In this assignment, you are asked to measure people’s perceptions of a specific term in disaster research.
In this assignment, you are asked to (1) conceptualize a construct, and (2) practice how to design a questionnaire. In the first part of the assignment (conceptualize a construct), you should select one term from section C below, then use Google scholar or other academic search engines to conceptualize this term into several (at least two) concepts. In the second part, you are also asked to design a questionnaire. Your questionnaire should include three sections: (1) hiring Likert Scale to measure one concept, (2) hiring Semantic Differential Scale to measure the other concept, (3) design questions to collect demographic data.
Specifically, the Likert Scale is one of the most widely used approaches to measure respondents’ level of understanding, perceived likelihood, and other psychological attitudes. A questionnaire with a Likert scale measure generally would measure a concept with a sequence of questions using the same measuring scale (Likert scale). In each question, it is simply a statement asking respondents to evaluate an objective by giving a quantitative value between a dimension from not at all agree to a complete agreement. The labels of each scale in a Likert scale measure should be symmetric. That is, there should have the same numbers of orders at both sizes of the mid-scale representing positive and negative attitudes, respectively. Generally, five-point, seven-point, or nine-point rating (response) scales are popularly used, but there are no specific limitations regarding how many rating (response) scales should be applied. The more the rating (response) scales have been employed, the more sensitive a measure would be, but the harder a respondent can read the difference between the orders. An example of a five-ordered Likert scale design could be: (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree).
A question with Semantic Differential Scale measure, on the other hand, would measure a concept with one question by repeatedly evaluating multiple pairs of polar adjectives.
Consequently, a researcher can summarize which set of attitudes could best describe a concept. An example of a Semantic Differential Scale design could be:
Q: what do you think about evacuating from a hurricane
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Inefficient _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Efficient
Dangerous _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Safe
Expensive _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Cheap
For more information about Likert and Semantic Differential scales please check:
C. Options of the construct phrases:
Firstly, select one construct-phrase below:
1. Risk, 2. Technological Disaster, 3. Mitigation, 4. Preparedness, 5. Emergency Response, 6. Disaster Recovery, 7. Protective Action, 8. Rescue, 9. Risk Communication, 10. Vulnerability, 11. Sustainable, 12. Resilience, 13. Incident Management, 14. (Disaster) Impact, and 15. Special-needs populations.
Next, narrow the scope of the construct by adding a phrase of feature or attribute. Below are some of the options.
1. Likelihood, 2. Extent, 3. Level, 4. Effectiveness, 5. Efficiency, 6. any other feature you identified,
For example, if you select “risk communication efficiency” as your construct, it means you would like to study risk communication in terms of the aspect of efficiency. In some cases, you might need to define both the construct and the attribute phrase.
D. Steps:
Now, follow this step-wise process to accomplish this assignment:
1. Select one construct phrase from those 6*15 options.
2. Enter the selected construct as the keyword into Google Scholar.
3. Selected at least two relative articles and then summarize how this construct has been defined in those articles.
4. Use your words (at most 50 words) to define this construct.
5. Retrieve at least two indicators (concepts) from your destination which can be used to understand this construct.
6. Design a questionnaire. Your questionnaire should include three parts. In the first two parts, you should use the Likert Scale to measure one concept and use the Semantic Differential Scale to measure the other. In addition, you should design at least two questions to measure one concept. Finally, you should design questions to collect demographic data in the third section.
