Abstract

The objectives in this research were to determine the construct validity of both an adapted self-confidence questionnaire, the Personal Evaluation Inventory (PEI), developed by Shrauger and Schohn, and a Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) questionnaire, which was adapted from the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale.

The research was conducted in two girls’ primary schools in Saudi Arabia to collect relevant data on the convergent and discriminant validity of the GAD and PEI questionnaires using the Multi-Trait Multi-Method (MTMM) matrix to prove construct validity. Sixty students and two teachers filled in questionnaires, with each student evaluating themselves and, then, their peers. The teachers evaluated themselves, their self-confidence and generalised degree of their anxiety disorder.

The results were that the MTMM analysis supported, to a large extent, both convergent and discriminant validity of the analysed data from students and teachers on two traits (self-confidence and generalised anxiety disorder) and across three methods of measurement (self-reporting, peer-rating and teacher-rating).

The results were that the Mono-Trait Mono-Method coefficients were relatively high, and there was relative strength in the Hetero-Trait Mono-Method coefficients. The Hetero-Trait Mono-Method coefficients were reasonable for self-confidence and for the generalised anxiety disorder questionnaires, but teacher-ratings for both traits were unexpected. Furthermore, the Hetero-Trait Hetero-Method coefficients were not constant and showed an unstable variance.

In conclusion, the PEI and GAD questionnaires possess acceptable construct validity, but that the teacher-ratings for both the PEI and the GAD questionnaires needed modification in order to attain the desirable construct validity.

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