Psychometric Analysis of the Social Communication Questionnaire Using an Item Response Theory Framework: Implications for the Use of the Lifetime and Current Forms

Author(s): Elaine Wei

Abstract:

The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) was developed as a screener of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). To date, the majority of the SCQ utility studies focused on its external validity (e.g., ROC curve analyses), but very few have addressed the internal validity issues. With samples consisting of 2,134 individuals available from the National Database for Autism Research (NDAR), the current study examined the factor structure, item-level characteristics, and measurement equivalence of the SCQ forms (i.e., Lifetime form and Current form) using both the classical true score theory and the Item Response Theory (IRT). While our findings indicate sufficient psychometric properties of the SCQ Lifetime form, measurement issues emerged with respect to the SCQ Current form. These issues include lower internal consistencies, a weaker factor structure, lower item discriminations, significant pseudo-guessing effects, and subscale-level measurement bias. Thus, we caution researchers and clinicians about the use of the SCQ Current form.

Citation:

Wei, T., Chesnut, S. R., Barnard-Brak, L, & Richman, D. (2014). Psychometric analysis of the Social Communication Questionnaire using an item response theory framework: Implications for the use of the Lifetime and Current forms. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment. DOI: 10.1007/s10862-014-9468-4


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