Development and Preliminary Validation of Non-Governmental Organization Practice Checklist

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are one of the essential measures of modern governments’ management to improve social, political, and developmental activities. They play an important role in the process of development in most countries. Objectives: The present study was conducted to design and validate the checklist of NGOs’ practice in Kerman (Iran) where the scope of their activities is increasingly more diverse and complex. The availability and access to a valid and reliable instrument is essential for intervention and promotion of non-governmental organizations. Methods: The checklist was designed and validated from the literature review, existing reports, and current statutes of NGOs. Content and structure validity (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis), and internal consistency were used to measure the psychometric components of the checklist. Our sample consisted of all 150 licensed NGOs in Kerman, and sampling was conducted from April 2014 to September 2015. Results: While the checklist showed acceptable content validity, exploratory factor analysis revealed 3 factors: (a) social influence, (b) social structure, and (c) participatory experience. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that fit indices were acceptable as 2 =1.65, CFI = 0.79, AGFI = 0.74, GFI = 0.82, and RMSEA = 0.1. The Cronbach‘s alpha was 0.7. Conclusions: Our results revealed that the checklist psychometric properties were acceptable. This checklist can be a start point for developing standard tools in the field of non-governmental o rganizations’ activity. In addition, this tool can be a guide for the evaluation and enhancement of NGOs’ activity.