School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, LE12 5RD, UK.
School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington, LE12 5RD, UK.
Prev Vet Med. 2023 Nov;220:106052. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2023.106052. Epub 2023 Oct 20.
There is limited information on the attitudes and opinions of British sheep farmers when preventing and managing sheep scab in their flocks. Attitudes are examples of latent traits, which are not directly observable. They must be measured indirectly which can be achieved using measurement scales. Attitudinal measurement scales are used frequently in research, but are seldom evaluated prior to use, particularly in veterinary research. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify and assess latent traits which influence the control of sheep scab with the use of exploratory factor analysis, and then further evaluate these factors with the use of item response theory to determine how they perform as scales. An online survey was completed by 726 British sheep farmers during October 2021 (725 useable responses), which included a section with 37 belief statements related to the opinions and attitudes of sheep farmers around the management of sheep scab. These belief statements were developed and adapted from previous research. During the analysis, they were subjected to exploratory factor analysis, which suggested that the scales performed reasonably well. The scales were then evaluated further by item response theory. The graded response models for each attitudinal scale were assessed by graphical evaluation. They demonstrated that the scales were able to distinguish those respondents with low perceptions of control, responsibility, and trust, and those who had high perceptions of luck. This study provides insights into some of the factors influencing the management of sheep scab, and how well these scales perform. Additionally, it further highlights the importance of evaluating attitudinal scales for use in research, and that exploratory factor analysis alone does not provide enough information on how well they perform.
关于英国绵羊养殖户在预防和管理羊群疥癣时的态度和意见，相关信息有限。态度是潜在特征的例子，这些特征不能直接观察到。必须通过间接测量来衡量，这可以通过测量量表来实现。态度测量量表在研究中经常使用，但在使用前很少进行评估，特别是在兽医研究中。因此，本研究的目的是通过探索性因素分析确定和评估影响绵羊疥癣控制的潜在特征，然后使用项目反应理论进一步评估这些因素，以确定它们作为量表的表现如何。2021 年 10 月，726 名英国绵羊养殖户在线完成了一项调查（725 份有效回复），其中包括一个包含 37 条与绵羊养殖户对管理绵羊疥癣的意见和态度相关的信念陈述的部分。这些信念陈述是根据先前的研究开发和改编的。在分析过程中，它们经过了探索性因素分析，结果表明这些量表的表现相当不错。然后，进一步使用项目反应理论对这些量表进行评估。通过图形评估评估了每个态度量表的分级反应模型。结果表明，这些量表能够区分那些对控制、责任和信任感知度较低的受访者，以及那些对运气感知度较高的受访者。本研究深入了解了影响绵羊疥癣管理的一些因素，以及这些量表的表现如何。此外，它进一步强调了在研究中评估态度量表的重要性，并且仅通过探索性因素分析并不能提供有关其表现的足够信息。
