A Validity Study of Attitudes toward Science Scale among Iranian Secondary School Students

Autor/inn/en	Liaghatdar, Muhammad J.; Soltani, Asghar; Abedi, Ahmad
Titel	A Validity Study of Attitudes toward Science Scale among Iranian Secondary School Students
Quelle	In: International Education Studies, 4 (2011) 4, S.36-46 (11 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1913-9020
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Secondary School Students; Student Attitudes; Attitude Measures; Test Validity; Scientific Attitudes; Factor Analysis; Factor Structure; Multivariate Analysis; Test Reliability; Construct Validity; Iran + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Sekundarschüler; Schülerverhalten; Testvalidität; Faktorenanalyse; Faktorenstruktur; Multivariate Analyse; Testreliabilität
Abstract	The purpose of this study is providing a scale for measuring attitudes toward science among Persian secondary school students. A total of 300 (150 girls and 150 boys) of second grade students from all disciplines including science and mathematics in secondary education, participated in the study. Research instrument was, translated Persian version of Simpson-Troost Attitude Questionnaire (STAQ). After performing the scale among the sample, the data was analyzed by SPSS software. The reliability of questionnaire was found to be 0.84. Factor analysis indicated that more than 35.8% of the total variance was explained with the scale scores. After factor rotation, five factors of attractiveness of science, the class/teacher, self-directed efforts, anxiety toward science and the family pattern were identified. Thus it was shown that the scale is multidimensional and the dimensions have appropriate reliability and validity to measure attitudes toward science, so this instrument could be used in the next Persian research in measuring attitudes toward science. Multivariate Analysis (MANOVA) of data showed that there is no significant difference between sex and students' attitudes toward science. But in the third factor (self-directed efforts) was a significant difference between sex and students' attitudes toward science and the average of female students were higher than male students. Test results also showed that there is significant different between discipline of students and their attitudes to science and attitudes of empirical science students have the better attitudes than themselves, while science students in first factors (attractiveness of science) and in second factor (class/Teacher), had mean higher average than mathematical physics students. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Canadian Center of Science and Education. 1120 Finch Avenue West Suite 701-309, Toronto, ON M3J 3H7, Canada. Tel: 416-642-2606 Ext 206; Fax: 416-642-2608; e-mail: ies@ccsenet.org; Web site: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/es
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01