Process in Developing an Instrument Gauging Levelsof Thinking Skills in Reader-Text Transaction

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the procedures involved in developing a valid instrument gauging the levels of thinking skills when readers engage in active interactions with the text. Rigorous qualitative and quantitative dimensions were undertaken to ensure high content validity of the instrument. Feedback and consensus based on consistency of judgment by reviewers were used to provide high reliability index onto content and construct validity. This paper discusses the pertinent concepts and issues that are involved in developing an instrument gauging the levels thinking skills in reader-text transaction. The underlying constructs of thinking skills of Lower Order Thinking skills (LOTS) and Higher Order Thinking skills (HOTs) were used as the basis of analysis. The underpinning theoretical constructs posited by Herber (1978), Ruddell (2001), Harvey (2001) and Gunning (2003) were triangulated and synthesised to elicit similarities which could be adapted to items extracted from Purpura’s Cognitive Strategies Questionnaire (1999). Further descriptions depicting the interconnections among the items in the original questionnaire of Purpura’s Cognitive Strategies Questionnaire were examined. This was to ensure that the items were adequately adapted in the newly developed instrument of gauging the appropriate domain of thinking skills. Essentially, the semantic and syntactic aspects of the qualitative as well as the quantitative dimensions were adopted to ensure that the developed instrument measures what it is purported to measure.