Theoretical Construction
Compassion is an empathetic response to another person 's suffering that is later followed by a motivation to ease the sufferer’s condition (Lilius, Worline, Dutton, Kanov, Frost & Maitlis, 2003). The Self-compassion scale (SCS) developed by Neff (2015) breaks this definition further into three components, however the present scale will utilise only two: an empathetic response, and the motivation to ease suffering (Petrocchi, Ottaviani, & Couyoumdjian, 2014). The purpose was to produce a shorter, reliable scale of compassion with a focus on compassion toward humanity adapted from Sprecher and Fehr’s scale (2005).
Fotaki (2015) urged that compassion should be a fundamental ethic in health-care settings and be a trait …show more content…
However, negatively scored items were used sparingly (see Appendix B).
Validity and Reliability
An instrument is valid when it measures the construct it was designed for, and reliable when an instrument can consistently produce the same results over time, across different situations (Field, 2003).
Content validity is an evaluation of the relationship between the items and the construct being measured (Cook & Beckman, 2006) and can be done in two ways. Firstly, a thorough revision of the construct would be required to avoid any ambiguities when constructing items. For example, background reading into the definition and theory of compassion would avoid creating items that represent altruism or sympathy which are commonly misattributed (Goetz, Keltner, & Simon-Thomas, 2010). Secondly, an expert was asked to review each item, and then made suggestions to delete some items, and make changes to others (see appendix C) - known as Face validity. Both methods ensure that each item reflects the construct being measured and maintain …show more content…
Although a quick test of validity, it is the least scientific method, therefore a test with strong face validity does not equal strong overall validity (Dissertation.laerd.com, 2016). Assessing the criterion validity may overcome this. A criterion is a term given to an established measurement used as a template to create a new measurement, such as, using the SCS by Neff (2015) as a criterion to develop a measurement for the present scale (Howitt & Cramer, 2014). One type of criterion validity is concurrent validity, which is a test of how well the present scale correlates with another, often better-established test (Howitt & Cramer, 2014). Both tests are administered to the same group of participants and the scores are compared by how much they correlate with one another (Kline, 2010). The higher the correlation, the more confidence can be placed in the present scale’s validity (Howitt & Cramer,
Compassion is an empathetic response to another person 's suffering that is later followed by a motivation to ease the sufferer’s condition (Lilius, Worline, Dutton, Kanov, Frost & Maitlis, 2003). The Self-compassion scale (SCS) developed by Neff (2015) breaks this definition further into three components, however the present scale will utilise only two: an empathetic response, and the motivation to ease suffering (Petrocchi, Ottaviani, & Couyoumdjian, 2014). The purpose was to produce a shorter, reliable scale of compassion with a focus on compassion toward humanity adapted from Sprecher and Fehr’s scale (2005).
Fotaki (2015) urged that compassion should be a fundamental ethic in health-care settings and be a trait …show more content…
However, negatively scored items were used sparingly (see Appendix B).
Validity and Reliability
An instrument is valid when it measures the construct it was designed for, and reliable when an instrument can consistently produce the same results over time, across different situations (Field, 2003).
Content validity is an evaluation of the relationship between the items and the construct being measured (Cook & Beckman, 2006) and can be done in two ways. Firstly, a thorough revision of the construct would be required to avoid any ambiguities when constructing items. For example, background reading into the definition and theory of compassion would avoid creating items that represent altruism or sympathy which are commonly misattributed (Goetz, Keltner, & Simon-Thomas, 2010). Secondly, an expert was asked to review each item, and then made suggestions to delete some items, and make changes to others (see appendix C) - known as Face validity. Both methods ensure that each item reflects the construct being measured and maintain …show more content…
Although a quick test of validity, it is the least scientific method, therefore a test with strong face validity does not equal strong overall validity (Dissertation.laerd.com, 2016). Assessing the criterion validity may overcome this. A criterion is a term given to an established measurement used as a template to create a new measurement, such as, using the SCS by Neff (2015) as a criterion to develop a measurement for the present scale (Howitt & Cramer, 2014). One type of criterion validity is concurrent validity, which is a test of how well the present scale correlates with another, often better-established test (Howitt & Cramer, 2014). Both tests are administered to the same group of participants and the scores are compared by how much they correlate with one another (Kline, 2010). The higher the correlation, the more confidence can be placed in the present scale’s validity (Howitt & Cramer,