Scale Analysis

The Active Empathic Listening Scale (AELS) was developed by Drollinger and colleagues in 2006. The AELS refers to a listener’s ability to understand the relevant aspects of a speaker’s message.

Purpose

The scale was created to assess the processing and cognitive aspects of listening. It includes monitoring, understanding, receiving, and interpreting messages. The response dimension measures the perception of listening behavior, including verbal and nonverbal feedback. The AELS was initially defined as a form of listening used in interpersonal communication, where typical active listening is combined with empathy.

Question Calibration

The AELS consists of 11 items, which are divided into three subscales: sensing (empathic perception), processing, and responding. These items address similar content areas. Participants indicate the degree to which each statement represents them using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (Never or almost never) to 7 (Always or almost always).

Statistical Analysis

The AELS yields an overall score. Each participant’s item scores are summed to compute the total Active Empathic Listening score. The average time to complete the test is approximately 25 minutes.

Validity and Reliability

The reliability of the entire scale and its three subscales demonstrated moderate to relatively good internal consistency: perception Cronbach’s α = 0.73, processing Cronbach’s α = 0.66, and response Cronbach’s α = 0.78. The overall scale showed high internal consistency with Cronbach’s α = 0.86.

References

Authors: Drollinger et al.
Keaton, S. A. (2017). Active‐Empathic Listening Scale (AELS) (Drollinger, Comer, & Warrington, 2006; also Bodie, 2011). The Sourcebook of Listening Research: Methodology and Measures, pp. 161–166.