Assessing Flow: The Flow Scales
Most people would agree that being in flow is a great experience, but:
- How do we know when someone is experiencing flow, and what is it like when they are in this state?
- To what extent are your - athletes/students/employees/performers - absorbed in, and enjoying, what they are doing?
The Flow Scales can provide answers to questions such as these. The Flow Scales assess the optimal psychological experience of flow – an experience involving total absorption in the task at hand. When in flow, one acts with confidence and ease, and usually at superior levels of performance. The Flow Scales have been used in a wide range of performance settings. We have developed a suite of scales – the Long, Short, and Core Flow Scales – providing a range of instrumentation to suit a diversity of research and applied purposes including in:
- performance domains, such as sport, music, arts
- work settings
- free time activities and hobbies
- school settings
"The different versions of the Flow Scales provide complementary, but non-overlapping ways to assess flow. The scales are useful for assessing individuals' flow experiences and also for the design of interventions aimed at more structured approaches to developing flow. Together, the Flow Scales provide useful tools for diverse research goals, and are also relevant to practitioners interested in enhancing outcomes that are related to being in flow."
Susan Jackson, Robert Eklund, Andrew Martin, The FLOW Manual
The Flow Scale Suite
The Flow Scales are used to assess flow, and have been developed and validated by Dr Sue Jackson and colleagues. One general characteristic of this approach to assessing flow has been to do so at two levels:
- Dispositional level: Frequency of flow experience in particular domains (e.g., sport, work, school) – these are known as the Dispositional versions of the flow scales.
- State level: Extent of flow experienced in a particular event or activity (e.g., a race, a work project, or a test) – these are known as the State versions of the flow scales.
The dispositional and state flow scales are parallel forms, with wording differences reflecting whether the disposition to experience flow (Dispositional), or a specific flow experience (State), is being assessed. All versions of the scales have been validated through confirmatory factor analyses, and the scales have demonstrated good psychometric properties.
There are three main flow instruments (each of which has a dispositional and a state version)
1. LONG Flow Scales
2. SHORT Flow Scales
3. CORE Flow Scales
Suggested Uses of the Flow Scales
- Research instrument for studying flow, and factors associated with flow, across a variety of settings, such as work, sport, hobbies, and school;
- Research tool for measuring the effects of interventions;
- As a stimulus for discussion in performance, training, and workshop settings;
- Practitioner tool for working with clients to understand their present potential to experience flow;
- Practitioner tool for working with clients to develop skills for increasing flow.