You Can't Judge a Measure by Its Label: Teaching the Process of Instrumentation

Abstract

In this article, we describe an exercise in instrument selection applicable to both undergraduate and graduate courses. The exercise consists of 5 progressive steps that involve choosing and defining a theoretical construct (Steps 1 and 2), using computer-based technology to obtain 2 distinct instruments that measure this construct (Steps 3 and 4), and comparing and contrasting these 2 instruments along multiple dimensions (Step 5). This activity generates awareness of the issues involved in measuring latent constructs and teaches at least 3 lessons: (a) The 1st step to accurate instrumentation is precisely conceptualizing the construct of interest; (b) there is more than 1 way to measure latent constructs, and these multiple approaches should be compared; and (c) it is crucial to measure a construct in a way that best matches its underlying definition.