The Development of the Opinions about Deaf People Scale: A Scale to Measure Hearing Adults' Beliefs about the Capabilities of Deaf Adults

Abstract

This report documents the development of a scale to measure hearing adults' beliefs about the capabilities of deaf adults. An item pool created from a list of misconceptions about deaf people was used to develop a 35-item Opinions About Deaf People scale, piloted with 38 university undergraduates. A revised 20-item version of the scale was piloted with 290 undergraduates. Acoefficient alpha of .83 was obtained from the second pilot, with item-total correlations ranging from .22 to .58. Factor analysis demonstrated a General Deaf Capabilities factor (eigenvalue = 5.39). Some items also correlated moderately to strongly with an Intelligence factor (eigenvalue = 1.70). Construct validity was established through correlation with Cowen's Attitudes to Deafness scale (r = .75). Analysis supports that a reliable and valid scale has been developed that can be used to measure hearing adults' beliefs about the capabilities of deaf adults in education, employment, and other appropriate settings.