Instrument Development With Web Surveys and Multiple Imputations

This article outlines the development of a tool to assess psychosocial needs in U.S. Air Force (USAF) units. Instrument development began with the construction of an item taxonomy, pretesting procedures (Q-sort; cognitive interviews), and a pilot web survey to document internal consistency and test-retest reliability, followed by two large-scale Web surveys to derive a viable factor structure. Because certain items (e.g., child care) were not relevant to all respondents, multiple imputations to replace missing values were necessary before factor analyses could proceed. Exploratory factor analyses of data from the first Web survey revealed an eight-factor solution; and data from the second Web survey confirmed that the eight-factor solution could be replicated on an independent sample. Developed in accordance with psychometric principles, the final assessment tool tapped a range of psychosocial factors spanning quality of work life, community life, family functioning, and personal well-being.