The Operationalization and Validation of Isomorphism in Supervision

This dissertation study is focused on operationalizing and validating the construct of isomorphism in supervision. Liddle and Saba (1983) defined isomorphism as the “recursive replication of processes and content between counseling and supervision. The construct has not been validated in the literature (Bernard & Goodyear, 2004), occurs in supervision at an unconscious level (Williams, 1997), is not understood by supervisees (Raichelson, Herron, Primavera, & Ramirez, 1997), and yet plays an integral and foundational role in how supervision is facilitated and structured (Gentry, 1986; Liddle, Breunline, Schwartz, & Constantine, 1984; Liddle & Saba, 1983; White & Russell, 1997).

In order to operationalize and validate the construct, a self-report survey was created to measure for levels of isomorphism using a survey creation methodology proposed by Colton and Covert (2007) and Lounsbury, Gibson, and Saudargas (2005). The eight steps of the aforementioned methodology were conducted by the researcher and this dissertation constitutes the methods and results of steps seven and eight, the pilot study and validation study.

The results of the study found that the Isomorphism Scale has an acceptable level of internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = .893) with 30 items. An exploratory factor analysis found nine underlying factors accounting for 68.65% of the variance. There was strong convergent validity evidence for the composite and factor scores of the Isomorphism Scale when compared to the subscales of the SWAI-Supervisor (correlations ranged between .119 and .353), the SIQ-Supervisor (correlations ranged between .134 and .195), and the SSI-Supervisor (correlations ranged between .121 and .358). There was also incremental validity evidence found with the composite score of the Isomorphism Scale accounting for a significant amount of variance in the “Attractive” subscale of the SSI-Supervisor, ∆[delta]R² = .016, F(1, 269) = 6.87, p = .009, and the “Interpersonally Sensitive” subscale of the SSI-Supervisor, ∆[delta]R² = .026, F(1, 267) = 10.34, p = .001. There was no concurrent validity evidence found in the analysis. The results show that the Isomorphism Scale is a reliable and valid instrument that validates several of the core facets of isomorphism posited by White and Russell (1997).