The 9SRA scale: A summary of the paper

This paper details the development and validation of a simplified version of the Self-Report Altruism (SRA) Scale, named the 9-SRA Scale. This new 9-item instrument aims to offer a more parsimonious tool for measuring altruism in empirical studies of human and prosocial behavior.

The 9-SRA Scale: Items and Scoring

The final 9-SRA Scale consists of 9 items derived from the original SRA scale. These items are grouped into two main factors: "Charity" and "Helping People."

The specific items of the 9-SRA Scale are as follows (numbering based on the original SRA scale shown in Table 1 of the document):

• Factor: Charity

  • Item 4: I have given money to a charity.

  • Item 6: I have donated goods or clothes to a charity.

  • Item 7: I have done volunteer work for a charity.

• Factor: Helping People

  • Item 3: I have given directions to a stranger.

  • Item 9: I have helped carry a stranger’s belongings (books, parcels, etc.).

  • Item 14: I have allowed a neighbor I did not know well to borrow an item of some value to me.

  • Item 18: I have offered to help a handicapped or elderly stranger across a street.

  • Item 19: I have offered my seat on a bus or train to a stranger who was standing.

  • Item 20: I have helped a casual acquaintance to move households.

Scoring Method:

Subjects are asked to rate each of these 9 items using a 5-point Likert scale:

1. Never

2. Rarely

3. Sometimes

4. Frequently

5. Always

The total score for the 9-SRA Scale is obtained by summing the scores from the 9 items. Higher scores indicate a greater level of self-reported altruism.

Psychometric Properties of the 9-SRA Scale

The study presents evidence of the reliability and validity of the 9-SRA Scale:

• Reliability:
  
  

  • In the pre-test study, the 9-item scale achieved a total Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of 0.76.

  • In the final validation study, the reliability of the 9-SRA Scale (Cronbach's Alpha) was 0.77. This reliability is comparable to the simulated reliability of the original Rushton et al. scale reduced to nine items (0.78) and higher than other adaptations.

• Validity:
  
  

  • Content Validity: This is considered present as the scale retains the structure and a representative number of items from the original SRA scale.

  • Convergent Validity: This is demonstrated by the items converging and loading onto a higher-order factor structure. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) showed that a hierarchical two-factor model (Charity and Helping People, which load onto a second-order Altruism factor) provided the best fit. The fit indices for Model E (hierarchical 2-factor) were: Chi2/df = 2.22, CFI = 0.95, and SRMR = 0.056, indicating a good fit.

  • Predictive Validity: This was assessed by examining the relationship between the 9-SRA Scale scores and the likelihood of donating money to a public television network. Individuals with higher altruism scores showed a greater probability of donating, supporting the scale's predictive validity. Specifically, the low-altruism group had a membership (donation) probability of 49.02%, while the high-altruism group had a probability of 66.35%.

In summary, the 9-SRA Scale is presented as a shorter and more efficient instrument for measuring altruism, maintaining adequate psychometric properties for use in research

Manzur E, Olavarrieta S. The 9-SRA Scale: A Simplified 9-Items Version of the SRA Scale to Assess Altruism. Sustainability. 2021; 13(13):6999. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13136999