SCI 2 - German version & general questions SCI & SCI-2 Discuss SCI 2 - German version & general questions in the forums; Hi there, I'm currently working on a project using the SCI 2 in online communities. Specially translating it into german, some general questions appeared: Regarding question 8: - what is ...

[FlorianK.]

Hi there,
I'm currently working on a project using the SCI 2 in online communities.
Specially translating it into german, some general questions appeared:

Regarding question 8:
- what is meant by "I can recognize most of the members..."?
I can recognize them after I've met or spoken to them?
OR
I can recognize them without knowing them personally, but I know, because of their attitude and general appearance, that they must belong to the same
community.

Regarding question 13 and 19:
"Fitting into this community is important to me" (loading on influence) and "It
is very important to me to be a part of this community" (shared emotional
connection), specially translated, does show some redundancy to me.
Could you offer some more detail concerning both questions that I can better
handle the german translation?

Is there a special reason why a four-stage Likert like scale has been chosen and not a e.g. five stage one?

Thanks a lot!

Regards,
Florian K.

[dchavis]

Hi Florian;

Let me try to help. See my answers below. Hope this is helpful, if not, ask some more.

David

Regarding question 8:
- what is meant by "I can recognize most of the members..."?
I can recognize them after I've met or spoken to them?
OR
I can recognize them without knowing them personally, but I know, because of their attitude and general appearance, that they must belong to the same
community.

DMC> The point is I can generally tell (or know) who is part of my community vs who is not. This may be because I know them, have seen them, recognize them by appearance or language, or by location (e.g. they are in my school), etc. Stronger communities have ways of distinguishing who is in and who is outside, for better or worse. This is how boundaries are established providing a sense of belong as well as security and trust.

Regarding question 13 and 19:
"Fitting into this community is important to me" (loading on influence) and "It
is very important to me to be a part of this community" (shared emotional
connection), specially translated, does show some redundancy to me.
Could you offer some more detail concerning both questions that I can better
handle the german translation?

DMC> Fitting in- in the context of influence means conforming to community norms, etc. Influence is a bi-directional concept in the SOC theory. The more a person feels he/she can influence a community, the more she/he is influenced. Q19 reflects the individuals wanting/desire to be part of the community- that's the emotional connection.

Is there a special reason why a four-stage Likert like scale has been chosen and not a e.g. five stage one?

DMC> This is not a Likert scale. (agree-disagree) as it does not measure attitude. It is a form of a self anchoring scale (completely feel a certain way vs not at all). As such, it is better than typical ordinal scales since there is a real 0 (zero) in the "not at all".