Development and assessment of the content validity of a scale to measure how well a digital environment facilitates serendipity.

Introduction. Digital information environments such as Websites and search engines have the potential to support serendipity: to spark and nurture positive, unexpected interactions with information and ideas with valuable outcomes. But we have few tools to measure how well they support serendipity and thus no data-driven way to guide their development. Method. Grounded in prior research, facets of a serendipitous digital environment were identified together with a pool of items that could be used in the creation of a self-report scale. To assess the content validity of the preliminary scale or the extent to which a measurement reflects the content domain it is intended to capture, we conducted two successive studies: an expert review by eight experts; and an analysis of variance approach involving a Web-based study of 107 university students. Analysis. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to analyse the data. Results. The items of the serendipitous digital environment scale were revised and the scale's content validity confirmed. Conclusion. Five facets of a serendipitous digital environment were identified and defined and a 37-item scale was developed in preparation for future studies that will reduce and refine the scale and test its construct validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]