When designing assessment measures to capture psychological symptoms it is essential to ensure the individual completing the measure understands what is being asked of them. In the most basic sense, readability relates to how easy it is to understand something when you read it. Understanding readability can inform clinicians and researchers about selecting appropriate measures for their clients and participants. One commonly used formula to determine a given text's readability is the Flesch Kincaid Grade Level (FKG). Newer approaches of measuring readability utilize technological programs, such as Coh-Metrix and Question Understanding Aid (QUAID), that analyze text characteristics to determine the impact on comprehension. The current project investigated the readability of seven measures of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). Assessments of IGD have been largely adapted from validated measures of other constructs (i.e., gambling disorder, internet addiction) or created based directly on the proposed criteria of IGD. Prior to the current study, researchers had not yet critically examined the readability of measures of IGD. Assessment of readability is of critical importance given IGD is most likely to impact adolescents, a population that has lower levels of literacy because critical reading skills are developing throughout adolescence. It was hypothesized that measures of IGD may be difficult to read for adolescents. Items within seven measures of IGD were examined utilizing FKG, Coh-Metrix, and QUAID formulas for calculating readability and potential problematic question characteristics. Results found that the mean FKG ranged from 5.40 to 12.28 and indicated six of the seven measures contained at least one item written above an 8th-grade reading level. Coh-Metrix analysis found all measures contained at least one and up to eight items that were written at a below average level of syntactic simplicity (z =
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-1767 |
| Date | 18 March 2021 |
| Creators | Collie, Christin, Peter, Samuel C, Mitchell, Hannah G, Ginley, Meredith K |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum |
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