During this presentation, we will discuss the key components for selecting an appropriate survey instrument for your research. We will examine sources for identifying surveys and the reliability/validity statistics to incorporate into the methodology chapter.

1. Selecting an Ideal Survey Instrument for a
Quantitative Study
Justin D’Souza
Quantitative Specialist

2. Table of
Contents
Statistics Solutions Services
Selecting an Instrument
Summary
Q&A
Need help with your dissertation? Call 727-442-4290

3. Services Offered
by Statistics
Solutions
• Topic Development
• Prospectus or Concept Papers
• Introduction Chapter
• Literature Review Chapter (identifying articles)
• Methodology Chapter (Quantitative/Qualitative).
• IRB forms
• Data entry templates
• Survey Monkey upload
• Results Chapter (Quantitative/Qualitative)
• Discussion Chapter
• Powerpoints for Defense
• Journal Publications
 Need help with your dissertation? Call 727-442-4290

4. WebinarArchive
• https://www.statisticssolutions.com/webinars/
• https://www.statisticssolutions.com/webinar-
archive/

5. Creating Your
Own Survey
Instrument
 Creating your own survey instrument should be a last
resort.
 You need to run a pilot test among a group of
experts.
 Prove that the instrument in valid with an EFA
and/or a CFA.
 Prove that the instrument is reliable.
 Adds several months to the dissertation process.
Need help with your dissertation? Call 727-442-4290

6. Validity
 There should be some form of a validity check on a previously
validated instrument.
 Face validity – evaluation of the feasibility, readability, and
consistency of style/formatting of the questions being asked.
Look for a “kappa” value in previous research.
 Content validity – Degree to which the items in an instrument
reflect the content to which the instrument will be generalized.
Look for a convent validity ratio (CVR).
Need help with your dissertation? Call 727-442-4290

7. Construct
Validity
 Discriminant/Divergent validity – Tests that constructs that should have no
relationship do, in fact, have no relationship.
 Convergent validity – Tests the degree to which two measures of constructs that
theoretically related, are in fact, related.
 Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is typically conducted utilizing principal
component analysis (PCA) to test for discriminant/divergent and convergent
validity.
 The factor analysis results will satisfy the criteria of construct validity including
both the discriminant validity (loading of at least 0.40, no crossloading of items
above 0.40) and convergent validity (eigenvalues of 1, loading of at least 0.40,
items that load on hypothesized constructs).
Need help with your dissertation? Call 727-442-4290

8. Reliability
 Cronbach alpha internal consistency is the most common form of
reliability that is reported for previously validated surveys.
 According to George & Mallery (2020), alpha values are interpreted in
strength with the following cutoffs: α > .9 Excellent, α > .8 Good, α >
.7 Acceptable, α > .6 Questionable, α > .5 Poor, and α < .5
Unacceptable.
 George, D. & Mallery, P. (2020). IBM SPSS step by step: a simple
guide a reference (16th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Need help with your dissertation? Call 727-442-4290

9. Scoring
Instructions
 Obtain scoring instructions for the survey
 Understand whether there is an overarching variable
the survey measures or are there subscales.
 Do any items need to be reverse-coded prior to
scoring?
Need help with your dissertation? Call 727-442-4290

10. Additional Notes
 Identify a key construct or variable that you want to
search for.
 For example, if trying to measure a job satisfaction
then on Google try searching “job satisfaction
previously validated survey” or “job satisfaction
survey reliability and validity”.
 Visit this website for a measurement instrument
database. You can search for previously validated
surveys with keywords:
 https://www.midss.org/
Need help with your dissertation? Call 727-442-4290

11. Additional Notes
 Follow-up with the author(s) of the original survey
instrument. If their email is not provided in journal
publications look at their university website or
LinkedIn for contact information.
 Ask the authors to send any validation articles and
scoring instructions for the surveys they have
developed.
Need help with your dissertation? Call 727-442-4290

12. Summary
 Avoid creating your own survey unless you have no other
choice. Save the construction of a survey for a journal
publication instead of a dissertation.
 Search for keywords in your topic to see if a previously
validated survey had already been developed.
 Identify key reliability/validity statistics to report in your
dissertation.
 Obtain scoring instructions for the survey.
Need help with your dissertation? Call 727-442-4290

13. Additional
Support
Statistics Solutions is a full-service dissertation consulting
company providing graduate students timely, editorial
support for their dissertations and scholarly projects
For information about our services, receive a
complementary 30-min consultation available Mon-Fri 9-5
ET
Contact us at info@statisticssolutions.com
Phone: 727-442-4290