Development of a scale to assess flood consequence perception among rice and wheat growers in Odisha and Bihar

Floods are emerging as a formidable and recurrent natural hazard, causing multidimensional impacts, including mortality, agricultural damage, economic hardship, infrastructure deterioration, environmental degradation and social disruption. Understanding farmers’ perception of flood consequences is therefore essential for designing effective coping and adaptation strategies. Since perception is a psychological construct, it can be more accurately measured using a standardised scale. Accordingly, this study aimed to develop a reliable and valid scale using the scale product method to quantitatively assess farmers' perception. The scale values of Thurstone and the weights of Likert were combined to produce higher reliability of the scale. From identification of the dimensions to final administration, the scale has undergone various steps. Judges showed substantial agreement on dimension selection, as measured by Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W = 0.762, X2 =182.932, p ≤ 0.01). Initially, 93 statements were compiled from various sources, of which 66 were retained and distributed to 100 judges for evaluation. The judges were requested to rate the relevance of each item on a seven-point continuum ranging from most unfavourable to most favourable. Following Thurstone's elimination criteria, responses from 60 judges were retained for analysis. Based on the S (median) value (2.5 to 6.5) and Q (quartile) values (1.04 to 1.92), 18 statements were eliminated, leaving 48 final items for the scale. The accuracy and reproducibility of the scale were determined through a content validity ratio (CVR) greater than 0.78 and a reliability coefficient of 0.874. Each statement was then assigned a 4-point response continuum to measure farmers' perceptions.