Construction of a New Scale for Biological Estimation of Public Speaking Stress

Abstract

Stress is a psychophysiological phenomenon that is needed to be quantified from biological aspect for
further studies and clinical applications .The objectives of the current study was to construct a valid and
reliable scale for providing a quantitative estimate of the public speaking stress among academic staff .A
methodological design was applied to achieve the objectives of the study.The study was conducted at the
University of Kufa in the city of Najaf. A purposive sample of 200 academic staff was used the present
study. A scale of 17 items for public speaking stress have been generated . Content validity was quantified
throughout the measurement of the following values : item content validity index (I-CVI) and scale content
validity index average (S-CVI/Ave) and content validity ratio (CVR). Two forms of reliability have been
used in the current study : stability (test-retest reliability) and internal consistency . The result of the study
revealed that the majority of items have been accepted (I-CVI ? 0.8) and the average of all items is accepted
(S-CVI/Ave = 0.88). All items have shown acceptable level of reliability between test and retest of the
sample (r=0.99). Test of internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha reliability) for the overall public speaking
stress scale (PSSS) is acceptable (> 0.7). It was concluded that the suggested public speaking stress scale can
be accepted as a valid and reliable scale for quantification of public speaking stress phenomenon.