Week 3: Finalized Questionnaire & MIM Orientation
Aashi H -
Welcome back everyone! It’s been an exciting week, with the senior trip and MIM Orientation over the last few days. In this week’s post, I will be disclosing my questionnaire questions and discussing their validity.
Last week, I worked on taking the PSS-10 (10-item Perceived Stress Scale) and adapting it for my study. Earlier this week, I got it approved by my mentor, and it looks like it is ready to go! As a quick refresher, here is the outline for my study:
- Consent Form
- Pre-Questionnaire
- Initials
- Position (Manager, Shift Leader/Supervisor, Crew member)
- Favorite genre of music
- Recall Prompt + PSS-10
- Post-Questionnaire
- Recall Prompt + PSS-10
- Open-ended questions
- What effect did listening to music have on perceiving the scenario cognitively?
- What effect did listening to music have on perceiving the scenario emotionally?
- Additional Comments/Suggestions?
PSS-10
PSS-10 is a 10 question test that quantifies one’s perceived stress levels over a period of time. In these specific questions, the study looks at a month of time. These are the questions:
- How upset do you feel right now because of something that happened unexpectedly?
- How much do you feel right now that you are unable to control the important things in your life?
- How nervous and stressed do you feel right now?
- How confident do you feel right now about your ability to handle your personal problems?
- How much do you feel right now that things are going your way?
- How much do you feel right now that you cannot cope with all the things you have to do?
- How much do you feel right now that you are able to control irritations in your life?
- How much do you feel right now that you are on top of things?
- How angered do you feel right now because of things that happened that were outside of your control?
- How much do you feel right now that difficulties are piling up so high that you cannot overcome them?
However, for the purpose of this study, I have modified these questions to look at a short-term perspective and focus on work life. Below are the modified questions:
- How upset did you feel because of something that happened unexpectedly?
- How much did you feel that you are unable to control the important things around you?
- How nervous and stressed did you feel?
- How confident did you feel about your ability to handle your work problems?
- How much did you feel that things are going your way?
- How much did you feel that you cannot cope with all the things you have to do?
- How much did you feel that you are able to control irritations around you?
- How much did you feel that you were on top of things?
- How angered did you feel because of things that happened that were outside of your control?
- How much did you feel that difficulties are piling up so high that you cannot overcome them?
As you can see, all the questions have been modified to a past tense and focus on one’s work life. The modified words are bolded. However, a question might come to mind: How can we ensure the validity of the test if we modify the questions?
Test Validity
A study published in the Stress & Health Journal did a psychometric evaluation of an adapted version of the PSS test. They concluded that not only does the test have “gender measurement invariance” (meaning that the test is not partial towards any gender), but it also proved that an adapted version of the scale can produce the same reliable results as the reliable PSS-10 test. (Click here to view the full study)
MIM Orientation
Last but certainly not least, I had my MIM Orientation this week! I was taken through the museum and viewed all the different galleries after such a long time; there are so many intriguing displays and instruments. Did you know that if you stand in the middle of the world map outside of the Artist Gallery, it sounds like your voice is being amplified, but to everyone else it sounds the same? Try it the next time you visit! Next week, I am going back for my training so that I can start interacting with the patrons. I will also receive my official badge that grants me access to the inner ends of the museum!
Next week, I will share with you the different music genres I have chosen for my study and what songs I am using, as well as the science behind those choices. I will also update you on my MIM Training. See you then!
Comments:
All viewpoints are welcome but profane, threatening, disrespectful, or harassing comments will not be tolerated and are subject to moderation up to, and including, full deletion.