Elaboration of reduced versions of Measurement tools: A practical Perspective

• Main Authors: Nekane Balluerka, Arantxa Gorostiaga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2012-01-01
• Series: Psychosocial Intervention
• Online Access: http://www.copmadrid.org/webcopm/publicaciones/social/in2012v21n1a7.pdf

The aim of the present study is to show, from a practical perspective, the guidelines that may be followed to create a reduced version of a measurement tool. Therefore, it describes in detail the process of creating the reduced Basque version of the CDS scale (Children's Depression Scale; Lang and Tisher, 1978), which measures depression in children and adolescents. In a first study, the items that make up the reduced version of the CDS (CDS-R) are selected from a set of analysis conducted on a sample of 886 children and adolescents who were administered the extensive version of the CDS adapted to the Basque language (Balluerka, Gorostiaga, and Haranburu, 2012). Subsequently, the CDS-R is validated on a sample of 2,165 participants. This second study examines the factorial structure, the internal consistency and the temporal stability of the instrument, as well as the relationship between its dimensions and gender, academic performance, emotional intelligence and attachment. Thus, evidence is obtained on the reliability and validity of the reduced version of the instrument, which guarantees suitable evaluation of the construct the instrument is intended to measure.