In Pursuit of Validity: A comprehensive review of science attitude instruments 1935-2005
International Journal of Science Education, Volume 30, Issue 7 June 2008 , pages 961 - 977
Cheryl L. Blalock; Michael J. Lichtenstein; Steven Owen; Linda Pruski; Carolyn Marshall; MaryAnne Toepperwein
The purpose of this review is to present a comprehensive evaluation of science attitude instruments based on published psychometric evidence. A multitude of instruments have been used through the years and some have been linked to career choice and school performance. Substantiating such associations is of paramount importance if researchers wish to influence educational policy. However, associations are reduced, or hard to discover, if instruments have weak psychometric properties. Several databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles that discussed the development and use of science attitude instruments. Instruments were grouped into the following categories: attitudes toward science, scientific attitudes, nature of science, scientific career interests, and other. A data abstraction and scoring rubric was used to summarize and evaluate 150 published articles that spanned 66 instruments. Most instruments had single study usage and showed an absence of psychometric evidence. This review demonstrated that there are few instruments available with the necessary psychometric data to merit recommendation. The review quantifies the current state of the research regarding the measurement of science attitude in students; the results should elicit further discussion and encourage more rigorous analyses of instruments. The findings may assist other researchers to select an instrument and alert them to its strengths and weaknesses. This review points the way forward for research in this field. Instruments already in existence should be used in repeat studies, and reliability and validity evidence should be collected and shared.
Showing posts with label PruskiLA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PruskiLA. Show all posts
2008-05-13
Lichtenstein Owen Blalock Liu Ramirez Pruski Marshall Toepperwein - JRST 2008
Psychometric reevaluation of the scientific attitude inventory-revised (SAI-II)
J Res Sci Teach 45: 600-616, 2008
Michael J. Lichtenstein, Steven V. Owen, Cheryl L. Blalock, Yan Liu, Kacy A. Ramirez, Linda A. Pruski, Carolyn E. Marshall, Mary Anne Toepperwein
The central purposes of this study were to review the development and evolution of the Scientific Attitude Inventory (SAI) and then reevaluate the psychometric properties of the revised form of the SAI, the Scientific Attitude Inventory II (SAI-II). The SAI-II was administered to a convenience sample of 543 middle and high school students from five teachers in four schools in four school districts in San Antonio, Texas, at the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year. Confirmatory factor analysis on the full data set failed to support the existence of a 12-factor structure (as proposed by the scale developers) or a one-factor structure. The data were then randomly divided into exploratory [exploratory factor analysis (EFA)] validation and confirmatory [confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)] cross-validation sets. Exploratory and confirmatory models yielded a three-factor solution that did not fit the data well [2 (321) = 646, p < .001; RMSEA = .061 (.90 CI = .054-.068); and CFI = .81]. The three factors were labeled Science is About Understanding and Explaining (13 items), Science is Rigid (6 items), and I Want to Be a Scientist (8 items). The -coefficients for these three factors ranged from 0.59 to 0.85. Whether these identified subscales are valid will require independent investigation. In this sample, and consistent with prior publications, the SAI-II in its current form did not have satisfactory psychometric properties and cannot be recommended for further use. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
J Res Sci Teach 45: 600-616, 2008
Michael J. Lichtenstein, Steven V. Owen, Cheryl L. Blalock, Yan Liu, Kacy A. Ramirez, Linda A. Pruski, Carolyn E. Marshall, Mary Anne Toepperwein
The central purposes of this study were to review the development and evolution of the Scientific Attitude Inventory (SAI) and then reevaluate the psychometric properties of the revised form of the SAI, the Scientific Attitude Inventory II (SAI-II). The SAI-II was administered to a convenience sample of 543 middle and high school students from five teachers in four schools in four school districts in San Antonio, Texas, at the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year. Confirmatory factor analysis on the full data set failed to support the existence of a 12-factor structure (as proposed by the scale developers) or a one-factor structure. The data were then randomly divided into exploratory [exploratory factor analysis (EFA)] validation and confirmatory [confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)] cross-validation sets. Exploratory and confirmatory models yielded a three-factor solution that did not fit the data well [2 (321) = 646, p < .001; RMSEA = .061 (.90 CI = .054-.068); and CFI = .81]. The three factors were labeled Science is About Understanding and Explaining (13 items), Science is Rigid (6 items), and I Want to Be a Scientist (8 items). The -coefficients for these three factors ranged from 0.59 to 0.85. Whether these identified subscales are valid will require independent investigation. In this sample, and consistent with prior publications, the SAI-II in its current form did not have satisfactory psychometric properties and cannot be recommended for further use. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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