A New Approach to Collecting Survey Data: An Item Response Icon Scale (IRIS)

Obtaining worker survey data can be a time consuming process. A survey often employs a large number of items, and considerable effort is required to assure that the items used will be understood by the target worker population. To facilitate the research process in a diverse worker population, a five-point Item Response Icon Scale (IRIS) was developed using the symbols found in Wingdings, a standard font included in many microcomputer word processing programs. The IRIS and a five-point verbal Likert-type Scale were found to be parallel forms, with demonstration of statistically significant parallel forms reliability and convergent validity. These findings, along with that of discriminant validity, indicate that IRIS and Likert-type Scale produce interchangeable data when given to individuals with reading skills. This suggests that the IRIS may be a valuable design tool for collecting survey data from worker groups with diverse reading skills and/or from different cultural backgrounds.