Shortcut methods for deriving behaviorally anchored rating scales

Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) have traditionally required a great amount of time and effort to develop. Two variations of an alternative method to construct BARS are suggested. The traditional and the two simplified methods were used to develop scales for the evaluation of teacher performance. The scales were used by 231 undergraduate students to evaluate seven psychology instructors. The scales were compared across five content dimensions in terms of reliabilities, means, intercorrelations, and expert judgments. The three procedures were found to produce similar scales using these criteria. On the basis of this study, the shortcut derivation method is recommended as preferable for applied use because it requires considerably less construction time. Since this represents the first attempt to use these shortcut methods, additional experimental and field research is necessary to confirm this recommendation.