Construct Development and Scale Creation - Assignment Example

I. Construct Development and Scale Creation  A. Origin and Definition – Emotional intelligence can be traced back on the research of Thorndike (1920) who presupposed that intelligence includes the emotional and social component (qtd. in Mandell & Pherwarni, 2003). In 1967, researchers like Guilford and H. Eysenck (1995) reported that indeed intelligence transcends beyond the traditional cognitive IQ and includes one hundred and two different types of intelligence (qtd. in Lyusin, 2006). This was later supported by Howard Gardner when he articulated his theory of multiple intelligences categorizing it as intra personal and interpersonal intelligences within within the framework of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1993). His concept on intrapersonal intelligence or the capacity and competence to understand one’s self and apply it effectively in its relationship to others and in life in general as articulated in his concept on interpersonal intelligence served as the basic building block upon which future theorists will build their research on (Carmeli & Josman, 2006). Emotional intellience came as a formal construct with Peter Salovey and John Mayer who formally developed the term “emotional intelligence”. In its first version of their study, EI was defined as the “the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action” (Salovey and Mayer, 1990 qtd. In Lyusin, 2006: 55). Later, the definition was expanded into the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth” (Mishra and Mohapatra, 2010:54). B. Items used to sample the domain For simplicity and universality to sample the domain, we will use Gardner’s five domains of EQ (1993) which are; 1. Knowing your emotions. 2. Managing your own emotions. 3. Motivating yourself. 4. Recognising and understanding other people's emotions. 5. Managing relationships, ie., managing the emotions of others. C. Method of scaling for the domain Instrument In scaling or providing the choice of response for the questionnaire of the items of the instrument, we will used the Likert type scales by providing a 1 to 5 options which refer to the options of strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree and strongly disagree. This will provide sufficient variance or variability of the reply among respondents. We will also use a self-report questionnaire. Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire 1. I do not react when verbally assaulted □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 2. I know when I feel down □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 3. I know when I am angry □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 4. I often worry □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 5. When people offends me, I always remember □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 6. Some people just irritate me □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 7. I get anxious when I face difficulty □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 8. There are times that I do not feel confident about myself □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 9. The future is scary □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 10. When other people expresses their emotions such as happiness and grief, I am fine with the idea □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 11. I feel pity when I see others get hurt □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 12. There are times that I wish I can change the world □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 13. When I feel love towards another, I am capable of doing it so. □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 14. I am comfortable when people says “I love you” to me. □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree 15. When I feel it, I have no problem saying “I love you” to the people I love. □ Strongly Agree □ Agree □ Neither Agree or Disagree □ Disagree □ Strongly Disagree II. Analysis and justification The five domains of Gardner (1993) was used because this was to able to capture the essence of Emotional Intelligence which is to recognize one’s emotions and others, able to manage it and direct to influence the emotions of others. In addition, it is also universally accepted as a valid domain in determining emotional intelligence. We used the Likert’s one to five scale options which refer to strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree and strongly disagree to offer variable and variance of the response. The questions that were formulated should adequately answer and cover the construct. With regard to sampling population, we will use Rummel’s (1970) suggestion of 1:4 item to response ratio which will make the sampling size to 60 (items in questionnaire x 4). Ideally, the sampling population should have homogeneity in terms of certain characteristic such as profession for the study to capture the emotional intelligence of a certain group in a particular context. The samples should represent a certain population which the research intends to study or make inference about. As an example, for the study to determine the emotional intelligence of student’s or employees in a particular school or employees of a particular corporation, the population of that group should be represented in the sample of the study. Method used for item selection Ideally, the construct which we intend to measure should first be defined as what was done in the first section of this paper. Then develop items of instrument that can best encapsulate the idea of the construct. In our case, we will use the five dimensions of theoretical universe of emotional intelligence that was created by Gardner (1993) for simplicity and universality. The questionnaires that will be developed should be able to represent all the 5 dimensions of emotional intelligence as created by Gardner (1993). Determining the construct validity To determine if the questions developed best represents the five dimensions of emotional intelligence, we have to administer validity and reliability test. This will detect the existence or non-existence of the criteria that can “represent the traits or construct of interest” (Young, 1996). It will determine through a criterion-related validity how the extent of the scores can be related to a criterion. The criterion can be a certain behavior or aptitude of interest that we would like to determine using the test scores of our instrument (Key, 2002). One of the easiest methods to test the related validity of the criteria is to administer the instrument to a population that is already known to have or exhibit the characteristic or trait that will be measured. This population who has that trait to be tested can be determined by a panel of experts. A wide range of items can then used for the test with invalid questions taken after the group has taken the test. Items that are considered irrelevant in determining the construct can then be removed (Key, 2002). To illustrate, let us assume that we already have a population who has already been identified by experts to have a high emotional intelligence and let them take our test along those who are known to have poor emotional aptitude. We are going to develop a list of criteria that can determine our construct which is emotional intelligence. To determine the validity the criteria of our construct, we are going let them take the test along with the others and then analyze their responses of the test. Since we already know who in our group has already a high emotional intelligence, their response should be consistent with the desired result of the test and those who are known to have poor emotional intelligence should score differently. Determining the Reliability of the Instrument: Retest Method The simplest way to test the reliability of our instrument is to do a retest. Simply put, we will administer the same test to the same group of people after a defined period of time. The reliability of our instrument can be assessed by comparing the consistency of the result of the two tests (Young, 1996). To whom would the instrument be generalized?  The instrument can be generalized when random sampling is made in determining the representatives of a population. Random sampling would allow the result of the study to be generalized to a bigger group or population. This is possible especially if the sampling is done through simple random sampling. That is, the sample selected by one individual by chance will also be likely picked by another with similar likelihood. References: Carmeli, Abraham and Josman, Zvi, E. (2006). The Relationship Among Emotional Intelligence, Task Performance, and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors. Human Performance. (19)4: 403-419 Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. New York, NY: Basic Books. Key, James (2002). Research Design in Occupational Education. Available at Accessedon September 13, 2011 LYUSIN, D. B. (2006). Emotional Intelligence as a Mixed Construct: Its Relation to Personality and Gender. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology. (44)6: 54-68 Mandell, Barbara, Pherwani (2003). RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP STYLE: A GENDER COMPARISON. Journal of Business and Psychology. 17(3): 387-404 Mishra, Priti Suman; Mohapatra, A. K. Das. Vikalpa Relevance of Emotional Intelligence for Effective Job Performance:. An Empirical Study. The Journal for Decision Makers. (35)1: pp 53-61 Young, Cheri (1996). Validity Issues in Measuring Psychological Constructs: The Case of Emotional Intelligence. www.socialresearchmethods.net. Available at Retrieved September 12, 2011 Read More