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"The steps of scale development are clearly explained, with brief rationales of the methods involved. . . .Having read the book, almost anyone with a basic social science education could go through the practical motions of developing a scale. . . . says in general terms that theory is important and goes on to provide hints on how to generate a pool of items. The hints are empirically sound and useful. . . "

--Joint Centre for Survey Methods Newsletter

When a social scientist conducts a survey, the goal is to develop a rating on some attitude, value, or opinion - a summated rating scale. Aimed at helping researchers construct more effective summated rating scales, Spector shows how to determine the amount of items necessary, the appropriate amount of response categories, the most productive wording of items, how to sort good items from bad (including item-remainder coefficients and Cronbach’s alpha), and how to validate a scale, including dimensional validity from factor analysis. This accessible book concludes with a step-by-step account of how to develop a summated rating scale based on classical test theory.