Self-perception of communicative ability: Evaluation of a questionnaire completed by medical students and general practitioners

Objectives. To evaluate the psychometric properties of the 50‐item Communication Style Measure of Norton (1978), to assess the number of its subscales, and to provide normative descriptions of the subscales for providing feedback in teaching sessions. Design. Questionnaire administered to 245 undergraduate medical students and 267 general practitioners. Methods. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis of the structure of the 50‐item questionnaire. Regression analysis of scores on subscales in relation to age and sex. Results. Norton's original 10‐factor structure for the questionnaire could not be sustained. Exploratory factor analysis suggested three factors which we labelled effective, dominant and non‐verbal, which were reliable (Cronbach's alpha = .79, .76 and .74), and which each showed different patterns of association with age and sex. On the basis of the factor analysis we also report a brief, easy to score questionnaire with 18 items, and we give normative distributions which might be useful for teaching in small groups. Conclusions. Doctors and medical students found the Communication Style Measure easy to complete and to provide useful normative feedback on their self‐perceptions relative to those of other doctors and students. The 10 statistical factors proposed by Norton are not supported by the data, but three factors are readily identifiable.