Measuring Your Anxiety Level
When seeking to improve any skill, it is frequently helpful to assess your beginning and ending levels. The same can hold true in your efforts to develop ways of coping with speech anxiety. The Personal Report of Communication Anxiety (PRCA) is an instrument that was developed to measure your perceptions of your anxiety level about communicating in a variety of settings including public speaking. We have included a score sheet which helps you arrive at your current score. You should print out and complete the PRCA and score sheet now before reading any other material in the website in order to arrive at your initial score. You might want to go ahead and print out another copy to complete after you have completed the website and utilized the techniques it contains. If you are completing this exercise as a class assignment, please follow your instructor's guidelines.
Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24)
This instrument is composed of twenty-four statements concerning feelings about communicating with others. Please indicate the degree to which each statement applies to you by marking whether you: Strongly Disagree = 1; Disagree = 2; are Neutral = 3; Agree = 4; Strongly Agree = 5
_____1. I dislike participating in group discussions.
_____2. Generally, I am comfortable while participating in group discussions.
_____3. I am tense and nervous while participating in group discussions.
_____4. I like to get involved in group discussions.
_____5. Engaging in a group discussion with new people makes me tense and nervous.
_____6. I am calm and relaxed while participating in group discussions.
_____7. Generally, I am nervous when I have to participate in a meeting.
_____8. Usually, I am comfortable when I have to participate in a meeting.
_____9. I am very calm and relaxed when I am called upon to express an opinion at a meeting.
_____10. I am afraid to express myself at meetings.
_____11. Communicating at meetings usually makes me uncomfortable.
_____12. I am very relaxed when answering questions at a meeting.
_____13. While participating in a conversation with a new acquaintance, I feel very nervous.
_____14. I have no fear of speaking up in conversations.
_____15. Ordinarily I am very tense and nervous in conversations.
_____16. Ordinarily I am very calm and relaxed in conversations.
_____17. While conversing with a new acquaintance, I feel very relaxed.
_____18. I'm afraid to speak up in conversations.
_____19. I have no fear of giving a speech.
_____20. Certain parts of my body feel very tense and rigid while giving a speech.
_____21. I feel relaxed while giving a speech.
_____22. My thoughts become confused and jumbled when I am giving a speech.
_____23. I face the prospect of giving a speech with confidence.
_____24. While giving a speech, I get so nervous I forget facts I really know.
Source:
McCroskey, J. C. (1982). An introduction to rhetorical communication (4th Ed). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
How to arrive at your PRCA scores
Name:_____________________
Course: SP 110 Section: ____ Date: ______
Male: ____ Female: ____ Age: ____
GROUP DISCUSSION SCORE
Add:
Your score for item #1 ___
Your score for item #9 ___
Your score for item #17 ___
+18
1st Group Disc. subtotal = ___
Add:
Your score for item #5 ___
Your score for item #13 ___
Your score for item #21 ___
2nd Group Disc. subtotal = ___
1stGroup Disc. subtotal ___
MINUS 2nd Group Disc. subtotal ___
GROUP DISCUSSION SCORE = ___
INTERPERSONAL CONVERSATION SCORE
Add:
Your score for item #6 ___
Your score for item #14 ___
Your score for item #22 ___
+18
1st Interpersonal subtotal = ___
Add:
Your score for item #2 ___
Your score for item #10 ___
Your score for item #18 ___
2nd Interpersonal subtotal = ___
1st Interpersonal subtotal ___
MINUS 2nd Interpersonal subtotal ___
INTERPERSONAL SCORE = ___
MEETINGS SCORE
Add:
Your score for item #3 ___
Your score for item #15 ___
Your score for item #23 ___
+18
1st Meetings subtotal = ___
Add:
Your score for item #7 ___
Your score for item #11 ___
Your score for item #19 ___
2nd Meetings subtotal = ___
1st Meetings subtotal ___
MINUS 2nd Meetings subtotal ___
MEETINGS SCORE = ___
PUBLIC SPEAKING SCORE
Add:
Your score for item #8 ___
Your score for item #12 ___
Your score for item #20 ___
+18
1st Public Speaking subtotal = ___
Add:
Your score for item #4 ___
Your score for item #16 ___
Your score for item #24 ___
2nd Public Speaking subtotal = ___
1st Public Speaking subtotal ___
MINUS 2nd Public Speaking subtotal ___
PUBLIC SPEAKING SCORE = ___
TO GET YOUR TOTAL PRCA SCORE, ADD ALL 4 SCORES:
Group Score ___
Interpersonal Score ___
Meetings Score ___
Public Speaking Score ___
TOTAL PRCA SCORE = ___
| Low | Mean | Standard Deviation | High | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Score | < 51 | 65.6 | 15.3 | > 80 |
| Group | < 11 | 15.4 | 4.8 | > 20 |
| Meeting | < 13 | 16.4 | 4.2 | > 20 |
| Dyad (Interpersonal) | < 11 | 14.2 | 3.9 | > 18 |
| Public | < 14 | 19.3 | 5.1 | > 24 |
A FEW THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND ABOUT YOUR SCORE:
There is no "normal" level. This score measures your perception of your anxiety level. Perceptions are subject to change.
Score can vary greatly with the situation. If you are currently enrolled in a public speaking class, you are about to be faced with a situation requiring you to face your fears about public speaking. Compare it to another very common fear - a fear of snakes. Even if you are highly afraid of snakes, you probably go about your daily life with a very low level of anxiety about snakes. However, the moment you enter a densely wooded path, your anxiety level about snakes probably goes up dramatically. By comparison, you should not be surprised if your anxiety level about public speaking rises just before you are confronted with that situation.