Measurement Tools

The following resources provide key instruments for measuring different forms of personal transformation.

Click on each title to expand.

 “the capacity to pay attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4).

39-Item Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, FFMQ Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer & Toney, 2006

24-item short form version of FFMQ (FFMQ-SF) developed by Bohlmeijer, 2011 : After evaluating all of the seven most utilized mindfulness scales, Baer created the FFMQ to integrate the most important and validated features to measure the five facets of mindfulness: observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, and nonreactivity to inner experience.

12-item Cognitive & Affective Mindfulness Scale – Revised, CAMS-R, Feldman, Hayes, Kumar, Greeson & Laurenceau 2007: Measures attention, present-focus, awareness and acceptance.

7-item Mindfulness Process Questionnaire, MPQ, Erisman & Roemer, 2012: This new mindfulness questionnaire was developed to assess the extent to which mindfulness is intentionally practiced, to assess switching ability, and evaluate judgment

“a state of being…where human needs are met, where one can act meaningfully to pursue one's goals, and where one enjoys a satisfactory quality of life" (ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries, 2008, p. 4).

Quality of Life, WeD-QoL, Laura Camfield and Teresa King, 2006: A measure of an individual’s perceived Quality of Life. The purpose is to be able to compare how people experience and evaluate their lives, including the level of satisfaction felt in relation to values aspects of their lives

Satisfaction with Life Scale, SWLS, Diener, Emmons, Larson & Griffin 1985: A global assessment of ones’ quality of life according to their own chosen criteria, SCS has strong correlations with self-compassion and emotional intelligence, and negative correlations with self-judgment.

Flourishing Scale, Diener et al., 2010: Designed to measure social-psychological prosperity defined by positive social relationships, purposeful and meaningful life, engagement and interest in one’s activities, and feeling competent and capable in activities that are important to the person

Pemperton Happiness Index, Hervas & Vazquez, 2013: Covers multiple elements of well-being (general, hedonic, eudaimonic, social), assesses overall memory of wellbeing yesterday, and is validated in multiple countries and languages.

“a positive adaptation despite adversity that leads to growth and greater wellbeing” (Fleming & Ledogar, 2008; Luthar et al., 2000; Richardson, 2002).

6-Item Brief Resilience Scale,, BRS, Smith, Dalen, Wiggins, Tooley, Christopher & Bernard, 2008: Assesses the ability of a person to bounce back. 

The Community Assessment of Resilience Tool, CART, Pfefferbaum, Pfefferbaum, Van Horn, Klomp, Norris & Reissman, 2006: Assesses community resilience.

PTSD Check List – 17, PCL – 17: A 17-question measure for self-report symptoms of PTSD using a 5-part Likert scale.  Scores range from 17-85, with measures of 50 or higher indicating PTSD

a process of being able to put yourself in another’s shoes and imagine feeling the way they feel.

Interpersonal Reactivity Index, IRI, Davis, 1994

involves perceiving and appraising another’s feelings, but also includes a desire to help alleviate the other’s suffering.

Compassion Scale, Pommier, 2011

“compassion directed inward” (Neff & Pommier, 2012, p. 1), including kindness for the self without criticism.

Self-Compassion Scale, SCS, Neff, 2003: Self-compassion is correlated with wellbeing, social connectedness, self-determination and emotional balance.

the ability to be aware of our own and others' feelings in the moment and use that information to inform one’s action in relationship (Goleman, 1995a; Salovey & Mayer, 1990).

Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso Emotional Intelligence Scales, MSCEIT, Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2002 a,b; 2003: A refined and better normed successor to the Multi-Factor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS, Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 1998, 1999). Recommended as the best test for measuring ability EI.

Emotional and Social Competence Inventory, ESCI, Boyatzis and Goleman, 2007: The ESCI measures the demonstration of individuals’ behaviors, through their perceptions and those of their raters, making it distinct from measures of EI that assess ability or personality preferences.

Growth Mindset Scale, Dweck, 2006: A 3-item scale to measure if people believe that can get smarter if they work at it.

Grit Scale, Duckworth, 2007: A 12-item scale to measure trait-level perseverance and passion for long-term goals.

“the ability to more deeply understand people by perceiving or experiencing their life situations and as a result gain insight into structural inequalities and disparities” (Segal, 2011, p. 266).

Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale, TSIS, Silvera, Martinussen & Dahl, 2001: A self-report scale that evaluates social information processing, social skills and social awareness

Emotional support subscale of the Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire, ICQ, Buhrmester 1988: Measures facilitating reappraisals

Active-Empathic Listening Scale, AELS, Bodie 2011: Active listening has cognitive, affective and behavioral processes

Empowerment is the ability to choose, including the existence of options and a capacity to make purposeful choices in a changing context where little power once existed (Alsop & Heinsohn, 2005; Kabeer 1999; Samman & Santos, 2003; Sidle, 2019).

13-Item Locus of Control or Internal-External Scale, Rotter, 1966: A long-standing tool to measure personal control over life outcomes using 13-items to assess whether an individual has an internal locus of control (outcomes depend on personal actions) or an external locus of control (outcomes and experiences are dictated by external forces.

General Causality in Orientation Scale of Self-Determination Ryan & Deci, 1985: A widely-tested tool that measures autonomy or empowerment across three dimensions – autonomy orientation (high degree of personal choice and internal locus of causality), control orientation (how much is behavior compliant with extrinsic factors or a sense of what “should” be), and impersonal orientation (how much do people feel their behavior is beyond their intentional control), representing a continuum of self-determination from high to low.

Measuring Empowerment (ME) Framework, World Bank: A comprehensive set of indicators for measuring degrees of empowerment in three parts: (1) existence of choice, (2) use of choice, and (3) achievement of choice, which can be applied across different programs, circumstances, and nations.

Self-Assessment Based Framework, Ibramin and Alkire, 2007: A framework utilizing subjective, self-assessment questions for measuring power or control over choice in four primary areas: personal decisions, autonomy, change in one’s life, and change within community.

A sense of community includes a feeling of belonging, a sense of mattering to the group, a feeling that needs will be met by shared resources, and having a shared emotional connection (McMillan & Chavis, 1986).

24-Item Sense of Community Index - 2 (Revised), SCI-2, Chavis, Lee & Acosta, 2008: Improves reliability of the SCI especially as a cross-cultural measure. Is based upon the most frequently used measure of a sense of community in the social sciences based on the 1986 McMillan and Chavis definition of a sense of community, measuring across 12 questions, four subscales, including (1) membership, (2) influence, (3) integration and fulfillment of needs, and (4) shared emotional connection.

Social Capital and Social Cohesion Measurement Toolkit for Community-Driven Development Operations, Mercy Corps and World Bank, 2020: A 15-item survey for measuring social capital and social cohesion combined with a qualitative contextualization guide that helps to adapt the tool for a particular context, based on a review of 2600 survey questions from existing tools utilized globally.