CONTENT VALIDATION OF A CRITICAL READING ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT WITHIN A CRITICAL DIGITAL LITERACY FRAMEWORK USING THE FUZZY DELPHI METHOD

Abstract

This study aimed at developing and establishing content validity evidence for a
multidimensional assessment instrument designed to assess students’ critical reading
skills in digital environment within the Critical Digital Literacy (CDL) framework. A
research and development approach was employed with the Fuzzy Delphi Method
(FDM) used to evaluate expert consensus regarding item relevance, clarity, and
construct alignment. Ten experts in litereacy, educational technology, and educational
assessment participated in the content validation process. Responses were collected
using a seven-point Likert scale and converted into Triangular Fuzzy Numbers (TFN).
Item acceptance was determined using threshold values (d ≤ 0.20) and defuzzification
scores. The results indicated that all twenty-five items achieved expert consensus,
with threshold values ranging from 0.113 to 0.182 and defuzzification scores ranging
from 0.800 to 0.943. These findings provide evidence of strong content validity across
five dimensions: critical digital literacy, critical reading, multimodality, linguistic
clarity, and E-module usability. Rather than establishing complete instrument validity,
the study offers an initial expert-based validation framework that can support
subsequent empirical testing involving construct validity, reliability analysis, and field
implementation.