How do I handle missing values for a Social Climate Scale?
Using the Family Environment Scale (FES) of the Social Climate Scales as an example, if more than half of the nine (that is, five or more) items on any one of the subscales is missing, then the score for that subscale is considered missing. If a respondent misses one item on subscale then an initial score is obtained for that subscale and multiplied by 9/8ths to obtain the final score. If two items are missing on a subscale, then the initial score is multiplied by 9/7ths to obtain the final score. For three missing items, multiply by 9/6ths, and for four missing items, multiply by 9/5ths. In essence, when fewer than half of the items on a subscale are missing, this procedure will obtain FES subscale scores that are “comparable” to the regular 9-item subscale scores.
