A Practitioner’s Comment on Aimee L. Drolet and Donald G. Morrison’s “Do We Really Need Multiple-Item Measures in Service Research?”

Abstract

The author responds to issues raised by Drolet and Morrison concerning their 2001 article assessing the use of multiple-item scales in service research. He critiques their arguments on both theoretical and practical grounds, putting forth a case supporting the use of these scales. His primary conclusions are (a) that using multiple-item scales in applied research does not necessarily have to be expensive, (b) that the amount of information contained in a particular item of a multiple-item scale goes beyond simply contributing to the scale’s reliability per se, and (c) that multiple-item scales often are needed in service research to measure complex constructs and ensure an appropriate level of measurement validity.