Rumor Scale Development

Abstract

Rumor refers to unsubstantiated story or information being circulated. Although the more the integrity of the source implies the more the reliability of rumor, not all that seems reliable would be adjudged as valid. There has been cogent need for rumor validity assessment, but dearth of construct-relevant scale hampers empirical data collection. Considering that psychological scales are indispensable for assessment, the present study developed a suitable and psychometrically sound scale, using cross-sectional design and 570 randomly sampled participants. The psychometric properties are based on reliability and validity. Reliability (ά = 0.78) was determined by item-total statistics while validity was based on content validity indexes, principal component analysis and the compatibility of factor model to the data. Seven extracted factors accounted for 92% of the total scale variance. Rumor intensity score (R = 80) corroborated the scale suitability. However, although the newly developed 50-item Rumor Scale is suitable for adaptation among different populations at various settings, there is need for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) which was not implemented in the initial scale development study. Further validations, suggested to include cross-cultural and trans-national adaptations using CFA and other competing analysis models, can help to establish sufficient norms.