Theoretical and methodological foundation of a self-perception scale on personal competencies and the cardinal virtues. An exploratory and pilot study

Abstract

The cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance) have relevance within the areas of character education and integral or comprehensive formation. In recent years, there has been growing interest and a great deal of literature produced on character education and its measurement. In this paper, we propose a questionnaire (a Likert-type self-report scale of 22 items), the QCV, designed to measure competencies associated with the cardinal virtues. The theoretical foundation of the questionnaire lies in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition in dialogue with positive psychology. The paper also offers a review of the literature on the measurement of virtue and the principal instruments currently used to measure the cardinal virtues. The results of a preliminary application of the QCV with a sample of 325 university students indicate that the questionnaire, written in Spanish and conducted in Madrid, has good psychometric properties.