Designing and Psychometric Evaluation of a Questionnaire for Assessing Society s Perception of Flash Flood Risk

Background: Public perception of risks associated with natural disasters like flash floods significantly influences disaster management effectiveness. Flash floods pose a major threat to life and property, and a lack of tools to evaluate societal risk perception creates a critical gap. Objectives: This study aimed to design and evaluate the psychometric properties of a questionnaire specifically assessing society s perception of flash flood risk. Methods: A two-stage approach was employed. The first stage involved collecting questionnaire items through a systematic literature review and a qualitative study. In the second stage, a comprehensive psychometric evaluation was conducted, including assessments of face validity, content validity, and construct validity. Reliability was established using Cronbach s alpha. Confirmatory factor analysis was further conducted with data collected from 136 community members who had experienced flash floods. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 20 and AMOS software. Results: A combination of qualitative data and systematic review findings facilitated the development of 36 initial questionnaire items. Applying quantitative and qualitative construct validity measures led to the refinement of the instrument, resulting in 29 final items categorized into three domains: Risk perception (12 items), awareness (10 items), and preparedness (7 items). The internal consistency of the instrument was confirmed by a Cronbach s alpha coefficient of 0.88. Factor analysis further supported the good fit of the hypothesized model to the data. Conclusions: This study successfully developed and rigorously evaluated a questionnaire to assess society s perception of flash flood risk. This instrument offers valuable insights for informed decision-making and identification of factors influencing risk perception, ultimately contributing to improved disaster preparedness and management.