Abstract: 

Inductive and Deductive Processes in Scale Development of Attitudes Toward Nonbinary People 

This presentation will discuss the inductive and deductive components of a project to create a measure of attitudes toward nonbinary people, following scale development best practice recommendations by Boateng et al., 2018. Dr. Miller will present the results of two qualitative studies exploring attitudes toward nonbinary people – both from the perspective of nonbinary participants as well as overt attitudes expressed by cisgender participants. Her research team utilized thematic analysis to analyze data following Braun & Clarke (2006). Most attitude themes were common between nonbinary and cisgender responses, with attitude themes of Hostile/Aggressive, Dismissive, Insincere/Conflicting, Passive, Progressing, and Affirming. 

Dr. Miller will also present key concepts from the deductive portion of our scale development process, which was a thorough literature review and assessment of currently existing scales within the domain of attitudes toward transgender and nonbinary (TGNB) people.

Finally, Dr. Miller will discuss how these inductive and deductive processes inform the next phase of our project which is currently in progress – item generation and validation. Her team has generated a list of around 100 items, evaluated our items for content validity, and is preparing to submit their initial item list for evaluation by expert judges and by the target population as recommended in Boateng et al., 2018.

Biography: 

Dr. Deborah Miller is an associate professor of psychology at IU East and a licensed psychologist in the state of Indiana. Her main research interests are in sexual and gender diversity, and she has published and presented on these topics.