Development and Validation of Community Safety Literacy Scale

The researcher developed and validated a Community Safety Literacy Scale consisting of eighty-three (83) items based on indicators of community safety literacy utilizing 300 private and public school students in the Division of Paranaque City. The processes involved in the construction and development of the Community Safety Literacy Scale (CSLS) highlighted the following steps; 1. Test planning; 2. Item writing; 3. Content Validating; 4. Item reviewing and revising; 5. Pilot Testing; 6. Test items revising; 7. Second trying out; 8. Analyzing data that includes evaluating the reliability and validity of the test; and, 9. Developing a manual on instrument administrating, scoring, and interpreting of scores.

The test has three parts that includes: (a) Part I - Knowledge, which has 34-items that obtained an alpha of .965; (b) Part II - Skills, which has 23-item that manifested an alpha of .909; (c) Lastly, Part III - Attitudes that consisted of 26-items that has a reliability coefficient of .928. Each subtest shows a coefficient higher than .70, and has the overall reliability of 0.965, thereby making the scale reliable. To review the constructed items, the researcher chooses a team of experts who understand the topic of the research.  the researcher used convergent-divergent validation, internal consistency validation, and known-group technique to establish the construct validity of the instrument. The convergent validity yielded a coefficient of -0.111 to 0.136 which failed to support the construct validity of the instrument. Moreover, the divergent validity yielded a coefficient of 0.049 to 0.127 which supported the construct validity of the instrument. The application of known-groups technique supported the construct validity of the instrument. The knowledge score and skill scores are positively related. Likewise, the knowledge score and attitude score indicate that respondents who have higher knowledge score have higher attitude score.  In conclusion, students have the knowledge, skills and attitude to take actions for community safety. However, they are inconsistent in showing their commitment and motivation for community safety.