Development of the tendency scale for scientific values: A validity and reliability study

Abstract

Being a significant dimension in affective behavior education, values are guiding concepts for explaining the cognitive and social structures. In the process of value acquisition, the tendency of individuals for the value being targeted for acquisition bears a great significance. In the present study, the main aim is to develop an assessment instrument that can determine the tendency levels for the scientific values among students. In this process, the related literature was reviewed and an item pool was established. The item pool was presented to the expert opinion and following the necessary revisions, it was applied to the sample. The sample consisted of 268 secondary school students. In order to determine the validity of the scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. As a result of the validity analyses, a 4-factor structure consisting of 27 items was obtained and each factor was respectively named as the following in accordance with theoretical framework; "Curiosity", "Creativity," "Criticism", and "Inquisitiveness". The Cronbach's Alpha internal consistency coefficient, corrected item correlations, and the stability levels were calculated in order to determine the reliability of the scale. As a result of the study, it was found that the Tendency Scale for Scientific Values consisting of 4 factors and 27 items was a valid and reliable tool that can be used for determining the level of tendency for scientific values.