Table 3.

Scale development process—ten main limitations

	Limitations	n	%
1	Sample characteristics limitations	85	81
	Homogeneous and/or convenience sample—limitations of generalization	67	64
	Small sample size	18	17
2	Methodological limitations	35	33.2
	Cross-sectional methodology	20	19
	Self-reporting methodology	9	8.5
	Web-based survey	6	5.7
3	Psychometric limitations	32	30.4
	Lack of a more robust demonstration of the construct validity and/or reliability	21	20
	Inadequate choose of the instruments or variables to be correlated with the variable of the study	6	5.7
	Factor analysis limitations	5	4.7
4	Qualitative research limitations	6	5.6
	Deductive approach to scale development	2	1.9
	Lack of a more robust literature review	1	1
	Subjective analysis	1	0.9
	Content validity was not formally assessed	1	0.9
	Recruitment of a larger number of interviewers	1	0.9
5	Missing data	3	2.8
6	Social desirability bias	2	1.9
7	Items limitations	2	1.9
	Items ambiguous or difficult to answer	1	1
	None of the items are reverse-scored	1	0.9
8	Brevity of the scale	2	1.9
9	Difficult to control all variables	1	0.9
10	Lack of a manualized instructions	1	0.9