The self-perceived communication competence scale was developed to obtain information concerning how competent people feel they are in a variety of communication contexts and with a variety of types of receivers. Early self-report measures of competence were structured to represent what the creators of the measures felt were the components of communication competence. This scale is intended to let the respondent define communication competence. Since people make decisions with regard to communication (for example, whether they will even do it), it is their perception that is important, not that of an outside observer. It is important that users of this measure recognize that this is NOT a measure of actual communication competence, it is a measure of PERCEIVED competence. While these two different types of measures may be substantially correlated, they are not the same thing. This measure has generated good alpha reliability estimates (above .85) and had strong face validity. It also has been found to have substantial predictive validity.
 

Directions: Below are twelve situations in which you might need to communicate. People's abilities to communicate effectively vary a lot, and sometimes the same person is more competent to communicate in one situation than in another. Please indicate how competent you believe you are to communicate in each of the situations described below.  Indicate in the space provided at the left of each item your estimate of your competence. 

Presume 0 = completely incompetent and 100 = competent. 
 

_____1. Present a talk to a group of strangers. 

_____2. Talk with an acquaintance. 

_____3. Talk in a large meeting of friends. 

_____4. Talk in a small group of strangers. 

_____5. Talk with a friend. 

_____6. Talk in a large meeting of acquaintances. 

_____7. Talk with a stranger. 

_____8. Present a talk to a group of friends. 

_____9. Talk in a small group of acquaintances. 

_____10. Talk in a large meeting of strangers. 

_____11. Talk in a small group of friends. 

_____12. Present a talk to a group of acquaintances. 
 

Scoring:  To compute the subscores, add the percentages for the items indicated and divide the total by the number indicated below. 

Public                           1 + 8 + 12; divide by 3. 

Meeting                        3 + 6 + 10; divide by 3. 

Group                          4 + 9 + 11; divide by 3. 

Dyad                             2 + 5 + 7; divide by 3. 

Stranger                       1 + 4 + 7 + 10; divide by 4. 

Acquaintance               2 + 6 + 9 + 12; divide by 4. 

Friend                          3 + 5 + 8 + 11; divide by 4. 

To compute the total SPCC score, add the subscores for Stranger, Acquaintance, and Friend.  Then, divide that total by 3. 

	Reliability	Mean	S.D.
Public	.72	68.8	17.8
Meeting	.68	68.8	17.1
Group	.67	76.1	14.6
Dyad	.44	81.1	12.4
Stranger	.87	55.5	23.6
Acquaintance	.84	77.4	15.3
Friend	.78	88.2	11.3
Total	.92	73.7	13.8

Public	> 86 High SPCC	< 51 Low SPCC
Meeting	> 85 High SPCC	< 51 Low SPCC
Group	> 90 High SPCC	< 61 Low SPCC
Dyad	> 93 High SPCC	< 68 Low SPCC
Stranger	> 79 High SPCC	< 31 Low SPCC
Acquaintance	> 92 High SPCC	< 62 Low SPCC
Friend	> 99 High SPCC	< 76 Low SPCC
Total	> 87 High SPCC	< 59 Low SPCC

Higher SPCC scores indicate higher self-perceived communication competence with basic communication contexts (public, meeting, group, dyad) and receivers (strangers, acquaintance, friend). 

Source:

McCroskey, J. C., & McCroskey, L. L. (1988). Self-report as an approach to measuring communication competence. Communication Research Reports, 5, 108-113.