Cited by 1,012Psychometric Methodologies and TestingHealth Education and ValidationSurvey Methodology and Nonresponse

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Initial Scale Development: Sample Size for Pilot Studies

Johanson, George A., Brooks, Gordon P.·2010·Educational and Psychological Measurement

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Abstract

Pilot studies are often recommended by scholars and consultants to address a variety of issues, including preliminary scale or instrument development. Specific concerns such as item difficulty, item discrimination, internal consistency, response rates, and parameter estimation in general are all relevant. Unfortunately, there is little discussion in the extant literature of how to determine appropriate sample sizes for these types of pilot studies. This article investigates the choice of sample size for pilot studies from a perspective particularly related to instrument development. Specific recommendations are made for researchers regarding how many participants they should use in a pilot study for initial scale development.

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Shatnawi, H. S., Alawneh, K., Alananzeh, O. A., Khasawneh, M. H. A., & Masa’deh, R. M. T. (2023) · GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites · doi:10.30892/gtg.50420-1138 · Cited by 15
Development and validation of a sustainable education scale
Tosun, F. Ç., & Söğüt, S. (2024) · Sustainable Development · doi:10.1002/sd.2892 · Cited by 11
Students’ perceptions towards the uptake of educational technologies in Christian Religious Education
Gitiha, R. W., Rugano, P., Wakhu, S., & Ciriaka, M. G. (2024) · Cogent Education · doi:10.1080/2331186x.2024.2310968 · Cited by 8
“Johanson and Brooks (2009) point out that in survey research, 10 – 30 participants should be considered for piloting research instruments.”
The Relationship of Takaful Agents' Islamic Ethical Behaviour towards Customers' Satisfaction, Trust and Commitment: A Preliminary Analysis
Salleh, M. C. M., Abdullah, N. I., & Razali, S. S. (2013) · Cited by 8
Spatial Orientation In Sportsmen
Stoyanova, S. Y., Ivantchev, N., & Petrova, K. (2016) · European Scientific Journal ESJ · doi:10.19044/esj.2016.v12n24p88 · Cited by 8
“For group comparisons, each group should consist of at least 12 members (Johanson & Brooks, 2010), so the national and regional competitors’ results could be compared in this study.”
Result
The Educators’ Attitudes Toward Disability Scale (EADS): A Pilot Study
Freer, J. R. R. (2018) · International Journal of Disability Development and Education · doi:10.1080/1034912x.2018.1426098 · Cited by 8
“Despite this major limitation, the overall sample size (n = 128) is acceptable for the purposes of a pilot study (Johanson & Brooks, 2010; Viechtbauer et al., 2015).”
Method
Cognitive and Initial Psychometric Testing of the Errors of Care Omission Survey: A New Patient Safety Tool for Primary Care
Poghosyan, L., Norful, A. A., Liu, J., & Shaffer, J. A. (2019) · Journal of Nursing Measurement · doi:10.1891/1061-3749.27.1.16 · Cited by 8
Development and preliminary validation of a tool measuring concordance and belief about performing pressure-relieving activities for pressure ulcer prevention in spinal cord injury
Liu, L. Q., Chapman, S., Deegan, R., Knight, S. L., Traynor, M., Allan, H. T., & Gall, A. (2020) · Journal of Tissue Viability · doi:10.1016/j.jtv.2020.05.002 · Cited by 8
Development of screening questions for doctor–patient consultation assessing the quality of life and psychosocial burden of glioma patients: an explorative study
Voß, H., Scholz-Kreisel, P., Richter, C., Ringel, F. A., Singer, S., & Renovanz, M. (2021) · Quality of Life Research · doi:10.1007/s11136-021-02756-x · Cited by 8
Social Media Influencers and The Dietary Choices Among University Students
Ahmad, S. A., & Bruno, D. E. (2021) · Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (MJSSH) · doi:10.47405/mjssh.v6i10.1125 · Cited by 15
Children of Parents With a Mental Illness—Stigma Questionnaire: Development and Piloting
Dobener, L.-M., Stracke, M., Viehl, K., & Christiansen, H. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.800037 · Cited by 8
“Nevertheless, according to Johanson and Brooks (59), 30 representative participants from the population of interest suffice for a pilot study to test a new instrument in terms of preliminary item analyses, estimates of internal consistency and proportions of people responding to specific options.”
Background
From maternity paper hand-held records to electronic health records: what do women tell us about their use?
Hawley, G., Hepworth, J., Wilkinson, S. A., & Jackson, C. L. (2015) · Australian Journal of Primary Health · doi:10.1071/py14170 · Cited by 8
Evaluation of ethical codes implementation – a fuzzy approach
Ho, C., & Oladinrin, O. (2016) · Facilities · doi:10.1108/f-04-2015-0015 · Cited by 7
Factors influencing appropriate management of household hazardous waste in Nakhon Nayok, Thailand: A multilevel analysis
Intarasaksit, P., & Pitaksanurat, S. (2018) · Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association · doi:10.1080/10962247.2018.1536616 · Cited by 8
Self-Denigration in Doctoral Defense Sessions: Scale Development and Validation
Mayahi, N., & Jalilifar, A. (2021) · ESP Today · doi:10.18485/esptoday.2022.10.1.3 · Cited by 8
Electronic word-of-mouth in online brand communities: drivers and outcomes
