistent results
- Decisions are made by the researcher and are based
on the research question and design of study
- Research instrument for an investigation need to
accurately measure the phenomena under study
WRITING YOUR RESEARCH INSTRUMENT IN PROPOSAL
1. Name of the tool, author, copyright
2. What does it measure, domains
3. Number of items, response procedure
4. Administration procedure
5. Scoring procedure
6. Reliability index

PRACTICALITY Note: written in a PARAGRAPH FORM!!!!!! (3-5 sentences &

- Relate to the usefulness of the instrument for the avoid long sentences & use simple statements)
researchers intended purpose
- Often viewed in terms of utility and economy with
respect to time, money and effort
- Refers to the characteristics of administrability,
scorabilty and etc.

FACTORS THE DETERMINE PRACTICALITY OF A RES

INSTRUMENT
- Ease of administration
- Ease of scoring/coding and decoding of results
- Should be simple and direct
- Should be sufficient but not too many
- Be clear
- Appropriateness

Measurement scales
- The representation of variables so that they can be
quantified
o Qualitative (categorical)
 nominal
o Quantitative
 Ordinal (ranks them 1st 2nd 3rd)
 Interval (according to equal
differences with no true zero
point)
 Ratio (according to equal
differences with a true zero point)