Critically Appraise Survey Instruments.

Module 8: Assignment: Critically Appraise Survey Instruments. Using the information and skills you developed during this module, please review and respond to the three scenarios below. Scenario 1 Sam, a therapist, wants to get feedback from his clients about how he is helping them. He considers several approaches to collecting the information. He rejects the idea of mailing people surveys because of the expense. He thinks about giving surveys to clients at the end of sessions and asking them to complete them, but he knows some of his clients do not read well. He decides the best approach will be to ask clients a couple of questions at the end of each session. Sam then considers what questions he should ask and finally decides on asking a series of yes-no questions: 1) Today’s session was helpful to me. 2) I feel happier after today’s session. 3) I feel stronger after today’s session. 4) I am glad I am in counseling. 5) I have gained from counseling. Sam is surprised to find that his coworkers have some reservations about survey bias. Whose concerns do you think are most valid? Ava worries that by asking the questions himself, Sam may inadvertently pressure his clients to respond in ways that reflect well on Sam. Erik wonders if, by having all of the questions worded in positive ways, some people will have a tendency to just say yes to everything, especially when the person asking in in a position of authority. Pam thinks some people might answer in ways that would make them look good, for example, by saying they feel strong and happy when, in fact, they feel vulnerable and discouraged. Which concerns about measurement do you agree with the most? Provide a brief explanation and rationale (5-6 sentences). Scenario 2 Layton volunteers at an after school program for children in an impoverished neighborhood. Layton helps the children complete their homework and, when they are done, helps them learn recreational and other life skills. Layton knows he should take what the children say with a healthy dose of skepticism, but he has heard some consistent comments that concern him, so he decides to survey the children to better understand the situation. He has come up with the following questions for the children, who are in first through fifth grades: 1) Is your teacher attentive to you and sensitive to your needs in the classroom? 2) Are you progressing at about the right level? 3) Do you enjoy your classes in reading and arithmetic? 4) Do your teachers spend enough time preparing their lesson plans? Layton shares his questions with several of the other tutors. Whose evaluation do you thinks is most accurate? Carole, who usually works with younger children, says “I think some of those questions are too difficult for the younger children. They might not understand what it means for a teacher to be sensitive to their needs and might not have any idea what a lesson plan is.” Adelle points out that “Some of the questions ask about more than one thing. For example, the second question asks about reading and arithmetic. A child might enjoy one but not the other.” Marnie notices that some of the questions ask about information the children might not have. “I would be surprised if the children know at what level they should be progressing or how much time their teacher spends on lesson plans.” Which evaluation do you agree with? Provide a brief explanation and rationale (5-6 sentences). Scenario 3 A scale assessing the quality of the relationship between clients and practitioners that was used successfully in a study with English speaking Americans contained the following item with which respondents could agree or disagree: “We did not see eye to eye.” When preparing the scale to be used with people in Mexico, that item was translated perfectly into Spanish. However, several of the researchers agreed about whether or not this was adequate. Professor Khan states that a word by word translation was acceptable, since they had verified it was correct. Professor Senkowski argues that, although the word for word translation was a good start, they should probably do a small pilot study just to be safe. Professor McAllister proposes that “seeing eye to eye” is an idiom and, as a result, a literal word for word translation is unacceptable and misleading.

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