Dispositional Flow Scale - DFS

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Created: January 03, 2017

Last Modified: January 14, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements a computerized version of the Dispositional Flow Scale (DFS). 'Flow' = positive feeling of balance btw. challenges of tasks and personal abilities to tackle them.

The implemented procedure is based on the published:

Flow State Scale (FSS): Jackson, S.A., & Marsh, H.W. (1996). Development and validation of a scale to measure optimal experience: The flow state scale. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 18, 17–35.

Dispositional Flow Scale (DFS aka TFS for Trait Flow Scale) Jackson, S.A., Kimiecik, J.C., Ford, S., and Marsh, H.W. (1998). Psychological correlates of flow in sport. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 20: 358-378

Duration

3 minutes

Overview

A 36-item, 5-point Likert scale self-report questionnaire with 4 items per 9 subscales:
•ChallengeSkillBase (1, 10, 19, 28)
•ActionAwarenessMerging (2, 11, 20, 29)
•ClearGoals (3, 12, 21, 30)
•UnambiguousFeedback (4, 13, 22, 31)
•Concentration_at_task_on_hand (5, 14, 23, 32)
•Paradox_of_control (6, 15, 24, 33)
•Loss_of_SelfConsciousness (7, 16, 25, 34)
•Transformation_of_Time (8, 17, 26, 35)
•AutotelicExperience (intrinsic motivation) (9, 18, 27, 36)

For the purpose of this script,
a) the wording of the items published for the FSS (Jackson & Marsh, 1996) were changed by Millisecond to
assess dispositional flow experiences according to the guidelines published in Jackson et al (1998).
b) the Likert anchors were changed from: 'Strongly Disagree - Strongly Agree' (FSS) to 'Never-Always' (DFS) in accordance with
Jackson et al (1998)
c) the wording of the instructions for the FSS were changed to assess dispositional flow experiences by Millisecond

Instructions

Instructions are based on Jackson & Marsh (1996) published for the FFS.
They can be edited under section Editable Parameters

Scoring

A 36-item, 5-point Likert scale self-report questionnaire with 4 items per 9 subscales:
•ChallengeSkillBase (1, 10, 19, 28)
•ActionAwarenessMerging (2, 11, 20, 29)
•ClearGoals (3, 12, 21, 30)
•UnambiguousFeedback (4, 13, 22, 31)
•Concentration_at_task_on_hand (5, 14, 23, 32)
•Paradox_of_control (6, 15, 24, 33)
•Loss_of_SelfConsciousness (7, 16, 25, 34)
•Transformation_of_Time (8, 17, 26, 35)
•AutotelicExperience (9, 18, 27, 36)

For the purpose of this script,
a) the wording of the items published for the FSS (Jackson & Marsh, 1996) were changed by Millisecond to
assess dispositional flow experiences according to the guidelines published in Jackson et al (1998).
b) the Likert anchors were changed from: 'Strongly Disagree - Strongly Agree' (FSS) to 'Never-Always' (DFS) in accordance with
Jackson et al (1998)
c) the wording of the instructions for the FSS were changed to assess dispositional flow experiences by Millisecond

Summary Data

File Name: flowstatescale_summary.iqdat' (Inquisit Lab: one data file per participant)

Data Fields

NameDescription
inquisit.version Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
startDate Date the session was run
startTime Time the session was run
subjectId Participant ID
groupId Group number
sessionId Session number
elapsedTime Session duration in ms
completed 0 = Test was not completed
1 = Test was completed
challengeSkillBase Total points on CBS scale (1, 10, 19, 28)
actionAwarenessMerging Total points on AAM scale (2, 11, 20, 29)
clearGoals Total points on CG scale (3, 12, 21, 30)
unambiguousFeedback Total points on UF scale (4, 13, 22, 31)
concentrationAtTaskOnHand Total points on CT scale (5, 14, 23, 32)
paradoxOfControl Total points on PC scale (6, 15, 24, 33)
lossOfSelfConsciousness Total points on LSC scale (7, 16, 25, 34)
transformationOfTime Total points on TT scale (8, 17, 26, 35)
autotelicExperience Total points on AE scale (9, 18, 27, 36)
total The combined score of all 9 subscalesfactors
+ individual responses

Raw Data

File Name: flowstatescale_survey.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
date Date the session was run
time Time the session was run
subject, group, session With the current subject/groupnumber/session id
build Inquisit version number
q*_response Response given (in assigned values) - 5 point Likert scales (range: 1-5)
*CSB: ChallengeSkillBase (1, 10, 19, 28)
*AAM: ActionAwarenessMerging (2, 11, 20, 29)
*CG: ClearGoals (3, 12, 21, 30)
*UF: UnambiguousFeedback (4, 13, 22, 31)
*CT: Concentration_at_task_on_hand (5, 14, 23, 32)
*PC: Paradox_of_control (6, 15, 24, 33)
*LSC: Loss_of_SelfConsciousness (7, 16, 25, 34)
*TT: Transformation_of_Time (8, 17, 26, 35)
*AE: AutotelicExperience (9, 18, 27, 36)
q*_latency How much time (in ms) the participant spent on the surveyPage with this particular question (the last time this particular surveyPage was visited)

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
pageInstructions Store the instructions presented on each surveyPage