Explain why it does not make sense to assess the internal consistency of a formativescale.

Internal consistency is a measure used to evaluate the reliability of a test or scale, which is based on the correlations between different items on the same test. It assesses whether several items that propose to measure the same general construct produce similar scores.

However, assessing the internal consistency of a formative scale does not make sense due to the nature of formative measurement models. In a formative scale, items are not expected to be correlated. This is because each item is supposed to measure a different aspect of the construct, contributing independently to the construct.

In other words, in a formative scale, the items form the construct, rather than reflect it. Therefore, high correlations between items are not expected, and internal consistency (which relies on these correlations) is not a relevant measure of reliability for formative scales.

In contrast, in reflective scales, where items are expected to be highly inter-correlated because they all reflect the same underlying construct, internal consistency is a key measure of reliability.

So, in summary, it does not make sense to assess the internal consistency of a formative scale because the items in a formative scale are not expected to correlate with each other, as they each measure a different aspect of the construct.