Designing and validation of emotional intelligence questionnaire (self-assessment form) for evaluation of children

Research emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence in various aspects of children`s lives, however, fewer studies have focused on designing suitable tests to measure emotional intelligence in children.

The purpose of the present research was to design and validate the emotional intelligence questionnaire according to the Iranian culture.

The current research is descriptive and developmental. The statistical population of the study was all children aged 6 to 9 in Tehran in 1400. The sample size was 618 children, 313 boys, and 305 girls, who were selected from schools in an accessible manner. In this regard, based on a targeted review of scientific research in the field of emotional intelligence, the initial version of the questionnaire with 60 items has been designed. For construct validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and internal reliability were determined by calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. SPSS version 22 and Amos software were used for data analysis.

In the psychometric process questionnaire, items with a validity ratio of less than 0.62 and a validity index of less than 0.79 were removed. Exploratory factor analysis showed 59 items with a 6-factor structure and factor analysis confirmed this finding. Also, the internal consistency of the questions was 0.865, which shows that the questionnaire has good reliability.

The tool designed was a valid questionnaire to measure emotional intelligence in the sample of Iranian children that researchers and other relevant professionals can use this tool in their psychological research.