Content validity and reliability of an instrument to investigate serendipitous retrieval of information: Information Encountering and its Subsequent Keeping and Sharing Behaviour Scale (IEKSBS)

Abstract

Good quantitative survey research is based on valid and reliable instruments. However, when it comes to information encountering (IE) and its keeping (IK) and sharing (IS) behaviours, there was currently no instrument available to accurately measure it. Therefore, this study was designed to prepare a valid and reliable instrument to investigate IE and its subsequent behaviours. This comprised of its preferred keeping tools, communication channels, purposes of sharing, motivators to share and constraints in sharing. Three already available instruments in the information behaviours lacked the distinguished type of information. These instruments were merged after seeking permission from their original authors. The merged instrument was validated for content and reliability. The data for reliability checking were collected twice: first, at the time of the pilot study and second, at the time of the final study. A multi-stage purposive total population sampling technique was used to collect the data from the sample. The subsequent instrument proved to be reliable for the investigation of IE, IK and IS behaviours. The process of making an instrument valid and reliable is complex. Therefore, the steps taken to establish content validity and reliability of the instrument are presented in detail in this article. The instrument is attached in the end for future studies and research.