In her years of experience as a clinical therapist, Juanita had come to suspect that some of her clients seemed to share a common trait.
Specifically, a significant portion of her clients expressed great loneliness. Juanita found that different therapeutic approaches had varying success with these clients, depending on the degree of loneliness experienced. To help match the correct therapeutic approach to the client, Juanita sought a self-report paper-and-pencil scale of loneliness. Unfortunately, she was unable to locate a scale with established reliability and validity. Undaunted, Juanita began development of a paper-and-pencil measure that would assess the degree of loneliness experienced by the respondent.

Juanita began by reading scientific journals and book chapters on the construct of loneliness. Based on her understanding of the research and her own clinical experience, Juanita defined the trait of loneliness as a persistent, painful awareness of not being connected to others. Juanita then used her knowledge of test construction to develop a measure of 33 items intended to assess the trait of loneliness.

Upon completion of the development of her scale, Juanita wondered whether her new creation was indeed content valid. Therefore, before administering the scale to any clients, she asked four other experienced therapists to scrutinize the items. Each of these clinicians provided positive assurance that the scale seemed to capture the concept of loneliness quite well. Satisfied, Juanita set out to begin using her scale.

Questions

1. Are Juanita’s efforts sufficient to provide evidence of content validity? Explain.

2. To what degree does Juanita’s purpose for the test influence your response to question 1?

3. What additional sources might Juanita seek to help define the trait of loneliness?

4. Is Juanita’s choice of individuals to serve as SMEs appropriate? Explain.

5. Has Juanita used an appropriate number of SMEs? Explain.

6. How might Juanita identify other SMEs who would be useful in the content validation of her scale?

7. Is it possible that 33 items could capture the complexity of a construct such as the trait of loneliness?