Validation of an inventory of social connectedness

摘要

Digital technologies are often designed to enhance a sense of social connection between users across physical space. Currently no quantitative scale has been validated to determine how effective a tool is in establishing social connection. This proposal outlines 3 studies designed to rigorously validate a scale of social connection in mediated spaces. To do this, a 24-item scale was developed and tested. In Study 1 the scale was given to 177 people to establish internal and convergent validity. Preliminary analyses suggests good overall internal reliability and convergent validity. Future studies intend to establish predictive validity across systems (Study 2) and within a single system (Study 3). The inventory should prove useful for tests of usability and theory. In the last section I describe its role in my dissertation.