Instrument development and validation of a quality scale: ICT enabled devices for differently Abled students

The present study is focused on instrument development and validation of a quality scale. There are limited measures to assess PWD’s ICT needs, purpose of using ICT devices and problems in the usage of various devices. Hence the study aimed to validate and standardize the schedule to assess ICT enabled devices used by differently abled. Market survey was conducted to check the availability of various ICT and assistive devices for differently abled students. With the help of relevant literature and market survey a questionnaire was developed for pilot study. The pilot study was conducted in disabled institutes using 30 respondents (10 respondent’s form each category of disability i.e. visually impaired, hearing impaired & locomotor impaired). With the help of pilot study the tool was developed and many parameters were added to the questionnaire. In the last phase, a group of 30 experts were consulted in the related and allied fields to validate the questionnaire. The experts were asked to evaluate the instrument in terms of clarity of items, linguistic accuracy and appropriateness of the instrument to achieve the purpose of the study. In this phase the items for relevance with the help of experts using 3 point likert scale was evaluated. Each item was scored as 3, 2, 1 i.e. highly relevant, moderately relevant and irrelevant. Revisions and suggestions made by experts were taken into account. After validation of the instrument, some parameters were added and some were deleted for its relevance and appropriateness. Thus, the tool was finalized and the finding of this study indicates good reliability and validity of the schedule.