Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Topics in Early Childhood Special Education
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by McCloskey, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Selecting and Using Early Childhood Rating Scales

George McCloskey

American Guidance Service

The purpose of this article is to help rating scale users organize their thinking about why and how rating scales are to be used and to provide them with information that will be useful in evaluating the adequacy of available rating scales. The first part of the article discusses issues related to establishing a rationale for the use of rating scales, pointing out questions that should be asked regarding purposes for and means of implementing scale use. The second part discusses issues related to selecting a rating scale to meet user needs, such as user friendliness, scale format, score interpretation, reliability, and validity. The section on reliability contains an expanded discussion of how to evaluate the reliability of a scale and the factors that can affect reliability. The validity section focuses discussion on two questions: Does the scale measure the trait validly? Can the scale be validly used to serve its intended purposes? Various methods for establishing the validity of a rating scale are discussed in relation to these two questions. Special attention is given to discussing the effects that rating scale score distributions can have on a scale's validity for specific purposes.

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, Vol. 10, No. 3, 39-64 (1990)
DOI: 10.1177/027112149001000305
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Child Language Teaching and TherapyHome page
S. Reading and C. Richie
Documenting changes in communication behaviours using a Structured Observation System
Child Language Teaching and Therapy, June 1, 2007; 23(2): 181 - 200.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of Psychoeducational AssessmentHome page
W. Allen
Book Review: System to Plan Early Childhood Services
Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, September 1, 1996; 14(3): 299 - 302.
[PDF]

Home page
 Topics in Early Childhood Special EducationHome page
L. J. Munson and S. L. Odom
Review of Rating Scales that Measure Parent-Infant Interaction
Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, January 1, 1996; 16(1): 1 - 25.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Topics in Early Childhood Special EducationHome page
S. M. Baird, L. Haas, K. McCormick, C. Carruth, and K. D. Turner
Approaching an Objective System for Observation and Measurement: Infant-Parent Social Interaction Code
Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, January 1, 1992; 12(4): 544 - 571.
[Abstract] [PDF]