Operationalising the Theory of Social Quality: analysis of the reliability of an instrument to measure social quality

摘要

The Theory of Social Quality (TSQ) has not yet had extensive empirical testing due to the difficulty of developing a validated and reliable tool to ‘measure’ social quality. Audsurvey investigating social quality was piloted (n = 33) and analysed for test-retest andudinter-item reliability in Australia, August 2009. Questions were considered reliable if theudresults from the test-retest analyses (Kappa, or Spearman Correlation tests) and the inter-itemudreliability test (Cronbach’s α) were statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) or the coefficientsudwere (≥ 0.70) for any of the questionnaire items. Two questions and 34 items wereudremoved from the survey. These preliminary data support the reliability and validity of theudsurvey as an instrument for measuring social quality. In addition, the tool provides audmeans for operationalising the TSQ in future empirical research.