Advantages and disadvantages to creating a measure for your dissertation

by | Mar 23, 2025 | Essays

Define the advantages and disadvantages to creating a measure for your dissertation.
Would it be best to use pre-existing measures or create your own for the constructs of interest that you identified in your week 1 assignment? Please identify the constructs discussed in the week 1 assignment. Are there existing instruments available that could assess each of those constructs? Would there be any advantages to creating your own instrument to measure those constructs?

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

Advantages of Creating a Measure:

  • Tailored to Your Specific Research Question:
    • A custom measure can be designed to perfectly align with the nuances of your research question, which might not be captured by existing instruments.
    • This ensures that you’re measuring exactly what you intend to measure.
  • Contextual Relevance:
    • You can adapt the measure to the specific population, setting, or context of your study, increasing its validity and relevance.
    • Especially useful when working with unique or understudied populations.

Advantages of Creating a Measure:

  • Tailored to Your Specific Research Question:
    • A custom measure can be designed to perfectly align with the nuances of your research question, which might not be captured by existing instruments.
    • This ensures that you’re measuring exactly what you intend to measure.
  • Contextual Relevance:
    • You can adapt the measure to the specific population, setting, or context of your study, increasing its validity and relevance.
    • Especially useful when working with unique or understudied populations.
  • Innovation and Contribution:
    • Developing a new measure can contribute to the field by providing a novel tool for assessing a construct.
    • This can enhance the originality and impact of your dissertation.
  • Increased Control:
    • You have complete control over the content, format, and scoring of the measure, allowing for greater precision and consistency.
  • Addressing Gaps:
    • If there are no valid or reliable pre-existing measures, creating your own becomes a necessity.

Disadvantages of Creating a Measure:

  • Time and Resource Intensive:
    • Developing a valid and reliable measure requires significant time and resources, including item generation, pilot testing, and psychometric evaluation.
    • This can significantly extend the duration of your dissertation.
  • Psychometric Challenges:
    • Establishing the reliability and validity of a new measure can be complex and challenging.
    • Requires expertise in psychometrics and statistical analysis.
  • Potential for Bias:
    • Researcher bias can influence the development of items and the interpretation of results.
    • Careful attention to objectivity and neutrality is essential.
  • Limited Comparability:
    • Results obtained from a custom measure may be difficult to compare with findings from studies using established instruments.
    • This can limit the generalizability of your research.
  • Expertise Required:
    • Creating a proper measure requires knowledge about test creation, and statistical analysis.

Applying This to Your Week 1 Constructs:

To give you the most accurate answer, I need you to remind me of the constructs you identified in your Week 1 assignment. However, I can give you a general outline of how to approach this question.

General Process:

  1. Identify Your Constructs:
    • Recall the specific variables or concepts you’re interested in studying.
  2. Search for Existing Instruments:
    • Conduct a thorough literature review to identify existing measures for each construct.
    • Use databases like PsycINFO, ERIC, and PubMed.
  3. Evaluate Existing Instruments:
    • Assess the reliability, validity, and suitability of each instrument for your research question and population.
    • Consider factors like:
      • Psychometric properties (Cronbach’s alpha, factor analysis).
      • Cultural sensitivity.
      • Length and complexity.
      • Accessibility.
  4. Determine Suitability:
    • If existing instruments are adequate, using them is generally preferable due to their established psychometric properties and comparability.
    • If the existing instruments do not fit your research needs, then begin the process of creating your own instrument.
  5. Advantages of Creating Your Own (If Applicable):
    • If you find that existing measures don’t adequately capture your constructs, creating a custom measure might be beneficial.
    • For example, if you’re studying a niche population or a newly emerging concept.

Example Scenario (If you were studying something like “Teacher Burnout” and “School Climate”):

  • Constructs:
    • Teacher Burnout.
    • School Climate.
  • Existing Instruments:
    • Teacher Burnout: Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI).
    • School Climate: Organizational and Safety Climate Scale (OSCS).
  • Evaluation:
    • The MBI is a widely used and well-validated measure of teacher burnout.
    • The OSCS is also well validated.
  • Decision:
    • In this case, using the MBI and OSCS would likely be the best approach due to their established psychometric properties.
    • Unless you were studying a very specific type of teacher or school climate not accounted for in those tests.

In summary:

  • Using pre-existing measures is generally preferred when suitable instruments are available.
  • Creating a measure should be considered when existing instruments are inadequate or when you want to make a novel contribution to the field.
  • Your choice should be heavily influenced by the availability and suitability of pre-existing measures.

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