Measuring perception of communicative ability: the development and evaluation of the La Trobe communication questionnaire

The La Trobe communication questionnaire (LCQ) was designed to measure perceived communicative ability. It was developed to enable collection of information from various sources including the self-perceptions of individuals as well as the perceptions of close others. In this paper we report the development of the questionnaire, its psychometric properties and normative data for the perceptions of young adults and the comparative perceptions of their close others. Participants in the study were 256 adults comprising 147 primary subjects and 109 close others. Primary subjects ranged in age from 16-39 years with a mean age of 20.6 years. The 30 item questionnaire was structured using a modified Likert-type scale with four possible levels of response: (1) never or rarely; (2) sometimes; (3) often; and (4) usually or always. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.8596) and good stability over time for self-report was demonstrated (r = 0.7558). There was a significant difference (p < 0.0001) between the perceptions of primary subjects and close others with primary subjects perceiving themselves to have more frequent communication difficulties, than did their close others. Overall, our findings suggest that the LCQ is a promising means of measuring perceived communicative ability in young adults.