Measurement of the social construction of knowledge: validation and reliability of the K-Social-C instrument

Abstract

The social construction of knowledge developed in social innovation laboratories occurs through the open innovation approach, which is the focus of the present study. The study variables were measured with the K-Social-C questionnaire. It was necessary to consider the indicators of each of these variables reported in the literature and the characteristics of construct, content, and criterion validity and reliability to demonstrate solidly that the instrument measures what it is intended to measure. This document confirms the conceptualization and measurement of three variables: social construction of knowledge (SCK), open innovation (OI), and social innovation laboratories (SIL). The K-Social-C questionnaire is a self-administered instrument that can measure the three variables and their indicators. The questionnaire's validity and reliability were demonstrated through statistical procedures; the content validation and expert agreement were through Kendall's concordance coefficient and the content validity coefficient. We also calculated the internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha as the reliability coefficient. We extended the calculation with exploratory factor analysis and convergent and discriminant validity. However, to study the SCK, OI and SIL variables, we still had to consider the needs and social implications of innovation in each context.