Measuring Emotional Experiences to Music – Content Validity Assessment for Episode Model Constructs

This study focuses on content validity procedures in music psychology. We set out to develop an instrument to measure a recent theory concerning emotional episodes (Eerola et al., 2024) related to music and their associated constructs. To establish this instrument, we: (1) operationalised the theory; (2) proposed and adapted a set of items to represent the relevant constructs; (3) analysed and reduced the item pool; (4) assessed the content validity of the items using subject matter experts; and (5) refined and reassessed the item pool based on expert feedback. In Step 1, we identified 25 sub-constructs. In Step 2, these were represented by an initial pool of 495 items, of which 290 were adapted from existing instruments. Step 3 involved eliminating 159 semantically similar items. In Step 4, twelve subject matter experts in music and emotion evaluated a sample of 366 items for relevance, providing suggestions for reclassification and identifying missing content. Expert agreement was used to determine item retention. Based on their feedback, a revised pool of 302 items underwent a second round of expert review. This process resulted in a set of 168 relevant items and 115 of the most representative items encompassing the emotional episodes, the descriptive schemes, and the contextual constructs across 23 sub-constructs. Together, relevant and representative scores indicate the quality of the content but future psychometric processes will need to test construct validity. We conclude by discussing the content validity of the constructs and frame a modular scheme that implements the underlying theoretical framework.