William Martinez, MD, MS

Frequently Asked Questions (MCSP)

  1. I want to use the MCSP, but my space is limited. Do I have to administer all items in each scale?  You can but you do so at your own risk.  We are interested in reducing response burden and aim to create instruments with the least number of items possible. However, as rigorous researchers we worry about such things as internal reliability and  the validity of the metrics we create. We feel that the MCSP is “lean” enough. We continue to study alternative versions of the scale to find the smallest set of items that can be used to reliability to measure these constructs and will post updates on this website.
  2. Occasionally, a survey participant will not respond to some of the items on the MCSP. What do you recommend I do with missing data?  In our research, when participants do not respond to all of the items in a particular scale, we generally treat the whole scale as missing and do not use the participant’s data in our analysis of that scale.   Another rule of thumb used with other scales is that a scale score is calculated as long as at least 2/3rds of the items are completed (i.e., if no more than three items on a 9-item scale are missing). The mean score for the scale items that are completed is used in calculating the summary score.  You are free to consider the option you think is best in your particular situation.
  3. I notice that the MCSP was developed on a resident physician sample. Can it be used with other health professionals (e.g., nurse, staff physicians, pharmacists, etc.)?  We have no reason to believe that the scales cannot be used with other health professionals, particularly staff physicians.  However, we have not assessed the psychometrics of the scale in other groups.  We hope to publish the psychometrics of scale among other health professionals in the near future.
  4. Is it OK if I translate the MCSP into another language?  We hope to make the MCSP available to the greatest number of individuals as possible.  We appreciate your interest in translating the scale into another language and encourage you to do so.  We ask that you use the best practices for translating a scales outlined by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for its Surveys on Patient Safety Culture, click here.  If you successfully translate the scale please let us know so that we can make others aware of translated versions.

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Moral Courage Scale for Physicians