Narrative Reflection

What it measures

Measures the extent to which a person thought about the meaning, message, and overall intent of a story after reading it. Created by drawing inspiration from Graesser, Singer, and Trabasso (1994). Used in Studies 1A, 1B, and 2 in research on how story endings affect narrative persuasion. Demonstrates discriminant validity from narrative transportation (absorption in the story) across all three studies via CFA. The scale is straightforwardly adaptable to other narrative media such as films, songs, and plays.

Response format

7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

Scale items

• I thought about the meaning of the story.
• I thought about the 'message' of the story.
• I thought about what the story was trying to express, overall.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Alphas: .85 (Study 1A), .96 (Study 1B), .92 (Study 2). Discriminant validity from narrative transportation established via CFA in all three studies. Easily adapted for use with other media (films, songs, plays) — psychometric retesting recommended for substantially different contexts. Inspired by Graesser, Singer, & Trabasso (1994), Psychological Review, 101(3), 371–395.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Hamby, A., & Brinberg, D. (2016). Happily ever after: How ending valence influences narrative persuasion in cautionary stories. Journal of Advertising, 45(4), 498–508.

Keywords