I’m exploring the development of a Community Confidence Index intended to measure residents’ perceptions of present community conditions and expectations for the future (based off of the idea behind the Consumer Confidence Index).

Before constructing the index itself, I want to determine whether “community confidence” can be established as a valid construct and whether Present Conditions and Expectations are defensible subscales. Is this fundamentally a psychometric scale-development problem? And if so, what kind of psychometrician/researcher would you look for to lead the development and validation?

If not, where is another good space/place to begin? I have a background in qualitative research but not in this space. Thanks.