Pasternak, O. (2017) · Enlighten: Theses (The University of Glasgow) · Cited by 8
Exploring LLMs for Automated Generation and Adaptation of Questionnaires
Adhikari, D. M., Hartland, A., Weber, I. G., & Cannanure, V. K. (2025) · ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces (CUI) · doi:10.1145/3719160.3736606 · Cited by 9
“However, resource constraints [71], participant availability [8, 37], and limited expert access [58] make pretesting difficult for new questionnaires or adapting existing questionnaires to different contexts.”
Harnessing Knowledge: The Robust Role of Knowledge Management Practices and Business Intelligence Systems in Developing Entrepreneurial Leadership and Organizational Sustainability in SMEs
Alharthi, S. (2025) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su17146264 · Cited by 7
Medication adherence, self-efficacy and health literacy among patients with glaucoma: a mixed-methods study protocol
Achilleos, M., Merkouris, A., Charalambous, A., & Papastavrou, E. (2021) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039788 · Cited by 7
Risk factors of mortality among children under age five in Awi Zone, northwest Ethiopia
Alemu, Y., Mitiku, H. D., & Birara, M. (2022) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0275659 · Cited by 7
Exploring the role of institutional investors in voting, monitoring and dialogue engagement in mitigating agency conflict in Malaysia’s public listed companies
Maznorbalia, A. S., Awalluddin, M. A., & Ayob, A. H. Y. (2023) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-023-01631-z · Cited by 7
“Johanson and Brooks (2009) the best sample size for pilot research is 30.”
Background
Effects of posture on heart rate variability in non-frail and prefrail individuals: a cross-sectional study
Chen, H., Tse, M. Y. M., Chung, J. W. Y., Yau, S. Y., & Wong, T. K. S. (2023) · BMC Geriatrics · doi:10.1186/s12877-023-04585-8 · Cited by 9
“The minimum required sample size was estimated to be 30 according to the recommended sampling choice for a preliminary study [15, 16].”
A digital positive psychology intervention for college student mental health and health behaviors
Biber, D., & Davis, A. (2024) · Mental Health and Digital Technologies · doi:10.1108/mhdt-02-2024-0007 · Cited by 8
Developing the quality of life in pregnancy scale (PREG-QOL)
Özer, E., & Güvenç, G. (2024) · BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth · doi:10.1186/s12884-024-06771-x · Cited by 7
“They were also asked to comment on difficulties in completing the scale and to offer suggestions for improvement, including specifying any additional item statements they felt were missing or items that should be deleted [30, 31].”
Background
Perceptions towards disability among social work students in Israel: Development and validation of a new scale
Holler, R., & Werner, S. (2018) · Health & Social Care in the Community · doi:10.1111/hsc.12555 · Cited by 7
Kesahan dan Kebolehpercayaan Instrumen Indeks Pemupukan Kreativiti dalam Pengajaran Guru dengan Elemen Islam (I-CFTI) Berdasarkan Pendekatan Model Rasch (Validity and Reliability of Creativity Fostering Index Instrument in Teacher Instruction with Islamic Elements (I-CFTI) Based on Rasch Model Approach)
Yusoff, H. M., Hamzah, M. I., & Surat, S. (2018) · Jurnal Pendidikan Malaysia · doi:10.17576/jpen-2018-43.03-09 · Cited by 7
Feasibility and early effectiveness of the Tell‐us Card communication tool to increase in‐hospital patient participation: a cluster randomised controlled pilot study
van Belle, E., Waal, G. H., Vermeulen, H., & Heinen, M. M. (2020) · Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences · doi:10.1111/scs.12909 · Cited by 7
Measuring Discriminatory Social Norms Against Children With Disabilities to Improve Communication-Based Programs
Stevens, S. C. W., Sood, S., Mertz, N., & Kostizak, K. (2020) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2020.541901 · Cited by 7
“The convention of using 30 individuals per group is common for pilot studies and thus was used in the present study (Johanson and Brooks, 2010).”
Method

Authors: Johanson, G. A., & Brooks, G. P.
Affiliations: Ohio University (US)
Corresponding author: Johanson, George A.
ORCID: Johanson, George A.
Brooks, Gordon P.
Venue: Educational and Psychological Measurement
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2009-12-18
Volume: 70
Issue: 3
Pages: 394-400
ISSN: 0013-1644 (ISSN-L)
1552-3888
DOI: 10.1177/0013164409355692
OpenAlex: W1984294110
Cited by: 1,012
References: 19
Citations by year: 2026: 134 · 2025: 115 · 2024: 110 · 2023: 99 · 2022: 89 · 2021: 104 · 2020: 83 · 2019: 67 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 33 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 13
FWCI: 9.92
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: Educational and Psychological Measurement (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
Health Sciences › Nursing › Research and Theory › Health Education and Validation
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
Keywords: pilot study, sample size determination, scale development, instrument development, item difficulty, item discrimination, internal consistency, response rate, parameter estimation

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Initial Scale Development: Sample Size for Pilot Studies

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